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Planning commission clears Matco affordable housing plan after split with staff
Summary
Planners voted to overturn staff and approve a sector-plan change and RN5 rezoning for an 18-acre Matco affordable housing project on Nora Road, retaining hillside protections and noting required future permitting for road and disturbance limits.
The Knoxville-Knox County Planning Commission voted to change the sector plan and rezone an 18.03-acre tract on Nora Road to allow a proposed affordable apartment complex, overturning staff recommendations that had urged denial.
Ben Mullins, representing Matco Affordable Housing, told the commission the site is already disturbed and argued that “we found a pretty good spot where we can locate some housing like this that would meet a dire need for the city” and asked commissioners to treat the sector-plan designation as an obvious error. Commission discussion centered on whether the open-space sector designation was appropriate, the extent of prior disturbance to the ridge, and whether Nora Road can be widened to serve higher density.
Staff had recommended denial for the sector plan, the one-year plan and the requested RN5 zoning on the grounds that the property did not meet location criteria for medium-density residential. City engineering and staff said hillside and ridgetop protections would remain in force, and that road improvements would be determined at permitting. Commissioners who favored approval said the parcel is contiguous with MDR designations nearby and that existing zoning and prior disturbance supported a higher-density designation.
After debate, the commission approved changing the sector plan and the one-year plan to medium-density residential and approved RN5 rezoning, stipulating that hillside/protection overlays remain in place. Commissioners also noted that any development would need to meet slope and stormwater rules and that future permitting would resolve exact roadway improvements and disturbance budgets. The commission did not record individual roll-call vote tallies in the public record; chair announcements indicated motions carried with recorded “I” votes and a small number of oppositions on some motions.
Next steps: the developer will proceed through permitting to resolve engineering, road-widening responsibilities and exact disturbance limits under the city’s hillside and ridgetop protection rules.
