Union Baptist Church asked for multiple setback changes; board defers for schematic

Representatives of Union Baptist Church asked the Knox County Board of Zoning Appeals to approve multiple peripheral setback adjustments to support a master plan for a 26-acre campus that would add ball fields, a pavilion, walking trails, pickleball courts and a dog park along with a second vehicular entrance.

Harry Brooks, representing the church, explained the constraints: a narrow 150-foot corridor for a second entrance, an existing buried water conveyance beneath the railroad crossing, and the need to place a 3-inch irrigation water line. Brooks asked the board to reduce peripheral landscape/setback widths in specific areas (examples: east and west entrance boundaries to 10 feet of landscape, and 30 feet of landscaped peripheral area around ball fields instead of the standard 50 feet) and requested flexibility so grading, sightlines and utilities could be accommodated.

Board members and staff told the church the written application and drawings did not reflect the breadth of changes Brooks described. The board voted to defer the item for 30 days so the church can provide a revised schematic that shows every area where the periphery would be changed; the board indicated it would consider only the areas documented in the record when it reconvenes.