KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Knox County Commission met Monday evening to decide if a tool that the community has to appeal zoning decisions would be removed. Dozens of people gathered at the meeting to voice their opposition to the proposal.
They ended up voting on an amended ordinance that says appeals on development plans would not go through the Board of Zoning Appeals. Instead, appeals on development plans would go directly to court.
That ordinance passed 6-4 on Monday. The BZA will stay in place, but they would no longer hear appeals for development plans.
"I don't see how you can say BZA members are unqualified while Planning Commission members are," said one opponent of the ordinance.
Before the ordinance was passed, people could go to the board if they had issues with how the Knoxville-Knox County Planning Commission handled a "use on review" development plan. These are usually submitted by developers building subdivisions or other kinds of homes.
During the meeting, Commissioner John Schoonmaker proposed sending the ordinance back to the Planning Commission to be reviewed, saying they did not have a chance to look at the new version after it was amended. That motion failed.
He also raised concerns that not sending it back could violate state law. However, the commission's legal counsel assured them they could safely vote on it without sending it back.
"Some things should be appealable and some things shouldn't," said Commissioner Larsen Jay, who voted to pass the ordinance.
Opponents of the bill previously said they were concerned that without the BZA, community members would be discouraged to bring up issues with construction.
However, Mayor Glenn Jacobs and some commissioners said they did not think the BZA has the legal authority to hear appeals to development plans, even though they took on the responsibility for several years.
Since 2008, there were only 16 appeals to the BZA — averaging around one a year. However, since 2020, there were more appeals which could indicate increased use of the board as more developers build in Knox County.
Only one case took 4 months to process, and seven took less than a month, according to Knox County data from June. Half of all cases since 2008 were affirmed, meaning the original plans approved by the Planning Commission did not change after an appeal.
"This is not a silver bullet to cure the housing crisis, but neither is it a dagger in the heart of our planning process," said Commissioner Randy Smith, who voted for the ordinance.