Council limits where attached dwellings can go
By Mike Steely
Senior Writer
steelym@knoxfocus.com
The effort to provide more affordable housing throughout the city hit a barrier Tuesday when the majority of Knoxville City Council members voted to restrict where a new form of housing would be allowed.
A “Single-Family Attached Dwelling” is similar to a duplex, but with a double wall between the two units. The proposal was to allow, on review, the new type of housing in every residential zone. Residents of the highest priority residential neighborhood zone, RN-1, spoke against the idea not only in their upscale neighborhoods, but also in the less restricted RN-2 zones.
RN-1 zoned properties make up almost 60% of the homes inside the city, and RN-2 zoned homes make up 20% of the homes. That leaves the remaining residential zones, RNs 3, 4 and 5, with about 20% of the homes. The proposal from the planning commission to approve the attached dwellings, which may be purchased instead of rented, caused some back-and-forth discussion among council members.
District 4’s Lauren Rider spoke on the matter and moved to restrict the attached dwellings in the RN-1 and RN-2 zoning areas. District 3’s Seema Singh then countered with a motion to permit the dwellings in RN-2 and restrict them only to the upper RN-1 areas.
Singh said the loudest opponents to the RN-2 zone were homeowners in the nicer neighborhoods zoned RN-1, who would be the least affected by the new type of housing. At-large Councilwoman Amelia Parker agreed with Singh and said the idea of not permitting the dwellings in RN-1 and RN-2 was only to protect wealthy homeowners, and it would hurt diversity.
At-large Councilwoman Lynne Fugate disagreed and said it is “unclear what the units will look like.” District 5’s Charles Thomas agreed and added that three neighborhood associations in his district are opposed to attached dwellings. However, Thomas said the city needs to look at unused and blighted properties for future dwellings “rather than to try to shoehorn it into established neighborhoods.”
“We haven’t tied diversity to affordability; there’s more we can do,” Parker replied.
The council voted to remove RN-1 and RN-2 zones from where the new attached dwellings can be located in a 7-1-1 vote, with Parker voting “No” and Singh abstaining.
The matter now goes back to the planning commission for a review of the two zones excluded from the ordinance.
In other business, several high-dollar resolutions were passed during the meeting, including $2 million for Washington Pike improvements using state funds. The contract for the city’s street paving project with Rogers Group Inc. got a boost to over $5.1 million, $751,020 went to the Cherry Street Stormwater Project, and a bump of $162,560 was approved for the Knoxville urban Wilderness Greenway Park’s James White Pavilion, bringing the contract with Design and Construction Services Inc. up to nearly $4.8 million. The council also approved moving some budget funds around in a mid-budget-year adjustment for projects such as park improvements, housing, support for the Urban League, a micro-transit study, and the Burlington Streetscapes Project.
