MPC approves 42 apartments on Sutherland Ave. lot

A four-level, 42-unit apartment building is just too much development on a Sutherland Avenue lot less than an acre in size, according to the owner of adjoining property. But the Metropolitan Planning Commission says the developer has variances in place to allow construction.

MPC has given unanimous approval to a use-on-review review request by Hatcher Hill Properties LLC to build an apartment building on a 0.84-acre lot on the northwest corner of Sutherland Avneue at Concord Street, providing that applicant Tim Hill secures two more variances from the Knoxville Board of Zoning Appeals.

Richard Cadmus, who owns property bordering the lot to the west, told MPC last week that jamming the project onto such a small lot will hurt the value of his property, which contains a commercial building.

Cadmus said MPC was allowing what amounted to a rezoning of the property through variances to a higher level of development than its actual zoning allows. However, during the planning commission's meeting Feb. 9, MPC Vice Chairman Bart Carey told him that MPC has to accept variances that developers are able to get through the zoning board.

"Those variances are in place and they are what we have to start with," Carey told Cadmus.

Tom Brechko, an MPC planner who reviewed the proposal, told MPC commissioners that the developer has received four variances so far: Reducing the front yard setback requirement on Concord Street from 25 feet to 17.5 feet, reducing the southwest side yard setback from 12 feet to 9 feet, reducing the front yard setback on Sutherland Avenue from 25 feet to five feet and reducing the minimum parking structure requirement from 58,000 square feet to 35,960 square feet.

However, Hill will need two more variances on other issues before MPC can sign off on the proposal, Brechko said. One is that the building may not cover more than 30 percent of its lot. The proposed building would cover 55 percent. The other issue is that the development would be required to have 16,800 square feet of usable open space but it only has 2,000 square feet.

If Hill is unable to get approval for the two variances, he will have to appear before MPC with a revised plan, Brechko said. Cadmus said he will oppose the variance requests when they come before the Board of Zoning Appeals. Cadmus said that, at one point, he had offered to sell his property to Hill but the two could not agree on a price.

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MPC approves 42 apartments on Sutherland Ave. lot