KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Knoxville City Council voted 5-4 Tuesday night to uphold an appeal and overturn Planning Commission approval for CR Endeavors’ 55-and-older community on the former Kerbela Shriners site in South Knoxville.
For the hearing, council set aside its usual role as a legislative body and instead acted as a court. The project was a proposed 225-unit apartment complex on the Kerbela Shriners property just south of the Gay Street Bridge. City Council Attorney Rob Frost said it was the first Level III appeal to ever come before council, setting precedent for how the adopted 2006 Vision Plan and form-based code are enforced.
The vote reverses the Knox County Planning Commission’s 7-6 vote in August to approve the plan. Because the proposal required a Level III Alternative Compliance Review, the developer had requested seven exceptions to rules under the South Waterfront Redevelopment and Vision Plan, adopted in 2006.
The appeal was brought by the South Waterfront Advisory and Advocacy Group, which argued the project did not fit the vision plan and form-based code for the district. CR Endeavors had revised the plan after four stakeholder meetings, adding a public plaza at Dawson Street and Sevier Avenue with landscaping, lighting, space for food trucks and an east-west public walkway, and had planned to donate a portion of the land to the City of Knoxville.
The council vote stops that version of the project from moving into design. CR Endeavors said it will consider council input as it evaluates next steps. The Kerbela Shriners sold the property because funding from the sale supports the fraternal organization’s operations and local charitable mission. Knoxville is the seat of Knox County and the largest city in East Tennessee, and the South Waterfront has been one of its most closely watched redevelopment areas.
