KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A split Knoxville City Council on Tuesday night sided with South Knoxville residents who challenged a plan to redevelop the former Kerbela Shriners property, voting 5-4 to uphold their appeal of the project approval.
The site sits at 315 Kerbela Ave. Developer CR Endeavors had proposed housing aimed at people 55 and older, and the Planning Commission had earlier signed off. The appeal argued the design strayed too far from the South Waterfront rules, with opponents contending the building footprint came close to double the maximum the code permits and questioning whether planned walkways could stand in for the street and sidewalk grid the district calls for.
The company said the land itself was the obstacle. Of roughly 5.7 acres, it said only about 3.2 acres can be built on because of steep, rocky ground, so it sought approval through alternative compliance, a path that allows departures from specific standards when a project still meets the overall intent. Its representative described revisions made after months of neighborhood meetings: splitting one long building into two to keep views open, folding historic stairs into a public walking route, adding a breezeway, gallery and overlook, sketching an arts plaza at the corner of Dawson Street and Sevier Avenue, and keeping the historic JFG sign.
Four members opposed the appeal: Vice Mayor Lynne Fugate, Doug Lloyd of District 3, Denzel Grant of District 6 and Debbie Helsley, who holds an at-large seat. The other five carried it.
The rules at issue date to Feb. 27, 2007, when the City Council adopted the South Waterfront form-based code. Rather than sorting land mainly by use, that code focuses on building form and how structures meet the street, and it splits the three-mile riverfront into seven districts, SW1 through SW7, each with its own scale and character.
The vote leaves the project without its approval for now, and no next step had been announced.
