Despite objections from three nearby residents and a member of the Norris Planning Commission, the Norris City Council quickly and unanimously voted Monday night to change the zoning of property next to the Museum of Appalachia to commercial use. Although Mayor Chris Mitchell and others on the council made it clear that they were voting on the rezoning, and not any specific plans for the property, some heated discussion in a public hearing before the meeting made it clear that the ultimate goal is to accommodate the museum founding family’s goal of setting up a campground and park for recreational vehicles. It would be the first overnight accommodations facility near the museum, which sits along Andersonville Highway in the Bethel community on land that was annexed by Norris about 10 years ago. The rezoning, approved on second and final reading, changes the property from the current S-2 (Scenic Highway District) to general commercial (C-2). The rezoning covers the address 2819 Andersonville Highway, which includes two tracts comprising about 17.5 acres adjacent to the museum. The land is owned by the family that created the Museum of Appalachia in 1969, and still controls it. John Rice Irwin is the family patriarch, and his daughter Elaine Irwin Meyer is president of the museum.