Norris nixes zoning change for churches Anderson Crossing
The Norris City Council on Monday night rejected a request by a property developer to add “churches and places of worship” to the list of allowable uses in the city’s C2 commercial business zones.
Mayor Chris Mitchell made the motion to deny the change in the city’s zoning rules, which was submitted to the council as a proposed ordinance, sought by Ken Seaman of the 3310 Real Estate Partnership.
The council voted 4-0, with Councilman Travis Honeycutt absent, in favor of Mitchell’s motion, which for now has brought an end to a Knoxville church’s plans to start a new campus in the Anderson Crossing shopping center area.
Mitchell said that he agreed with the opinion of Norris City Planner Kathryn Baldwin that such a change in the commercial-district zoning rules “would not be in the best interests of the people of Norris.”
On the previous Monday night, the Norris Planning Commission took similar action, voting unanimously to reject the zoning rules change.
Seaman brought the request to the city hoping to facilitate his sale of the former Hensley’s IGA property on Andersonville Highway to The Church at Sterchi Hills on Dry Gap Pike, which wants to convert the old supermarket space into a sanctuary for a new church, to be called The Church at Anderson Crossing.
Baldwin was not present at Monday’s City Council meeting, but had submitted an opinion to the council recommending strongly against the zoning change.
She noted that the property is part of the Anderson Crossing shopping district, which she said is the only C2 commercial district in Norris. It’s the only zone in the city that allows for major retail development such as supermarkets and other so-called big-box stores, and she argued that the city needs to preserve that area for what she said will inevitably be an important commercial center.
“There are 20,000 cars a day passing that corner (Andersonville Highway and Norris Freeway), and it’s also a signaled intersection,” Baldwin said. She added that having a traffic signal at the intersection makes it more valuable to commercial uses because it helps traffic to enter and exit the shopping center.
Seaman, who bought the 3.99-acre property with his business partner Dave Moore three years ago for $1.2 million, told the Planning Commission last week that “We’re excited about this opportunity,” meaning the use of the site for a new church. “We believe it will bring some life into the community.”
A spokesman for The Church at Sterchi Hills told The Courier News that the church was planning to build a 400-seat auditorium in the former Hensley’s building to create the new church.
Robbie DeJarnette, the church’s administrative pastor, said the new church would be expected to draw primarily from current Sterchi Hill church members who live in the Clinton, Norris and Andersonville areas.
Neither Seaman nor his business partner was present for Monday’s council meeting, nor was anyone from the church.
Seaman told The Courier News after last week’s Planning Commission meeting that he had called the city and asked that his request be taken off the council agenda for Monday night, and delayed for 60 days.
But City Manager Bailey Whited told the newspaper on Monday before the council meeting that the requested ordinance to change the C2 zoning rules would remain on the agenda because the Planning Commission had already acted on it.
The Planning Commission’s decision was advisory only, as the City Council would have to approve the change through an ordinance, which would have to be passed on two readings, with a public hearing in between.
With the council’s rejection, there will be no second reading of the proposed ordinance, which is moot for now.
Planning Commission Chairman Bob Sain allowed two representatives from the church to speak to the zoning change request at the commission’s Oct. 5 meeting, and one of them, who said he is a pastor at the church but did not give his name, suggested to the commission that the church might file a federal lawsuit against Norris for “religious discrimination” if the church is not allowed to locate on the property.
That pastor told the commissioners that the church planned to pay $2.2 million for the entire 3.99-acre property, and to spend upwards of $1 million to make improvements, including the 400-seat auditorium.
She said during that meeting that Norris already has “plenty of churches,” and that churches are already allowed either outright or by special exception is most of the city’s zones – just not in the C2 commercial zone.
The former grocery building most recently served as a location for the Tennessee College of Applied Technology. which had been allowed to use the former grocery space free of charge.
Still housed in the center are two hair salons and a gun store.
It’s also the former location of the Anderson County government offices that collect real estate taxes and sell and process motor vehicle registrations. That office moved to the shopping center next door, which houses the Anderson Crossing Pharmacy and other businesses.
In other business Monday night, the City Council:
*Heard from the city manager that work to replace the roof over the gymnasium in the Norris Community Building will not begin until late November. The council on Sept. 14 approved a $67,099 contract with Tri-State Roofing Co. to put the new roof on the gymnasium, which has the city’s only pickleball courts, and had expected the work to begin right away.
Whited said the contractor has been delayed with other work.
The gym will be kept closed while the work progresses, the council was told.
*Passed 4-0 on first reading a comprehensive new animal ordinance that sets the city’s rules for licensing dogs and cats, operating the city’s animal shelter, and determining what constitutes a “vicious” or “dangerous” dog or cat and how the city should deal with such animals.
A public hearing on the proposed ordinance will be held at 5:45 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 9, prior to the 6 p.m. council meeting, during which the measure will be up for vote on second and final reading.
*Passed 4-0 on second and final reading an ordinance setting up new rules for the city to set rates for commercial refuse services, giving the city the right to set the rates by resolution rather than by ordinance.