Lenoir City OKs site plan for 276-apartment development

Site located near a Food City and many other businesses

Becca J Godwin-news-herald.net

Lenoir City officials have approved the site plan for a 276-apartment development to be built on Market Drive and Town Creek Parkway.

Real estate developer Continental Properties plans to build Authentix Town Creek — a residential community with amenities such as a clubhouse, outdoor pool and pet playground — on 13.48 acres near U.S. Highway 321 and I-75.

The plan was approved during the city’s Planning and Zoning meeting on May 6 — contingent upon the developers submitting two discussed changes by the end of the week.

THE LONG VIEW

A development associate for the project, Michael Kenyon, told Regional Planning Commission board members before the vote that Continental wants to be a long-term part of the community.

“High level, we, as a developer, we’ve done approximately 52 of these communities throughout the United States in about 19 states, and we feel strongly that Lenoir City is a place that we really, we do want to be and we want to set our roots in,” Kenyon said.

The site, which is vacant but has some existing infrastructure from a previous development attempt, is located near a Food City and many other businesses.

A range for rent wasn’t mentioned during the meeting. The available apartments at Authentix Cartersville in Georgia ranged from $1,104 to $2,016, according to the company’s website.

‘TIGHT’ SITE

One of the conditions for the site plan approval was adding required clerical notes to the site drawing. The other was to adjust the size of the parking spaces, as Continental’s request to make them smaller was denied at the Board of Zoning Appeals meeting that same day.

Kenyon said they were asking for a variance because it’s a tight site, due to a “significant amount of easements and existing utilities that underlay the property.” In April, Continental had asked to reduce the overall number of parking spaces.

Commissioner David Martin said he felt the developers needed to stick with the requirement of two spots per unit with a 10-by-19foot stall size, given the location of the site.

“Whether some people think we do or not, we try to always adhere to what we have written because it’s written for a reason,” Martin said. “And then as situations arise and come up, we make special exceptions in a case-by-case situation as they may reason a rational sentence to do so.

“In this particular case, I just feel fairly strong about trying to stick with those numbers.”

Martin began to make a motion toward a vote — but before he finished the sentence, Kenyon made a final case for the unique conditions of the site.

“If you don’t mind, one other question. In regards to the parking, I understand that you said you do make special exceptions for parking,” Kenyon said. “Being that the existing utilities on the site, being that there’s a (Tennessee Valley Authority) easement here, being that there’s a jumbled web of utilities as well as the storm culvert big enough to drive a truck through, not to be too funny, but I guess the question is, does that justify a special exception?”