Cookeville City Council will consider a compromise recommendation Thursday fto rezone over six acres of property on Dogwood Circle and Forest Road to a medium-density residential classification.
Community Development Director Jon Ward said the original application sought a high-density RS-7.5 designation for the 6.5-acre parcel. The Planning Commission recommended RS-10 instead to address neighborhood concerns.
“I think the Planning Commission felt like they were compromising with the neighborhood when they offered RS when they recommended RS-10,” Ward said. “And RS-10 is essentially, you know, we’ve interpreted that as that’s appropriate anywhere that sewer is you know, that properties are sewered in the city for residential developments.”
Ward said the RS-10 zoning requires a 10,000-square-foot minimum lot size compared to the 7,500 square feet requested by the developer.
Ward said the Shepherd Hill subdivision was originally platted in 1965 before the area had sewer access, though the city annexed the property in 1974 and extended sewer lines there in 1992. Ward said an adjacent area to the north was previously rezoned to RS-10 in 2005.
“The same mentality was used to rezone the property to the north; sewer was extended to the area and you know, and the language from the 2030 plan, you know, states that we can accommodate our infrastructure, we don’t have to rezone certain areas when appropriate infrastructure is provided, and RS-10 is considered to have sufficient infrastructure on local streets with enough sewer capacity,” Ward said.
Ward said the developer previously had a water and sewer availability request approved for 32 lots, but the RS-10 zoning would likely yield around 20 lots. Ward said the neighbors who attended the Planning Commission hearing were opposed to the RS-7.5 designation and preferred to keep the current RS-15 zoning.
City Manager James Mills said the development will be subject to stricter stormwater requirements than those in place during previous rezonings in the area. Mills said the current regulations for subdivision development include improved retention status to manage water runoff.
“And I know that at the opposition at the meeting they were talking about the water runoff and that kind of thing, but it’s not even from this property; it’s from up the street from the top of that hill,” Mills said. “Well, plus now, even more different from when we did that RS-10 over there because I remember doing that, is that we have stricter stormwater requirements for subdivision development, so it’s going to be even better.”
Mills said the city’s 2030 plan supports the RS-10 designation because the necessary infrastructure is available.
