Northshore Corridor Ass'n v. Knox Cnty.
| Decision Date | 30 March 2021 |
| Docket Number | No. E2020-00573-COA-R3-CV,E2020-00573-COA-R3-CV |
| Citation | 633 S.W.3d 561 |
| Parties | The NORTHSHORE CORRIDOR ASSOCIATION et al. v. KNOX COUNTY, Tennessee, et al. |
| Court | Tennessee Court of Appeals |
Benjamin C. Mullins, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Post Oak Bend, LLC.
Daniel A. Sanders, Deputy Knox County Law Director, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the appellants, Knox County, Tennessee, and the Knox County Board of Zoning Appeals.1
Thomas M. Hale and Brandon L. Morrow, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the appellees, The Northshore Corridor Association, John and Betty Gulley, Gerd and Jill Krohn, Diane Montgomery, Tyrell and Melody Smith, and Bryan Spears.2
Upon a petition for common law certiorari filed by a community organization comprised of several homeowners’ associations and individual homeowners, the trial court reversed a decision by the Knox County Board of Zoning Appeals ("BZA") affirming the Knoxville-Knox County Metropolitan Planning Commission's approval of the respondent developer's neighborhood development plan. The trial court determined the BZA's decision to be illegal upon finding that the development plan included an on-site wastewater treatment plant in violation of the applicable zoning ordinance. The trial court subsequently denied cross-motions to alter or amend the judgment. Discerning no reversible error, we affirm.
The property proposed for development by the respondent developer, Post Oak Bend, LLC ("Post Oak"), consists of approximately 415.04 acres located on Tooles Bend Road in Knox County, Tennessee ("the Property"). As the trial court noted in its final order, "only 260.51 acres [of the Property] are available for development because of where the property lies in relation to lake-contour lines." In 1993, the then-owners of the Property, David and Jane Bailey, had successfully petitioned the Knoxville-Knox County Metropolitan Planning Commission ("MPC")3 to rezone the Property from "Agricultural" to "Planned Residential" ("PR"). The 1993 rezoning application and related materials, submitted to the trial court in the instant action as part of the record before the BZA, support the trial court's description of the 1993 rezoning as follows:
In 1993, the property owners petitioned the MPC to have the property rezoned to PR, which allows 1-3 dwelling units per acre. The property owners represented to the MPC that they intended to develop the property for single family residential purposes. The property owners also submitted documents addressing density and traffic. These documents stated that
In 2018, Post Oak submitted a concept plan ("Concept Plan") and a development plan ("Development Plan") concerning the Property to the MPC for "Use on Review" approval.4 As described in the trial court's order, "[t]he proposed Development Plan was for a large neighborhood ... with 620 dwelling units," and "[a]lthough initial plans submitted to the MPC did not include a sewer treatment plant on the property, a Revised Plot Plan was subsequently submitted to include a sewer treatment plant." The initial hearing before the MPC took place on August 9, 2018, with the MPC voting to postpone action at that time. A month later, the MPC staff issued a Report of Recommendations, which included, as the trial court noted in its final order, "seventeen variances; approval of the Concept Plan, subject to twenty conditions; and approval of the Development Plan, including the Revised Plot Plan, subject to three conditions, which included ‘meeting all applicable requirements of the Knox County Zoning Ordinance.’ " The MPC conducted a subsequent hearing on September 13, 2018, by which time Post Oak had also provided the MPC with its revised plot plan ("Revised Plot Plan"), indicating, inter alia , that a wastewater treatment plant would be built on the Property. At the close of the hearing, the MPC approved Post Oak's use-on-review application, including the Concept Plan, Development Plan, and Revised Plot Plan.
Prior to the September 2018 MPC hearing, the petitioners in this action, the Northshore Corridor Association, including individually named members, John and Betty Gulley, Gerd and Jill Krohn, Diane Montgomery, Dr. Wallin and Leslie Myers, Tyrell and Melody Smith, and Bryan Spears ("collectively, NCA"), had urged the MPC to require Post Oak, as NCA notes on appeal, "to submit an expanded traffic study that would include an analysis of the impact the traffic from the development would have along Northshore Drive." As stated in the MPC's September 2018 staff recommendations, a "Level II Traffic Impact Study" had been prepared by CDM Smith, Inc. ("CDM Smith"), in June 2018 and submitted with Post Oak's Concept Plan for review by the MPC, the Knox County Department of Engineering and Public Works, and the Tennessee Department of Transportation. Stating that the traffic study "prepared and reviewed for this development [was] the appropriate level of review," MPC staff recommended five conditions "regarding road improvements to address the traffic impact from the proposed development." Although CDM Smith revised the traffic impact study on July 26, 2018, it remained a Level II study. In a letter sent prior to the September 2018 hearing, MPC Executive Director Gerald Green denied NCA's request for a Level III traffic impact study.
NCA appealed the MPC's approval of Post Oak's use-on-review application to the BZA, raising issues concerning, inter alia , the wastewater treatment plant, the traffic study, population density, and Post Oak's failure to obtain approval from the Knox County Health Department ("Health Department") prior to its initial presentation before the MPC.5 Following a hearing conducted on November 28, 2018, the BZA voted five to three to deny NCA's appeal. In addition to argument from counsel, the following individuals spoke in support of NCA's position: Don R. Moore, President of EFG Engineering Company, concerning traffic issues; William Daniels, a former Knox County Commissioner, former member of the BZA, and area resident; and Sandy Gammon, a realtor and area resident presenting objections to the Development Plan. In addition to argument from Post Oak's counsel and Knox County Deputy Law Director Daniel A. Sanders, the following individuals spoke in support of approval: Greg Gamble, a land planner for the Post Oak development; Jeff Mize, a traffic engineer with CDM Smith; and Chris Ooten with Post Oak's developer, Safe Harbor Development. MPC Executive Director Green, MPC Principal Planner Tom Brechko, and Jim Snowden, Director of Knox County Engineering and Public Works, also spoke.
On December 27, 2018, NCA filed a petition for writ of certiorari in the trial court pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated §§ 27-8-101 (2017) and 27-9-101 (2017), as well as § 6.60.06 of the Knox County Zoning Ordinance ("Zoning Ordinance"). NCA alleged, inter alia , that in affirming the MPC's approval of the Development Plan, the BZA "exceeded its jurisdiction; followed an unlawful procedure; acted illegally, arbitrarily, or fraudulently; and/or acted without material evidence to support its decision." NCA also included in its petition a request for declaratory judgment concerning the BZA's alleged actions in approving the Development Plan.
On February 7, 2019, Post Oak filed an answer to the petition concomitantly with motions for dismissal of the declaratory judgment claim and for a more definite statement as to the petition for writ of certiorari. In its answer, Post Oak denied the existence of any grounds for overturning the BZA's decision. Specifically as to the wastewater treatment plant, Post Oak responded in pertinent part that it had "worked extensively with MPC and Knox County staff on the Development Plan and Use on Review" and that "it was always the intent for part of the Property to be served with a wastewater treatment plant paid for by Post Oak but owned and operated by First Utility District."
NCA subsequently voluntarily nonsuited its request for declaratory judgment and amended its petition for writ of certiorari. In its amended petition, filed on April 11, 2019, NCA specifically asserted that the BZA's decision should be reversed because (1) a commercial wastewater treatment plant, included in the Development Plan, was not a permissible use in a PR zone pursuant to the Zoning Ordinance; (2) the Development Plan was contrary to the "express written representations made by members of the Bailey family" when the Property was rezoned to PR; (3) the procedure set forth in Zoning Ordinance § 6.50.01 was not followed when Post Oak presented the Revised Plot Plan without prior approval from the Health Department; (4) the demonstrated increase in traffic that would be caused by the proposed development constituted a failure to satisfy a criterion for approval of a use-on-review application under the Zoning Ordinance; (5) considering the non-buildable land included within the Property, the density of population in the buildable land constituted a failure to satisfy a criterion for approval; (6) the proposed use was incompatible with the surrounding area and thus failed to meet a criterion for approval; (7) statements made by two BZA members during deliberations indicated that they had voted contrary to their opinions because they did not understand the applicable de novo review standard; (8) Mr. Moore's expert testimony...
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