WARNING: Turning off your KUB for more than 24 months = abandonment of your house in Knoxville!!!
City claims a housing crisis yet destroyed this woman’s house because she turned off her KUB to save money!!
From Compass Knox Daily Email of September 4, 2024
“In July, builder R. Bentley Marlow failed to persuade City Council members that a structure owned by Rachel Wolf on Jefferson Avenue in East Knoxville was not an accessory dwelling unit as defined in the city code. An ADU isn’t permitted on the property as it’s currently zoned because the primary building there is a duplex.
Marlow was back before Council members on Tuesday, arguing that the Board of Zoning Appeals erred in upholding the city’s codes enforcement office’s determination that the structure had been “abandoned” because Wolf had cut off electrical service for longer than two years.
“We’re talking about destroying a house administratively,” Marlow said.
Peter Ahrens, the city’s Plans Review and Inspections director, said operating the structure as a house was a “nonconforming use” that had been abandoned under the city code’s definition. Law Director Charles Swanson agreed, saying that Council members should follow the zoning code.
Councilwoman Lynne Fugate said she was sympathetic to Wolf’s predicament. “I do not for the life of me expect your average citizen, before they turn the power off to something, to go look at the zoning code and find out how long I can leave it off before it triggers something.”
Vice Mayor Tommy Smith said turning off the electricity to save money should not be enough in the absence of other actions — such as also turning off the water — to justify deeming the building “abandoned.”
Councilman Charles Thomas was persuaded by Swanson’s emphasis on following the code as written. “What it boils down to is the application of the law,” he said.
Council members wound up voting 7-2 to deny Marlow’s appeal and uphold the Board of Zoning Appeals’ decision. Smith and Councilman [Seema Singh] cast the two minority votes.”
