Knoxville's North Waterfront Redevelopment Plan will move forward to envision the future of how the downtown and two huge new University of Tennessee districts will come together, but with far more options for public input.
The Knoxville City Council on Aug. 18 gave Mayor Indya Kincannon and the Knoxville Community Development Corporation approval to create a redevelopment district encompassing areas around World's Fair Park, the new Neyland Entertainment and Maplehurst Innovation districts, and residential and commercial properties.
The plan creates boundaries for a tax increment financing district, which funnels tax revenue into public improvements within the boundaries. The types of public improvements like walkways, road projects, riverfront
amenities and parks will be determined as time goes on.
The plan's 7-1 approval was not without tension. Several councilmembers seriously criticized city leaders and Knoxville's Community Development Corporation for not engaging stakeholders. Only seven people came to two different public hearings KCDC hosted, and two work for the city and KCDC.
"When we asked for a redevelopment plan and a public process, I expected that the public would know sooner that a process was about to begin, than a day before a meeting," said Vice Mayor Lynne Fugate. "I'm gravely disappointed in this. I have assurances that the plan will, indeed, have a public process. We know that the city and KCDC know how to (engage in public processes). That is what our citizens expect and deserve."
The meetings were published in legal notices in the Knoxville News Sentinel, but not publicized through press releases or invitations like other public meetings.
Knoxville City Councilmember Karyn Adams, who represents part of the redevelopment district, told Knox News she was told about the Aug. 29 meeting with two days' notice and couldn't go. Councilmember Nathan Honeycutt, who represents another part, told Knox News he didn't know about the meeting.
"The public meeting they had could've been publicized better," Honeycutt said Aug. 13. "There was room for improvement there."
KCDC Executive Director Ben Bentley promised robust communication during the next stage of the plan, which will establish specific standards for redevelopment.
"There will be some initial stakeholder meetings, our primary stakeholder group will consist of people that have those vested direct interests in Maplehurst. In January, we would be looking at that first broader community meeting and then we would move into a full-fledged master planning (process)," he said.
What will the North Waterfront TIF district do?
Scott Bird, a spokesperson for KCDC, told Knox News "the most likely use of TIF funds would be for connectivity and infrastructure improvements between the (planned pedestrian) bridge and World's Fair Park" but did not elaborate further when Knox News asked whether TIF money would finance the bridge.
"Specific plans for areas like Maplehurst are created after the approval of the Redevelopment Area," according to meeting minutes provided to Knox News by KCDC. "In this case, the Maplehurst Master Planning process will take place in the six months following approval of the redevelopment area, and it will get into more granular details about zoning, public right of ways, infrastructure needs, etc. In the future, there may be a need to look at specific plans for other sections of the Redevelopment Area, for example, the Neyland Avenue corridor."
Only Councilmember Amelia Parker voted against the plan, and Councilmember Denzel Grant, who represents a sliver of the TIF district, was absent.
Ben Bentley, the executive director of KCDC, says he expects widespread community input gathering the specifics of the redevelopment plan to happen in January.
How Knoxville does - or doesn't - conduct public input processes is a sensitive topic
Last year, a plan pushed by Mayor Indya Kincannon to sell about 13 acres of Chilhowee Park land to the Emerald Youth Foundation unraveled. Chief among the concerns of neighbors, councilmembers and candidates for city council was the lack of input from community members.
The city hadn't hosted a public meeting to discuss the park since 2019, and leaders relied heavily on Emerald Youth to help explain and promote the project.
Kincannon's plan ultimately failed. The city is instead moved forward with a Chilhowee Park Advisory Group to determine the next steps for the park.
Several councilmemberswho were running for office in 2025 made transparency, public input and accountability a major focus of their campaigns in the wake of conversations around Chilhowee Park.
Now that they're in office, they've continued to emphasize the importance of public input.
Allie Feinberg is the politics reporter for Knox News. Email: allie.feinberg@knoxnews.com; Reddit: u/KnoxNewsAllie
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: City leaders promise transparency as University of Tennessee districts come to life
