The Maryville Board of Zoning Appeals approved two duplex-style developments on Sept. 24, clearing the way for dozens of new attached homes in a city where a forecast projects a need for 1,734 additional housing units over the next five years. One proposal came from a former Maryville High School football coach looking to add a duplex behind his own house; the other was a proposal from David Campbell for 13 duplexes off a busy stretch of U.S. Highway 411 S.
A Coach's Backyard Duplex Plan
Derek Hunt, who is also an agent with Blevins Group Realty Executives, received approval to build a two-story duplex at 200 N. Fifth St., according to The Daily Times. Hunt owns a roughly one-third-acre lot there and plans to subdivide it into front and rear portions, keeping the existing house on the front of the property while the new duplex rises behind it. The two-story structure will include six bedrooms and five bathrooms total, with single-car garages on both sides of the attached units and a shared parking space and connector leading out to North Fifth Street.
Hunt still needs preliminary and final plat approval from the Maryville Planning Commission before construction can move forward, the newspaper reported. The board granted Hunt special exemptions at its Sept. 24 meeting.
A Larger Development Near Alcoa Tenn Federal Credit Union
The board also unanimously approved a much larger proposal from David Campbell: 13 duplexes totaling 26 attached residential units on 3.25 acres at 114 Dotson Memorial Road. The parcel sits behind the Alcoa Tenn Federal Credit Union on U.S. Highway 411 S. and is bordered to the west by residential homes on Juneau Way. It's zoned as a business and transportation district, and the project's density of eight units per acre falls under the applicable minimum density requirements, the paper's report noted.
The development will require construction of a new public east-to-west road as well as a cul-de-sac street, with access planned to both internal lots and Dotson Memorial Road. The duplexes themselves are designed as one-story units with stone facades and light grey siding, sharing walls that connect their respective garages. Like Hunt, Campbell still needs preliminary and final plat approval from the Maryville Planning Commission before breaking ground.
Board Also Saw a Car Wash Request Withdrawn
The same meeting included a special-exception request from Orange Maryville II, LLC for a car wash at 2702 E. Lamar Alexander Parkway, but that request was withdrawn, according to the board's Sept. 24 proceedings as reported by the paper. Board member Suzette Donovan was absent from the meeting, per the same account.
Growth Pressures Behind the Approvals
The duplex approvals land as Maryville is projected to need 1,734 more housing units over the next five years, according to a housing forecast published by app.communityscale.io.
Maryville and neighboring Alcoa have experienced increased economic attention and rapid growth over the last two decades, The Daily Times reported, a trend that has fed demand for new housing stock across the area. Nationally, the picture is more mixed: multifamily housing developments dropped about 21 percent in August, while single-family construction starts rose almost eight percent that same month, according to Moody's Analytics, an industry finance advisory organization, as cited in the paper's report.
