The State of Fort Sanders (Page 3 of 5)

The Historic Fort Sanders Neighborhood Association ensures the preservation of many of the area’s historical homes. In 1998, thanks partly to the HFSNA, the city began an 18-month Fort Sanders Forum. The goal of the forum was to develop a vital reform plan. Stakeholders, local government officials, UT officials and students were all invited to participate in the discourse. One result of those talks was that the east portion of Fort Sanders — from 11th Street to 17th Street — was named a Neighborhood Conservation District, or NC1.

 “A lot of people think it could be better if [the designation] would go all the way down to 22nd [Street],” says Trent, “but that just wasn’t possible at the time, and I guess the thought was to preserve what we can, and then you can always grow out from there.”

The NC1 designation puts Fort Sanders on the National Register of Historic Places and provides guidelines for upholding the character of the neighborhood. Interior work like rewiring or plumbing and exterior work like painting do not require a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Knox Historic Zoning Commission, but building new structures and destroying existing structures do require a certificate if the property falls within the overlay’s border.

Naming Fort Sanders a Local Historic District, or H1, would be a forward step in its preservation. The title sets more stringent regulations for existing and future structures. “Neighborhood Conservation District is like Historic District ‘light,’” says Trent. “When you have a Local Historic District, it addresses the [requirements on] windows, details, porch rails and siding, but a Neighborhood Conservation District just kind of looks at the bigger picture. It is really important for new construction because you have to have something in scale with the rest of the neighborhood in order to build. A lot of people wish we had the Local Historic District to get the details because the housing stock here really does need that, but politically that wasn’t possible at the time.”

The guidelines set by the Knoxville Historic Zoning Commission and the NC1 label prevent demolition of historic homes, but if homeowners raze existing buildings without receiving permission from the HZC — as a Fort Sanders property owner did in 2001, flattening six of his own Victorian houses — the fine for demolition without a certificate is $50 per house. The Tennessee State Constitution sets the fine amount.

“I’ve actually worked on a campaign to change the constitution, but it’s really difficult to change the constitution for the state of Tennessee,” says Trent. “So you have to get a mega-majority or have to only do it in the year when there’s a gubernatorial race, but then you have to get a mega-majority of the number of votes voting in the gubernatorial. It’s a mess. Sometimes cities will get around things by saying $50 per item, so that can add up.”

University expansion

It’s not only stakeholders who demolish historic properties in Fort Sanders; UT is also guilty of it.

Randall DeFord, who has lived in Fort Sanders for 20 years and been an active part of the HFSNA since its beginning, says: “Over the last two years, UT’s probably torn down somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 to 20 houses or buildings that look like houses. They wiped out almost all, or a significant part of, Terrace Avenue for the new fraternity and sorority park. They weren’t especially well-maintained, but they were still great houses, and they could all have been put to more productive use.”

One positive for the neighborhood is an unexpected consequence of the Fort Sanders Forum, and that is the increased involvement residents are allowed in community decisions. “Now at least we’re often invited to the table to talk with the city and UT and the hospitals and even developers. That wasn’t the case before,” DeFord says.

Architectural firm Niles Bolton Associates designed Knoxville Place, the set of high-rise student apartments located on White Avenue. HFSNA was allowed negotiation with the firms during the planning process. “It’s still too tall,” says DeFord. “It should have only been about half that height to fit into the neighborhood, but it looks a lot better than when it was first planned. They brought the design to us, and we didn’t like it, so they worked to change it. We wanted commercial space, so there’s 10,000 square feet of commercial inside.”