Court sides with Germantown in rezoning case

Plan calls for Cordova Triangle to be residential

A chancellor dismissed a petition against the proposed rezoning of the Cordova Triangle in Germantown on Aug. 9 in Shelby County Chancery Court.

The ruling means Germantown can proceed with the proposed rezoning of the Triangle from urban to residential.

“We are happy with the court’s ruling,” said Ed McKenney, the attorney representing Germantown. “The municipal board has the right to correct if they believe an unwise decision was made.”

The Jack Owen Revocable Trust, which owns a tract in the Triangle, filed a petition against the city after the Germantown Planning Commission voted in favor of the rezoning during its July 10 meeting.

On Aug. 9, Chancellor Walter Evans said the city’s planning commission may only recommend the zoning and said rezoning is not complete until voted upon by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

“Rezoning has not yet taken place,” Evans said. “The recommendation of the planning commission is not the final act or judgment on voting.”

Rick Winchester, the attorney for the Jack Owen Revocable Trust, echoed the arguments made in the petition, in which he and his client asked that the land stays in its current urban zoning. He said the decision to rezone the land was “politically motivated” in light of the Nov. 6 mayoral and aldermen elections.

“It would be a tremendous loss to my client,” he said, adding the expected value of the land would drop by about $7.2 million. He said the city had no downside if it lost the legal challenge.

“We have alleged in the petition that a down zoning is unprecedented in the history of the city of Germantown.”

Among Winchester’s other arguments was that there was no sketch plan for the rezoning, but McKenney

said a sketch plan was not needed because it is land the city wants to rezone.

McKenney said sketch plans are what developers bring forward when they are looking to develop land and pointed out the staff report shows a zoning map.

“Germantown (Road) is a clear barrier,” McKenney said. “Everything west is residential ... we’re not saying Smart Growth is a mistake, but the extension of the central business district (T4 urban zoning) was a mistake.”

Winchester said the staff report did not have the proof the rezoning was needed.

The suggestion to rezone the land to residential must be voted on by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen after three readings.

Winchester said he was asking the court to set the rule for how many votes were needed by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

McKenney argued Winchester was asking the court to be involved in the legislative process.

“(Winchester) is asking the court to intervene in the legislative process and alleged motives,” McKenney said. “The Tennessee courts don’t do this and haven’t done this for decades.”

Evans said the court could not intervene in Germantown’s legislative process.

“All the city can do is keep us from developing this land,” Winchester said, adding a buyer was interested in the land until the 18-month moratorium was put in place in January.

The moratorium put a halt on multifamily developments so the city could study the potential effects. However, some developments already in the approval process were excluded from the moratorium.

“The buyer went away and that kept (the land) from developing the way the city had designed it to be developed.”

Winchester declined to comment after the ruling.