Planners approve Shod/Bakertown grocery-and-fuel center, add buffer, fence and lighting conditions after neighbor pushback

The Knoxville-Knox County Planning Commission approved a proposed grocery-and-fuel center by Orange Knoxville LLC at Shod Road and Bakertown Road, after hearings that included concerns from the adjacent Leetti Landing subdivision about tree removal, lighting and noise.

Developer representatives said the site has been planned as commercial since earlier zoning and that the plan includes off-site improvements: road work on Bakertown Road, a planned signalized intersection and Type A landscape screening along the residential edge. Ben Mullins, representing the developer, noted the project will deliver highway and intersection improvements and said staff recommendations provide mitigation.

Neighbors urged stronger protections. Bill Walker, speaking for Leetti Landing, asked the commission to require a roughly 620-foot, six-foot privacy fence along the parcel edge nearest residents, preserve existing canopy where feasible and strengthen the Type A buffer so it matures quicker and actually blocks light and noise. He cited a 2025 petition and photometrics in the public packet.

Staff and engineering worked with the applicant; commissioners asked for specific, verifiable screening and lighting controls. The commission approved the variance to reduce intersection separation, the concept plan and the development plan for a grocery store with fueling and three lots, and attached additional conditions: a privacy fence or equivalent screen integrated with Type A landscaping, verification that existing vegetation can be used and supplemented as needed, review and approval of the landscaping by planning staff before permitting, and removal of four proposed street lights from county right-of-way plans (to be relocated if necessary so they are not county-maintained).

What happens next: The developer will finalize design and submit permits addressing stormwater, photometric plans and the landscaping/fence specification required by the commission.