City commission approves rezoning for townhomes, $275K Rotary Park project

Johnson City commissioners unanimously passed a rezoning ordinance for a new townhome development and approved a number of expenses Thursday, including a $275,000 project to resurface the playground at Johnson City Rotary Park. The ordinance rezones a vacant lot on the corner of Princeton Road and Nave Drive for increased residential use to accommodate a 16-unit townhome development. In addition to the rezoning, the commission also approved a $275,000 bid to replace Rotary Park's playground safety surfacing, which is $125,000 more than what the city's capital improvement budget allocated for the project. Princeton and Nave rezoning, townhomes A concept plan for the new townhomes was included in Thursday's agenda documents alongside the rezoning ordinance. According to the plans, the developer, Proper Properties Investment Group, is designing the site around the lot's existing terrain, which will create a natural buffer between the housing and surrounding roads. The concept plan for the proposed townhome development on the corner of Princeton and Nave. CONTRIBUTED/City of Johnson City The driveway to the homes will stem off of Nave Drive. The plans also include the addition of a retention pond for stormwater and an internal walking trail. According to agenda documents, the townhomes would be served by Fairmont Elementary and Indian Trail Middle School zones. The proposed development site is also surrounded by three other residential zones. Commissioner Joe Wise commented on how the townhomes aid a citywide need for more affordable housing. A May 2025 housing study found that a majority of Johnson City renters earn less than $50,000 annually per household. "I'd just say, the key to housing affordability is more housing," Wise said. "This is 16 more units that adds to the necessary supply." Commissioner Todd Fowler voted against the developer's initial request to rezone the site in June 2024, but at Thursday's meeting he expressed his full support of the project now that changes were made. "I voted against the last [rezoning request] and I voted for this one because I think [the developer] did a great job at redoing what we had talked about, what the problems were — making parking and all that — so I am very much behind the new one," Fowler said. With the now-approved zoning, the developer can now move forward with site plan approvals and the permitting process. Rotary Park resurfacing In addition to the rezoning, commissioners unanimously approved a bid for a project to resurface the Rotary Park playground. The resurfacing project will cost $275,000, according to agenda documents, which is $125,000 more than what the city budgeted for the project. The extra $125,000 will be pulled from unallocated general fund capital, according to a city spokesperson. The source of these funds are any other projects that come in under budget. Johnson City Director of Parks and Recreation April Norris spoke briefly about the project at the commission meeting. She said the selected contractor will replace the existing turf with a new rubber surface. "That park … is one of our most popular parks and gets a lot of use, so that turf is really worn out and has posed a safety concern over the past year," Norris said. "We will be replacing it with a rubberized surface that is going to hold up to the wear and tear that [Rotary Park] faces." Norris said the project could close the park for a couple months but expects the resurfacing to be complete by May. City fiscal year 2025 audit, other business Commissioners also heard a presentation of the city's fiscal year 2025 audit, which found one "significant deficiency" in the city's water and sewer inventory reports, according to the city's annual financial report. According to Johnson City Director of Finance Stephanie Laos, said this deficiency was found because an accounting system failure caused detail inventory balances to not match up with the balances reported in the general ledger for city's water and sewer fund. Laos said that the system incorrectly reported historical averages rather than actual costs for detail inventory items, which made the inventory costs appear lower than what they really were. "We are aware that there's an issue and we're working with our outside consultants. We have been for a few months to try to get that corrected," Laos said. Tara Fenner from Blackburn, Childers & Steagall, the independent auditor that worked with the city for this report, explained this further to commissioners during the work session Thursday, ahead of the full commission meeting. "The only finding that's reported in there is the water-sewer inventory, which we know what happened," Fenner said. "It's just a matter of getting those tweaks in the software so that it's calculating to match what's on the general ledger." During both the work session and commission meeting, Fenner said this year's audit earned an overall clean opinion. "Really it was a good audit," Fenner said at the work session. "Really good comeback from the software headaches that we were talking about the last couple of times I was here, so I'm very pleased with it." Commissioners also tabled a resolution that would establish compensation and benefits for a city juvenile court judge. Mayor Greg Cox was absent for both the work session and commission meeting.