VOL. 133 | NO. 93 | Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Memphis City Council members approved historic overlay district status Tuesday, May 8, for the Speedway Terrace neighborhood north of Crosstown Concourse. The approval on third and final reading of the ordinance is the second approval in a month of a district whose standards are governed by the Memphis Landmarks Commission.

The council gave final approval of the status for the Cooper-Young area in April with different standards than the Speedway Terrace provisions.

The Speedway Terrace district covers 21 blocks and 347 plots, not including 26 vacant lots. Two-thirds of the properties are owned by investors who don’t live in the properties.

The historic district status comes with standards for architecture and what can be added on and what must be preserved. Residents supporting the overlay told the council Tuesday that the status is necessary to protect Speedway from infill development that crowds multiple homes onto what had been lots for single homes, without regard to their consistency with the existing style of homes in the area.

Approval of minutes from Tuesday’s council session dealing with the status will be delayed until the council’s first meeting of June, just as the approval of minutes dealing with Cooper-Young’s historic status have also been delayed.

The delay enables the council to craft a companion ordinance that would set more specific standards for how the Landmarks Commission addresses specific issues like demolition and what, if any, changes there are to the appeals process for infill development applications that are denied.

A placeholder for that ordinance was approved by the council Tuesday on the first of three readings.

Currently, a property owner who disagrees with a decision by the Landmarks Commission can appeal to Chancery Court. Some council members favor an appeal that would be decided by the council.

In any event, the ordinances take effect immediately under terms of a Tennessee Supreme Court decision regardless of when the minutes are approved by the council on those matters.

In other action Tuesday, the council approved a set of 240 apartments in four buildings as well as surface parking at 1544 Madison Ave. west of North Avalon Street. The approval included a partial closing of alleys and streets around the footprint.

Council chairman Berlin Boyd, who is a partner in the development, recused himself from the set of three votes – the planned development and the two street/alley closures – but continued to chair the council session as the matter was considered.

The council rejected a special use permit for an auto repair shop on the northwest corner of Firestone and Breedlove avenues. The owner of the shop, which has been in operation for at least five years, sought the permit after leasing the land, but didn’t realize he had no permit to operate the shop.

“That’s not our problem,” said Boyd, whose district includes the site.

Boyd said the shop remains active well into the night, adding he observed people at the shop late at night walking around.

“I know they are not working on cars at midnight,” he said. “Please respect our community just like you respect any other community.”

A plan for a five-lot development of single-family homes at 4171 Poplar Ave. was delayed for two weeks.

And a plan for a construction debris landfill on Holmes Road east of Airways Boulevard was withdrawn by the developers.

The council also approved $2.5 million in improvements to the home locker room at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium with the upgrade to be completed by Sept. 1 and the start of the University of Memphis Tigers football season.

The city administration, meanwhile, is at a contract impasse with seven of the municipal unions representing various city employee groups. That includes the Memphis Fire Fighters Association, Memphis Police Association and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees – the big three of the municipal unions.

Panels of three council members each were selected Tuesday to choose one side’s final offer as the solution to each stalemate.