Vol. 1 — No. 5Weekend Episode · Thu–Sun, Jul 16–19, 2026 · South Knoxville, TN★ soknoear.com
Vol. 1 — No. 5 · Jul 16–19★ soknoear.com
The South Knoxville Ear — We Hear Things.
What’s Happening ThursdayWhat’s Happening FridayWhat’s Happening SaturdayWhat’s Happening Sunday
See
JUL
16
Merry Wives of Windsor opens
7:30 PM · Ijams Park · pay-what-you-can
JUL
17
Spicy Rita Friday
4–6 PM · Earl's, 610 Waterfront Dr
JUL
17
King Henry V opens
7:30 PM · Ijams Park
JUL
17
Evening Paddle
7:30 PM · Ijams River Club
JUL
18
Storytelling at the Playscape
10 AM · Ijams Park
JUL
18
Disco Chicken turns one
All day · Kern's
JUL
18
Third-place match
5:00 PM · Kern's
JUL
19
Self Care Sunday yoga
11:30 AM · Ijams Park
JUL
19
WORLD CUP FINAL
3:00 PM · Kern's big screen
Old Sevier

The Sevier Ave rezoning is dead — and the Kerbela apartments got sent back

The Planning Commission followed its staff and denied all three actions on 2704 Sevier Avenue. The 220-unit Kerbela project didn't get a yes or a no. It got a remand.

Heard
Thu, Jul 9 · Planning Commission
2704 Sevier Ave
Denied — all three actions
315 Kerbela Ave
Remanded to committee
The gavel came down

We flagged this one in June, when it was still a quiet request to take a single house at 2704 Sevier Avenue from residential to neighborhood commercial. Last week we told you it was finally getting its hearing and that Planning staff was recommending denial. Here's the payoff: the Commission denied it. Not just the rezoning — all three linked actions went down together. The sector plan amendment, the one-year plan amendment, and the rezoning itself.

The reasoning in the record is blunt. The rezoning "does not meet all of the criteria," and the land-use change would be "an encroachment of a commercial land use classification in a residential area" — a block that already has commercial corners within six hundred feet in both directions. Three for three, staff's language straight through.

The bigger item on the same agenda went sideways instead. The roughly 220-unit, 55-and-up apartment complex proposed for the old Kerbela Shriners Temple site on the bluff — the one that drew nine public comments, seven of them opposed — didn't get approved and didn't get denied. It got remanded back to the Administrative Review Committee, which was the third door staff had left open. The project's seven requests to bend the South Waterfront code go back to committee, and the bluff stays undecided a while longer.

Two developments, two very different kinds of no. The applicant on the rezoning can appeal to City Council; we couldn't confirm a filing deadline, so don't take a date from us on that one.

Top Stories & Events

More From This Weekend

Ijams ParkThuFriSatSun

Shakespeare takes the Ijams Park lawn — and opening night is pay-what-you-can

Two openings in two nights: The Merry Wives of Windsor Thursday, King Henry V Friday, then they trade off all weekend. Every Thursday show is pay-what-you-can.

Read the story
Kern'sSun

Spain's in the final. Tickets start at $7,253 — or you could walk to Kern's.

The World Cup ends Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. The cheapest seat in the building costs about as much as a used car. South Knoxville has a big screen and a shorter drive.

Read the story
Kern'sSat

Disco Chicken turns one — with a gluten-free festival and a silent disco

Knoxville's first all-gluten-free restaurant marks a year at Kern's on Saturday: a festival all day, and a silent disco that picks up where the third-place match leaves off.

Read the story
Suttree LandingFri

Spicy Rita Friday at Earl's — and you'll still make curtain

Nine-dollar spicy pineapple margaritas from 4 to 6 on Waterfront Drive, plus a dollar off liquor, beer, and wine.

Read the story
Ijams ParkFri

An evening paddle — and a Friday night scheduling problem

Friday at 7:30, Ijams Park puts you on the river at dusk. Friday at 7:30, King Henry V opens on the lawn. You're going to have to pick one.

Read the story
Ijams ParkSatSun

Two gentle ones at Ijams Park: storytelling Saturday, yoga Sunday

Stories on the Nature Playscape Saturday morning, Self Care Sunday yoga in the trees at 11:30. And a heads-up for the bird people.

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Old SevierSun

Sunday Funday is still pouring

Hi-Wire's noon-to-nine Sunday special holds: $6 Bloody Marys, $5 mimosas. Kickoff is at 3, for whatever that's worth to your planning.

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