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by Joe Sullivan

The brouhaha over replacement of trees on Market Square has recently obscured the forest. The forest is, of course, the overarching purpose of the Market Square redevelopment plan that City Council approved a year ago: Namely, restoration of commercial vitality on the Square.

That's not to say that maximization of commercial activity should be the end all and be all of the plan. The Square is at the same time the city's most distinctive public space. So a balance is needed between enhancement of its public appeal and private development of the equally distinctive buildings that adjoin it.

The $4 million public space improvement plan recently was approved by Knoxville's Community Development Corp. A small band of critics of the plan harked upon the recommendations of a retailing consultant that vehicular traffic, parking, and sidewalks should be restored to the Square to spur retail activity. In my own view, though, a street and parking running through the Square would unduly impinge upon space available for events such as Sundown in the City concerts, as well as the Square's overall ambiance.

Moreover, even if I disagreed with the decision to exclude those elements, I'm respectful of the public decision-making process that shaped the public space improvement plan. The man who's spearheading Market Square redevelopment, Jon Kinsey, has done a masterful job of building consensus where acrimony was once rampant between property owners and would-be developers who preceded Kinsey, such as Worsham Watkins.

This consensus has been built, however, by deferring the issues that were the primary source of acrimony. These center on the extent to which commercial development of the Square requires a comprehensive set of controls over the business conduct of its property owners and their tenants. These include standards governing types of permitted businesses, their hours of operation, signage, building maintenance, and other quality assurance measures. When Worsham Watkins was seeking selection as the Square's master developer, it was insistent on the need for gaining total control over the property via acquisition, long-term leases, or restrictive covenants. But many of the Square's multiple owners resisted what they perceived to be a coercive threat.

The redevelopment plan adopted by City Council a year ago attempted to allay concerns by substituting the term coordinating developer for master developer. But the plan states that: "KCDC expects that the comprehensive development of the Market Square area will require covenants and restrictions to be recorded that would govern the operation and maintenance of the Market Square area. A number of existing property owners have suggested that the same goal could be achieved through restrictive zoning.... The coordinating developer and property owners that desire to retain their property will be required to agree to subject the property in the Market Square area to these covenants and restrictions or zoning ordinance as a condition to entering into their respective development agreements."

KCDC's chairman, Bill Lyons, insists these provisions still apply. But when it comes to how they are to be carried out, he says, "We wanted to step back and look to Jon Kinsey to take the lead. Kinsey's approach is to seek consensus, and we're obviously not there yet. But we don't have a deadline, we're just keeping in contact with Kinsey to see if our assistance is needed."

When Kinsey's firm was selected as coordinating developer in February, he initially downplayed the formulation of a structure for governing commercial activity on the square. In part, this was a matter of priorities. Kinsey's emphasis was on plans for public space improvements and for a nearby cineplex on Gay Street, which he sees as a prerequisite to drawing enough people into the area to support the mix of restaurants and shops he envisions for the Square. While design of the cineplex is still awaiting selection of an architect and federal funding of the transit facility that's due to be its domicile, Kinsey is now placing more emphasis on governance issues.

"There needs to be a certain level of quality and standards that everybody lives up to, and I believe we'll have near unanimous buy-in on a structure to achieve that," Kinsey reports. His approach to gaining buy-in is through weekly meetings with property owners. He won't be pinned down as to specifics except to say that "there are several options" and that neither zoning nor formation of a property owners association will suffice.

Several participants in these meetings envision formation of an entity with a governing board that would be broadly representative of property owners along with tenants and the city, as owner of the public space. Such an entity, it's suggested, could assume responsibility for managing the public space as well as setting standards for commercial activity.

One way to get property owner acceptance could be to make it a condition of their getting grants from the city for improving their facades. City Council has approved $1.5 million for such grants, and a still unanswered question is what should be the quid pro quo for getting them. Kinsey says that adherence to "a certain level of quality and continuity" should suffice, and he wants to avoid encumbrances that could get in the way of work on façade improvements, along with public space improvements, that are due to start in October for completion by next April.

Lyons and Kinsey have succeeded in keeping the Market Square redevelopment process moving forward on a consensual basis up to now. I'll cast a vote of confidence in their continuing ability to do so on terms that satisfy the KCDC mandate.