Knox County, TN
Land Use and Transportation Plan

Knox County, home to the City of Knoxville and the University of Tennessee, has long been a place that attracts new residents, invests in jobs, and has a strong sense of community pride. It is also a place that has seen significant growth that continues to change the area’s character and quality of life, while also putting pressure on the County’s long-term fiscal health. In late 2021, the County launched a process called Advance Knox to define a vision and to create the County’s first comprehensive land-use and transportation plan. The plan, with support of a multidisciplinary team co-led by Planning NEXT, addresses growth areas, development character, and infrastructure priorities within the unincorporated areas.

Guiding zoning with a character-based approach.

The growth framework used a palette of place types that describe the intended future character of places in the County. These types were organized into walkable compact growth, suburban growth, and rural areas. Based on those place types, priority transportation projects were identified covering street modernization, capacity, safety, multimodal, and greenways. The resulting recommendations serve as a guide for future zoning and regulatory updates as well as a capital investment plan.

Conducting extensive community involvement.

The 18-month Advance Knox planning effort included a series of meetings with two committees (an advisory committee and a technical committee), two subcommittees (one with schools and one with utility providers), three rounds of public input opportunities (each with in-person and online activities), and briefings with County and municipal elected officials to ensure that all County community members felt heard.

Facilitating a data-driven process.

The effort was highly data-driven. To create the growth framework, the Team modeled and communicated the impacts of different patterns of growth relative to eight goal topics (infrastructure investment, housing options, community character, economic growth, transportation, conservation, workforce, and recreation).

Related News

Final Plan Document

Advance Knox Comprehensive Land Use and Transportation Plan

Tags

Project Type: land use and transportation plan
Community Type: county
Client: Knox County
Services: comprehensive planning, land use planning, transportation planning, public engagement, social media and online engagement