6. Respect and Nurture Our Heritage Areas.

Heritage resources are natural or man-made features that contribute to a distinctive sense of place. Good candidates for heritage areas should have natural, historic or related attributes and some unifying element such as a river, a roadway or an architectural theme. Heritage area initiatives focus on interrelated issues, such as landscape protection, historic preservation, economic development, environmental protection and preservation of community character. Some of the heritage resources that distinguish Knoxville and Knox County from other metropolitan areas include historic sites and districts, river and creek corridors, ridges, hills, scenic highways like Pellissippi Parkway and Governor John Sevier Highway and historic corridors like the French Broad River and Emory Road.

Principles and Concepts:

• Prime agricultural land should be protected for continued farm use.
• The landscape of the rural areas designated in the Growth Policy Plan should be conserved, including open space, historic sites and farm buildings.
• Conserve and enhance the landscape associated with historic and scenic corridors, including highways, rural roads and the rivers.
• Ridges, woodlands and waterways should be protected for wildlife and plant habitat.
• Historic neighborhoods and buildings should be preserved.

By clustering housing, farms and open spaces can be conserved.

Historic communities, like Concord, are a heritage resource.

Prime farm land and ridges should be preserved.

Historic neighborhoods should be preserved.

This is not a legal document. It does not replace or amend the existing procedures and regulations governing the publication of agency information. If you have questions, please contact MPC by telephone at (865) 215-2500.