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It
is unlikely that these pioneers could have imagined that Knoxville and
surrounding hamlets would one day grow into a metropolitan complex with
nearly 400,000 inhabitants spread over 525 square miles. It is even
less likely they could have foreseen that each year a land area more
than 50 times the size of the original Knoxville town site would be
developed.
In
the year 2001 Metropolitan Planning Commission (MPC) staff began working
with groups of citizens who recognize the importance of planning for
the future. These efforts resulted in an updated General Plan for Knoxville
and Knox County. The core of the plan is the Agenda for Quality Growth—a
vision statement and guiding principles for preserving the best aspects
of our quality of life and making Knoxville’s future an even better
place. The vision and principles are backed up by a short but ambitious
list of projects and proposals for improving the economy, environment
and quality of life of Knoxville and Knox County.
The
General Plan also serves as an umbrella document that incorporates more
specialized plans, including sector plans, facility plans and small
area plans. These elements provide more specific guidance for plan implementation,
community development and capital improvements financing.
What
is the General Plan?
As the official 30-year comprehensive plan for Knoxville and Knox County,
the General Plan outlines a long-range vision and policy framework for
physical and economic development. The plan is a cooperative effort,
created through a public participation process that involved community
members with varied viewpoints and interests.
The
proposals in this plan confront problems such as suburban sprawl, traffic
and loss of green space by proposing compact growth in the suburbs,
aggressive revitalization of the central area of the city, protection
of existing neighborhoods and conservation of rural land.The
plan also recognizes that economic development and quality of life are
inseparable. Creating quality neighborhoods, schools, parks and public
spaces requires a strong, sustainable economy.
This
plan represents —in words and pictures—a preferred future for Knoxville
and Knox County.
How
is the Plan Used?
The plan offers an ambitious, but realistic vision of what Knoxville
and Knox County can become over the next three decades. It gives the
MPC, the Knox County Commission and the Knoxville City Council a policy
framework for making day-to-day decisions about the timing, location,
character and extent of development. The plan identifies areas that
should be conserved and areas that can be responsibly used to meet the
needs of our growing population. By providing a long-range perspective,
it helps the city and county governments anticipate changes in services
and capital improvements that citizens will expect.
The
plan gives the private sector a statement of the intent of the Planning
Commission and the city and county governments regarding future growth
and revitalization. The ongoing public participation process provides
a way to involve business people, neighborhood groups and citizens in
making development recommendations to the Planning Commission and governing
bodies.
Legal
Requirements
The Tennessee planning enabling legislation requires that any planning
commission or municipality with a zoning ordinance prepare a general
plan. The plan must, at a minimum, address the general location, character
and extent of development. The planning enabling act also requires any
planning commission that has adopted subdivision regulations to prepare
a major thoroughfare plan as a basis for coordination of the development
of land with a long-range plan for roads.
A
relatively new state law, Public Chapter 1101, also requires each county
and its constituent cities and towns to prepare a “growth plan” designating
urban growth boundaries, planned growth areas, and rural areas. This
plan is legally binding on planning commissions and local governments.
The Knoxville-Knox County-Farragut Growth Policy Plan has been effective
since July 1, 2000.
At
the local level, the Knoxville City Charter requires the preparation
and annual review of a comprehensive plan for development of the city,
with 5- and 15-year elements and an annual review process. Finally,
both the city and county zoning ordinances require decisions on rezonings
and development plan approvals to be consistent with the General Plan.
Planning
Process
This plan was created through a citizen driven planning process. Although
MPC staff coordinated the writing, illustration and production of the
plan, much of the content was produced or inspired by “citizen planners”
who participated in the General Plan project. The process started in
the spring of 2001 with neighborhood workshops. Citizens were guided
through a visioning process to provide the basic ideas for the foundation
of the new plan. They answered a series of questions:
- What
are some characteristics of successful neighborhoods?
- Looking
at a broader area, what are some characteristics of successful communities?
- Can
you suggest some neighborhoods, shopping and employment areas that
are examples for future development?
- What
are some characteristics of a successful transportation system?
- What
would you like to see protected?
- What
would you like to see changed?
- Are
there other characteristics that create a good quality of life that
have not been mentioned?
As
an alternative to attending workshops, other citizens participated by
filling out a survey via the Internet. Another source of inspiration
was the database of over 8,000 individual ideas collected in 2000 by
the Nine Counties One Vision regional planning group.
The
participants’ ideas were recorded and grouped thematically for use in
the next stage of the process. Working groups met during the summer
of 2001 and drafted detailed vision statements, which included desired
outcomes and implementation actions. Their work formed the core of the
new plan.
The
six working groups and their chairpersons were: Community Conservation
and Revitalization, Sherry Young; Economic Vitality, Melissa Zeigler;
Environmental Conservation and Rural Development, Patrice Cole; Mobility,
Cindy Pionke; Parks and Community Facilities, Doug Bataille and Susan
Kerr; Suburban Growth and Development, Annette Winston.
A
coordinating committee consisting of the chair of each working group
and staff facilitators refined the vision statements to reconcile inconsistencies
and overlapping ideas. MPC staff presented the draft plan at a series
of public meetings in the spring of 2002, inspiring further refinements
and ideas which are included in the final draft presented for adoption
to the Planning Commission, City Council and County Commission. Presentations
on the final draft took place in the winter of 2003. Feedback from those
presentations indicates widespread support among a variety of community
interests.
Organization
of the Plan
The remainder of the plan includes:
- Chapter
2—Vision Statement—a detailed vision statement created by citizens
that describes what Knoxville and Knox County should be like in thirty
years.
- Chapter
3—Agenda for Quality Growth—highlights ten major ideas developed through
the public participation process. The ideas reaffirm community values
and provide a vision for Knoxville and Knox County, serving as a ‘theme’
for the updated General Plan. Principles and concepts illustrated
in this section express a fundamental desire for quality development.
- Chapter
4—Action Proposals—outlines the key projects targeted for implementation
over the next several years.
- Chapter
5—Plan Elements—incorporates a number of more detailed, specialized
plans for public facilities (such as roads and parks) and geographic
areas, including sectors.
- Chapter
6—Planning Framework—identifies preferred areas for development, revitalization
and conservation and illustrates future land use based on the sector
plans. Also outlines the basic building blocks, including the neighborhood
unit concept.
- Chapter
7—Development Polices—provides written and graphic policies that support
the Agenda for Quality Growth.
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