Knox County Comprehensive Land Use and Transportation Plan

Knox County’s current Comprehensive Plan hasn’t been updated in almost 20 years.

During that time, the county has experienced significant growth and change. Advance Knox, the process to update that plan, has provided a unique opportunity to align land use and transportation goals to create a blueprint for the county’s future.

The purpose of this plan is to provide recommendations for land use and transportation – it outlines policies and recommendations on how the county can guide future development and preservation. It will inform land use maps, small area plans and studies, and zoning. In addition to policies and action items, the draft plan includes newly defined place types which can be found within the document and on the Future Land Use Map. These identify a wide variety of places, including several that are not seen within the unincorporated county today, providing more options for residential and mixed-use developments in the future. The place type locations were determined based on existing conditions, infrastructure, trends in land use, population, and the natural environment. Feedback from community members, groups and organizations, businesses, stakeholders, utility districts, emergency services, and the school board helped finalize their locations.

When it goes into effect, the Comprehensive Plan will replace the General Plan from 2003 and sector plans within unincorporated Knox County. The county recognizes the important research, community context, and public input that informed sector plans, which is why they were used to draft the proposed Comprehensive Plan. Panorama, a tool created and maintained by Planning staff, will also help maintain the important context previously found in sector plans. This tool provides the same information found in background reports, but is updated frequently and allows users to stay informed of trends and conditions within various geographic areas. Adopted small area studies and corridor studies were also consulted during the creation of the Comprehensive Plan. These will remain as stand-alone documents and will continue to be developed as future needs arise.

For more information about the Comprehensive Land Use and Transportation Plan, as well as archived information related to the Advance Knox process, please visit advanceknox.org or contact the project team at contact@advanceknox.org.