Agency Overview

Create healthy, vibrant communities, where all residents engage, home and travel choices fulfill, businesses thrive, and natural and cultural treasures inspire.

Our Mission

• Promote healthy, vibrant communities through comprehensive planning and land use management
• Involve residents in an open planning process
• Provide objective advice to public officials
• Serve as an information resource for all

Guiding Principles

• Customer Service 
  Serving our community is the core of our work. We constantly strive to be responsive, relevant, and accessible to residents, businesses, organizations, and officials.
• Ethics
  Professional ethics guide the recommendations we make, advice we offer, and information we share. We follow the Codes of Ethics of the American Planning Association and the American Institute of Certified Planners.
• Equity
  We are committed to advancing equity and seeking outcomes that address systemic disparities.
• Communication and Engagement
  Internal and external communication is crucial to the success of our work. We look for new ways to reach and involve the community in open planning processes, and we are timely, effective, inclusive, respectful, and transparent when sharing information.
• Continuous Improvement
  We hold our work to the highest professional standards and best practices, continuously pursuing opportunities for improvement. Ongoing education and staff training are encouraged to improve our processes and products.

Planning Services

The Planning Services Division studies community growth patterns and prepares plans that guide agency policy.

Community facilities, neighborhood planning, and commercial corridors are part of the work of this division.

In addition, Planning Services staff partners with the city and county staff to administer zoning ordinances, county zoning resolution, and subdivision regulations. Applications for rezoning, use on review, subdivision and sector plan amendments are reviewed monthly and a recommendation regarding each application is prepared. Amendments to the One Year Plan are reviewed quarterly with recommendations made in April, July, October, and January. The department is responsible for published notices, posting of notices on property, and community meetings concerning pending applications. Staff assigns addresses for city and county streets and land parcels.

• General Plan
• Sector Plans
• Special Reports
• Small Area Studies
• Corridor Plans
• Rezonings
• Subdivisions
• Site Plan Review
• Zoning Code Amendment
• One-Year Plan Update
• Customer Assistance
• Address Assignment

Information Services

This division provides the website, computer mapping, graphic design, public relations, and reference services to the agency.

The Geographic Information System (GIS), a computerized database and mapping system operates from these divisions. Planning graphic design and publications are also part of the work. Keeping current statistics, reports, and maps is an integral activity of these divisions which closely coordinates with programs of citizen information and participation.

• Library
• Public Information
• Demographic and Economic Data
• Development Reports
• Graphic Design
• Website
• Computerized Mapping (GIS)

Transportation Planning

The Transportation Planning Division acts as staff to the Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization (TPO).

The TPO is a transportation planning board serving the urbanized area of Knox, Blount, Loudon, and Sevier counties and is responsible for developing a twenty-year long range plan and a transportation improvement program in cooperation with the state and affected transit operators and the public.

• Transportation
• Traffic Engineering
• Title VI
• Traffic Control Studies
• Intermodal
• Public Involvement

The Executive Director

The Executive Director is appointed by the City and County Mayors to fulfill assigned City Charter and state law responsibilities and tasks requested by city/county government officials or their agencies.

The executive director oversees the work program and staff activities, works closely with public and private agencies to obtain input into planning studies, and serves as technical advisor to the Planning Commissioners and to the Board of County Commissioners and the City Council. The executive director appoints three division managers to lead Planning's major departments and to oversee a professional staff.

Library

The Planning Library is a source and clearinghouse for all published information and reports.

Citizens who need or desire information regarding population, housing, employment, transportation, and much more may avail themselves of the services of the library.

As a regional planning commission, the Commission has the following authority and responsibilities...

• Prepare and adopt a General Plan that places under a single cover, long-range policies for land use, utilities, recreation, transportation, public facilities, and other concerns

• Review subdivision regulations and site plans approving those proposals that encourage the harmonious development of the community and create conditions favorable to health, safety, convenience and prosperity

• Prepare and recommend zoning ordinances and maps for the city and county

• Review proposed zoning amendments and advise legislative bodies on the appropriate zoning action

• Review proposed capital improvements and advise the appropriate legislative body regarding project necessity, feasibility and compliance with long range plans

• Promote coordination between various agencies and different levels of government

Additional Resposibilities

The Knoxville City Charter further requires Knoxville-Knox County Planning to prepare five- and 15-year comprehensive development plans. Each sector plan that staff prepares for the city contains these elements. The Charter also requires Planning to annually update the land-use policies that form the legal basis for zoning decisions in Knoxville. These policies are embodied in the One Year Plan and effectively link zoning and comprehensive planning. In 2002, the City Charter was amended to require Planning to prepare an annual report on the preservation of historic structures and districts within the city.

Planning performs special purpose studies and analyses of significant issues commissioned by city or county government, e.g. voting district boundary revisions, impact studies for major development proposals, and annexation studies.

A Capital Improvements Program is submitted to the city each year that includes capital expenditures for the ensuing fiscal year, the capital budget, and a projected five-year capital improvements program. Capital improvement programs specify the location, timing, priority, estimated cost and financing method of public capital expenditures. The Planning Commission makes recommendations to the Knoxville City Council on all capital improvements.

Title 13 of the Tennessee Code authorizes municipal and regional planning commissions to regulate land use and conduct other planning activities.

Knoxville-Knox County Planning's goal is to ensure our work is accessible to as many people as possible.

Website

If you come across a page or document that you are unable to access, please contact us at contact@knoxplanning.org and we will work with you to satisfy a reasonable request.

Public Meetings

If you need assistance or accommodation, please notify us at contact@knoxplanning.org three business days in advance of the meeting and we will be glad to work with you to satisfy any reasonable request.

Translation Services

If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or need translation services, please contact us at contact@knoxplanning.org.