KNOXVILLE — Zoning laws are not necessarily the most exciting topic. We get that. But the new zoning laws being considered by City Council will impact every single one of the 73,000 properties in the City of Knoxville.
"It’s a huge deal," said George Wallace, a member of the Knoxville City Council. "It affects every single property in the City of Knoxville and it’s land use."
The city council may soon vote on a plan to revise the city’s zoning code for the first time in more than half a century. The process started more than a year and a half ago and the deadline for this round of public comment ends on Thursday.
Zoning regulates what structures and land can be used for, where a structure may be placed on a lot, and how big that structure can be.
So how will the city change if the zoning codes are revised?
Recode Knoxville will affect all 73,000 properties in the City of Knoxville and what how they can be used.
Take, for example, a block of businesses in Bearden off Kingston Pike.
Commercial buildings line the street right now. But that could change.
A business that is currently a single story building could be rezoned for mixed use. That means the new building could have commercial space down below with apartments up top.
"Zoning in general over the last few decades has really accommodated keeping uses separate. You work here, you shop here, you live here," said Bill Lyons with the City of Knoxville. "Now we’re heading into a much more mixed use situation."
It’s all to accommodate more people moving to the city. We’ve already seen this happen in places like Cumberland Avenue near the University of Tennessee. New apartment complexes with stores and restaurants at the bottom replaced single story shops.
The goal is to keep separate neighborhoods from shopping malls and businesses from homes.
"The intentions of the recode is at the end for it to be zone neutral," said Wallace. "That it would not change the use of a property today under the recode."
Another change you might notice is what you can build onto your house.
The new codes could allow owners to build a guest house in the backyard or a garage on the side. Right now, that isn't allowed.
"Right now, we don't have the correct terminology for you to build that," said Wallace.
So why is the city doing this?
"We do want to accommodate more housing, we want to be able to accommodate more housing at all levels, and we definitely want to be able to accommodate more affordable housing," said Lyons.
The Project began in February of 2017. City Council is currently expected to receive a final version of the proposal in December. It could be several months after that before they actually vote on it.