The future of Knox County could look something like this:

The draft plan envisions growth into some of the county's rural areas.

• Town center developments on Middlebrook Pike in West Knox County, Alcoa Highway to the south and Norris Freeway in Halls.
• Compact walkable neighborhoods and mixed-use developments clustered on or near major existing commercial corridors
• A network of greenways connecting suburban and rural areas from north to south and east to west.

Those are just some of the highlights of the “preferred scenario” presented Monday as the county and its consultants kicked off a week of meetings seeking input on draft proposals produced by the Advance Knox planning process.

“We want to make good use of infrastructure, we're concerned about the economy and workforce, we want to provide more housing options,” Kevin Tilbury, a transportation planner with consultants Kimley-Horn, told a small crowd Monday afternoon at the Charles W. Cansler YMCA in East Knoxville. “We want to make sure whatever development we do does not impact transportation. And we want to have more access to recreational opportunities.”

The meeting kicked off a week of public input sessions, including two planned virtual meetings for those who can’t attend in person. (Full schedule here.) In addition, the proposed plan is available online for feedback through April 9.

This is the third round of public input in the Advance Knox process, which kicked off a year ago. It is building toward the first update in 20 years of the county’s General Plan, which lays out a broad vision for growth and development. It also folds in a comprehensive transportation plan, looking at needs ranging from increased roadway capacity to better greenway and pedestrian connections.

Tilbury said the “preferred scenario” presented this week incorporates feedback from earlier stages, as well as existing land uses and plans. (The greenway network, for example, is in sync with the county’s 2020 Greenway Corridor Study.)

The plan contemplates only the unincorporated parts of Knox County, since the City of Knoxville and the Town of Farragut have their own adopted plans. It would provide multiple options for future residential and commercial growth.

Tilbury said it still envisions a significant amount of subdivision development, in line with existing single-family housing patterns. The proposed map includes a ring of “suburban residential” development, effectively encircling city-limits Knoxville. (It’s colored pale yellow on the map.)

“We know it’s not going to go away entirely,” Tilbury said of the conventional subdivision model. “But what this scenario does is instead of saying, ‘This is all the county is going to grow like in the future,’ we're saying it's going to continue to grow a little bit like this, but we're going to balance it out with rural and more compact walkable placetypes too.”

In terms of transportation infrastructure, the map identifies five types of future projects:

• capacity improvements, including widening existing roads and building new connectors;
• modernization projects, in many cases widening and improving two-lane roads in rural areas;
• safety audits and improvements, particularly at busy or dangerous intersections;
• new or extended greenway corridors;
• and pedestrian enhancements like sidewalks and safe street crossings.

The plan proposes more than 100 specific transportation-related projects across the county. At the public meetings and on the online survey, participants are asked to identify their top priorities among those.

Jim Snowden, Knox County’s senior director engineering and public works, said he was somewhat surprised by feedback during earlier phases of the process showing support for more greenway and pedestrian access in all corners of the county.

“I think it’s just generationally that people are wanting to have more walkable communities,” he said in an interview at the Cansler YMCA meeting. “That is something that surprised me a little bit. I think it's a good thing, though. Because ultimately that takes the strain off of our roadway network, and we have good pedestrian connections.”

Tilbury said the kind of growth envisioned around commercial nodes and town center developments would make it possible for more people to live within walking distance of shopping, dining and recreation areas. That could bring environmental benefits in addition to health and lifestyle benefits.

“Knox County is sort of set up (for) driving now,” Tilbury said. “It's going to be really hard to change that overnight. So there are a couple of ways that we can do that. We can provide more opportunities for people to walk and ride bikes. And then we can also make origins and destinations closer together so that if you do have to drive, you’re driving less, which translates into lower greenhouse gas emissions.”

The draft map designates rural areas in the northern, eastern and southern reaches of the county primarily for “rural living” — meaning low-density residential areas — punctuated by some commercial “rural crossroads.” A small number of areas are marked as “rural conservation,” meaning they wouldn’t be planned for development.

Snowden acknowledged that the map has less area designated “rural” than the county’s existing Growth Policy Plan, jointly adopted in 2001 by the county, the City of Knoxville and the Town of Farragut. Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs has long said that the rural boundaries in the growth plan are outdated and hamper the county’s ability to grow.

Jacobs tried to amend the growth plan in 2019, which by state law would have required the consent of both the city and Farragut. Knoxville City Council approved the changes, but the Farragut Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted them down.

Snowden said that the extensive Advance Knox process will provide a solid foundation for revisiting the growth plan. He said Jacobs expects to reconvene a growth policy committee — also required by state law — in May, to consider the recommendations produced by Advance Knox. Changes to the growth plan will still need approval from the city and Farragut.

All county plans must comply with the growth plan, so the new General Plan being developed through Advance Knox would follow after the growth plan is revised.

At Monday evening’s work session of Knox County Commission, at-large Commissioner Kim Frazier urged county residents to get involved in the process, either through this week’s meetings or the Advance Knox website.

“For years we have heard that you want a voice in the plans and the growth of Knox County,” she said. “This is your opportunity.”