Development Activity in Knox County: 2000 to 2010 Summary

Between 2000 and 2010, Knoxville and Knox County saw considerable development activity amid a period of local and national economic boom and bust. The past 11 years contributed nearly 38,000 new units to the local inventory of homes, businesses, and public facilities. Activity fluctuated widely during this time, peaking at 4,000 or more units mid-decade and falling sharply in the last couple of years.

MPC's newest Technical Report, Development Activity in Knox County, 2000 to 2010, provides a look at more than a decade of development activity in Knox County by examining building permits, rezonings, and subdivisions. Summary information is presented for Knox County and by planning sector (12 sub-areas comprising the county) to give an overview of local trends.

Among the development activity highlights:

• From 2000 to 2010, a total of 37,903 new residential and commercial building units were completed.
• For every 17 new units constructed in Knox County in the past 11 years, one existing unit was demolished.

• Residential units accounted for 94 percent of all construction projects countywide.

• The largest single-year addition of housing units occurred in 2004 with 4,467, while the fewest were built in 2009, the total falling to 1,483.

• Detached houses comprised 58 percent of all residential construction, followed by apartments (20 percent), condos/townhomes (15 percent), and mobile homes (seven percent).

• On average, about 200 non-residential building projects were approved each year since 2000, the bulk of which were commercial projects (79 percent).
• From 2000 through 2010, more than 1,800 rezoning requests were approved in Knox County, almost evenly split between residential and non-residential approvals. In total land area rezoned, though, the split favored residential acreage, accounting for 65 percent (16,208 acres), while non-residential comprised 35 percent (8,626 acres) of the total.
• Over 2,300 subdivisions were approved in Knox County over the past 11 years, roughly 215 each year, comprising almost 24,000 new building lots.
• The average residential subdivision was 9.7 acres in size with 13 lots.
• Consistent with other indicators of development activity, new subdivision approvals peaked in 2005, with 3,926 lots, and remained high in 2006, with 3,631 lots. A steady and steep decline occurred each year since then, plummeting to 562 new residential building lots approved in 2010.

Posted 2-15-2012, written by Bryan Berry