Infill Housing Guidelines Help Re-Establish Character of Historic Neighborhoods

For sale: Charming single story, two-bedroom Craftsman bungalow in historic Knoxville neighborhood. Large front porch, clapboard siding, mature trees. Built in 2009.

That's not a typo. Many of Knoxville's oldest neighborhoods have seen new housing in recent years that complements nearby existing homes and preserves the historic look and feel of the original communities. Houses built on vacant or rundown lots are more compatible with their surrounding neighborhoods because of a development tool put in place in 2006, the Heart of Knoxville Infill Housing Guidelines.

Infill Housing Guidelines foster architectural harmony and neighborhood stability, re-creating more pedestrian-oriented streets while meeting a wide range of housing needs. The guidelines give attention to setbacks, parking, scale, foundation height, porches, windows, and roof pitch. To administer the guidelines, MPC created the Infill Housing Zoning Overlay (IH-1) for Lonsdale, Oakwood-Lincoln Park, and Edgewood neighborhoods. These communities comprise a portion of the Heart of Knoxville?the original "trolley neighborhoods" that formed a ring surrounding downtown, and which also include Five Points, Magnolia, Park City, South Knoxville, Beaumont, and Fort Sanders.

Development proposals in IH-1 areas are reviewed by MPC's Infill Housing Design Review Committee. It is comprised of MPC staff, City of Knoxville Plans Review, Engineering, and Community Development staff, and representatives of the East Tennessee Community Design Center. Since the inception of the overlay, the committee has issued 87 certificates of approval for new construction, additions, changes in driveway configuration, changes in porches, and platting.

The City of Knoxville's Community Development Department also has been following Heart of Knoxville Infill Housing Guidelines to design city-funded projects, ensuring that their new houses fit within the historic fabric of long-time Knoxville communities. Since the Department's program began six years ago, 96 houses have been approved by its own Infill Housing Committee.

MPC and City of Knoxville staffs are crafting a new base zone that could be used for all Heart of Knoxville neighborhoods where the majority of the lots are less than 75 feet wide. This new zone, called Heart of Knoxville Residential Zone (RHK-1), is similar to Infill Housing Guidelines. It too seeks harmonious housing design and avoids redevelopment hardships associated with small lots. Establishment of RHK-1 could replace MPC and Community Development infill processes and expedite housing reviews, giving Heart of Knoxville neighborhoods a new tool to preserve architectural character while promoting housing designs that are usable and economically achievable.

Posted 7-05-2012, written by Jeff Archer