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City Council votes to approve second readings of Recode Knoxville

After years of planning and back-and-forth debate, city leaders have come to an agreement on a major overhaul to Knoxville's zoning ordinance.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — On Tuesday, Knoxville City Council voted in favor of the second readings of an amended zoning overhaul that is set to take effect next year. 

Knoxville City Council voted 7-2 in favor of passing the new zoning map, and 8-1 in favor of the combined text and map changes as part of Recode Knoxville.

With the zoning overhaul approved, the city next will work on making confirmations and clarifications on amendments that were requested via the public stakeholder advisory committee -- who were appointed by Mayor Madeline Rogero.

The committee is in charge of identifying issues, reviewing drafts of the ordinance, and acting as a liaison between organizations and groups they represent for zoning updates. 

Once these are squared away, Recode Knoxville is set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2020.

Recode Knoxville is an overhaul plan of the city's zoning ordinance. In July,  leaders approved the text portion of Recode but still had issues with the zoning map. After a few hours of discussion on amendments at a following session, city leaders approved the proposed zoning map.

The map is part of the ordinance that shows the zoning districts in the city. The discussion included more than 30 proposed revisions to the map.

RELATED: Knoxville leaders vote in favor of Recode Knoxville text, but postpone map vote until end of July

Several revisions were requested for residential areas listed in Recode Draft 4. Many of those requests are to list the area as a single-family residential neighborhood or a general residential neighborhood. Other revisions apply to Offices and General Commercial Use Properties. 

Council members and other leaders were still able to request and submit changes to the planning commission to be considered during a window lasting into August and possibly September.

The Metropolitan Planning Commission will then need to consider any changes by November to be placed on the agenda for December.

According to Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero, Recode won't raise taxes or change rules for most properties, and will also be a living document that can be amended and changed.

RELATED: "It's a huge deal." Recode Knoxville could change zoning laws

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