WATE: Knox County approves controversial Advance Knox plan in policy committee 

KNOXVILLE — A Knox County growth plan advanced by Mayor Glenn Jacob’s administration was approved by the guiding committee behind Advance Knox.

Hellbender Press has reported and opined on the growth plan during its development. The plan was touted as a means of reducing sprawl and accompanying taxpayer-funded infrastructure.

Rural and suburban property owners remain dubious whether the proposed revamp of the original Knox County growth plan will control the countywide development encroaching on their land, according to reporting from WATE:

“Kevin Murphy doubles as an advisory committee member and resident of a rural area. He lives off of Washington Pike and said the area has already started morphing into a suburb.

“‘Today, there’s over 17,000 cars a day that pass by my farm. All this growth will increase that a lot and 17,000 cars a day is a pretty significant amount of noise, litter, light pollution, at all times of the hours, so the character is definitely changing,’ he said.”

The plan still needs to be approved by Knox County Commission, city of Knoxville and the town of Farragut.