Existing Land Use

Map 6: Existing Land Use

 

A few significant observations regarding existing land uses are:

• Office-related uses in Southwest County make up 1.6 percent of the land mass, slightly lower than Knox County as a whole, with approximately 2.1 percent office.
• Industrial uses are almost non-existent.
• The proportion of single-family residential is very high; only 564 acres or 1.6 percent of the land is being used for multi-unit dwellings.
• Retail commercial consists of 964 acres or 2.7 percent of the sector. This is higher than the countywide average of 2 percent, reflecting the position of this sector in relation to regional highways and the substantial buying power of the area residents.

Figure 3: 2003 Land Use

Office Uses are an important part of the economy.

Recently improved Parkside Drive provides access to a thriving commercial area.

Table 3: 2003 Land Use

Residential Trends
Residential growth continues with a large concentration of subdivisions recently built off Northshore Drive and in the Choto area. Almost nine out of ten southwest county residents live in single-family, owner-occupied housing. On average these are the largest houses in Knox County. In places, low-density land zoned planned residential at up to five units per acre has developed with a mix of detached, attached condo and multi-family apartment uses. The overall density for these properties is still considered low density. Those residents living in rental units are paying the highest average rent for their housing in all of Knox County. Other housing trends and characteristics include:

• Nearly 90 percent of the housing units have been built in the last 35 years.
• Average home value is just over $200,000, second only to the West City Sector.
• Largest percentage of housing growth for all of Knox County between 1990 - 2000 with 32 percent of the housing starts.

Table 4:
Number of Housing Units by Year Structure Built

Mallard Bay subdivision in the Choto area.

Figure 4: Residential Building Permits 2000-2004

Figure 5:
Percentage Share of Total Population Growth, 1999-2000

Based on 2000 US Census figures.

Commercial Trends
A commercial development corridor exists and continues to grow west along Kingston Pike and the newly expanded Parkside Drive. Shopping centers, specialty retail and automobile sales dominate the land use along these two corridors. Turkey Creek with its big-box retail (for example, Wal-Mart and Target) and other national chain stores is a regional shopping destination. Several new local and national restaurants have also opened.

Highway-oriented commercial centers are positioned at the Interstate 40/75 interchanges, including Cedar Bluff, Lovell Road, Campbell Station Road and Watt Road. Each of these areas experienced substantial growth over the past decade. The Cedar Bluff exit offers many hotel/motel options as well as a variety of restaurants and shopping centers.

Watt Road near the junction of I-40 and I-75 is a major hub for interstate trucking. Access to those facilities has become a problem with local traffic and interstate truck-oriented traffic becoming congested frequently.

Office Trends
Based on MPC’s 2003 Office Market Analysis, Southwest County has nearly 2 million square feet of rentable office space. Most of the office space is concentrated in the Cedar Bluff area and along Kingston Pike. The Pellissippi area continues to grow its medical presence with the recent opening of Baptist Health System’s 197,000-square-foot hospital, Children’s West Surgery Center and the 93,000-square-foot Physician’s Plaza. Several new office park developments are nearing completion along Northshore near Pellissippi Parkway.

Industrial and Wholesale Distribution Trends
A relatively small proportion of the sector’s land is devoted to manufacturing and wholesale uses. Wholesale uses remain concentrated along Parkside Drive east of Pellissippi. Much of the sector’s wholesale activity consists of distribution centers. Some of the larger facilities include Goody’s Family Clothing, CVS Pharmacy and Peebles Distribution.

Pip's Ironworks on Ebenezer Road is the
only heavy industrial in the sector