City Adds Staff, Software to Streamline Development Services

Knoxville City Council has approved Mayor Indya Kincannon’s proposal to invest in people and technology for its development services operations, in order to provide a more streamlined and predictable process.

Two positions will be added to the City’s Engineering Department and four to its Plans Review and Inspections Department. In addition, the city will continue to contract with Avero Advisors for additional software consulting services to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency for internal and external users.

The expenses will be offset by a revised fee schedule for inspections, permits and renewals, plan reviews, licenses, and appeals for the Department of Plans Review and Building Inspections. The revisions are more straightforward, eliminate several redundancies, and will remain comparable and, in many cases, lower than peer cities such as Chattanooga; Asheville, N.C.; and Greenville, S.C.

Grant Rosenberg, the City’s new Chief Operating Officer, reviewed the proposal with commercial developers, architects, contractors and homebuilders, and emphasized the administration’s commitment to establishing, and achieving, internal benchmarks for turnaround times.

“The development community indicated that they are willing to pay a little more in exchange for more certainty in the process,” Rosenberg said. “This proposal is a big step towards addressing an unprecedented level of investment in our City.”

The City’s investments follow recommendations by Matrix Consulting Group, which was retained last year to assess the development review, permitting, and inspection functions; which one council member described as a decades-long “pain point” for the development community.

The administration and Council have also approved many Matrix recommendations that did not require funding, including but not limited to:

• Eliminating the fees and the requirements for additional trades licenses above what is required by state law.
• Stormwater ordinance amended to require renovations to reach $500,000 (versus 50 percent of the project’s value) before property must meet code.
• Ordinance amended to remove 50 percent rule – project’s value reaches 50 percent of property’s value – requiring landscaping of parking lots.
• Revamped Customer Service strategies, including more front desk support, 311 handling incoming calls, and technical assistance hours for clients.

“When I was elected Mayor, one of my Administration’s top priorities was to make doing business with the City easier, predictable, and customer-focused,” said Mayor Indya Kincannon. “With input from our Developers’ Roundtable, we have made a lot of progress, but we know more can be done. As these final piece fall into place, I am confident that Knoxville will be a model city for quality development.”

Please check back in early 2024 for the updated fee schedule at:  https://permits.knoxvilletn.gov/Home