At last week's commission meeting, commissioners voted to prohibit duplexes and multi family housing (three or more units) to be constructed unless public sewer is available. Also, all duplexes and multi family housing will be required to have a minimum of 20,000 sq ft of land per dwelling. for instance, a duplex would require 40,000 sq. ft. of land for construction, basically, nearly an acre for a duplex.

Compare that to Lenoir City where they allow 24 units per acre in R-3.

Another problem that has continued to be an issue in some areas is cell towers. Commission voted to require 1 to 1 fall zone for cell towers. This means, for instance, a 300' cell tower would have to be 300' away from any property line.

More changes and improvements are in the works for planning and zoning regulations to bring even more protections to property owners and to manage growth.