Knox County, TN Ordinances (2026)

Knox County does not require homeowners to get a permit to remove trees from their own property. Tree preservation is enforced only through development landscaping plans, not through a…

Knox County's Lot Cleanliness chapter carves out a defined 'Natural Landscaped Area' of native plants from its weed and debris nuisance rules, so a deliberately designed native garden…

In unincorporated Knox County, grass and weeds overgrown by more than 12 inches in a residential area violate the county's dirty lot ordinance. Code Administration inspects on…

Backyard campfires and bonfires are allowed in Knox County as recreational fires without an open-burning permit. Keep them attended, away from structures, and burn only clean wood…

Knox County's fire code requires propane cylinders, gas meters and electrical devices to sit at least 15 feet from a building's fire department connection under Sec. 30-32, Section…

Knox County's 2018 Life Safety Code amendments require a fire alarm detection system with smoke or heat detectors in any multiple-occupancy building where at least one occupancy is…

Knox County bans fireworks, firecrackers and torpedoes in every county park under Sec. 27-3(4) of the Code of Ordinances. The same subsection also bars unpermitted firearms, slingshots…

Knox County restricts open burning through its Air Quality Management program. A residential land-management permit lets you burn onsite brush under 3 inches in diameter, only between…

Knox County caps yard sales at three per year per residential property under the zoning ordinance's Article 2 definitions, and treats estate sales the same way. Rummage sales run by an…

Knox County's zoning ordinance exempts agricultural uses that comply with Tennessee's Right to Farm Act from planning commission review, a note repeated in both the Rural Retreat and…

Knox County's RP Rural Preservation Zone recognizes Tennessee's Right to Farm Act: agricultural uses that are lawful under state law and comply with state regulations are exempt from…

Knox County treats habitual barking, whining or other objectionable animal noise as a nuisance violation under Code § 6-33. "Habitual" means continuous noise for ten minutes or…

Knox County's noise chapter exempts routine excavation, construction and demolition from its decibel and nuisance rules, but that exemption drops away between 9:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m…

A Knox County rural retreat, the zoning ordinance's use-on-review category for agritourism and event venues, must disclose its planned sound amplification when applying and keep noise…

Knox County's zoning ordinance sets a sliding decibel ceiling by sound frequency for any use or activity measured at a lot's boundary, ranging from 77 decibels at low frequencies down…

Knox County's general noise chapter drops the residential decibel ceiling from 65 dB(A) in the daytime to 60 dB(A) between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., and separately bans refuse-truck…

Knox County's noise chapter exempts leaf blowers and other domestic power equipment from its noise rules only between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. Running that equipment outside that window…

Every motor vehicle driven in unincorporated Knox County must carry a working muffler running at all times to prevent excessive or unusual noise, and muffler cutouts or similar bypass…

Knox County levies a 5% occupancy tax on gross receipts from hotels, motels, campgrounds, and other lodging including short-term rentals. Operators file a monthly return with the Knox…

Grilling with charcoal or propane is allowed in Knox County; cooking fires are exempt from the open-burning permit. On multi-family balconies, however, the adopted 2018 Fire Code…

Backyard smokers count as cooking fires in Knox County and need no open-burning permit. Use clean cooking wood or charcoal, keep the smoker clear of structures, and follow the same…

Knox County's Zoning Ordinance requires a written building permit from Code Administration and Inspections before erecting or moving any structure, and each accessory structure needs…

Knox County does not require ordinary residential fences, but its Zoning Ordinance mandates opaque screening fences in specific cases, such as a 5-to-6-foot enclosure around off-street…

Political candidate signs in unincorporated Knox County don't need a building permit, but Zoning Ordinance Sec. 3.90.02.H.6 still caps them at 32 square feet, limits display to 30…

Knox County allows digital billboards, called electronic message centers, only as part of a wall or monument sign in the CA, CB, CH, PC, SC, I, LI, BP and EC commercial and industrial…

In Knox County's TC, Town Center Zone, window signs cannot cover more than 10 percent of a storefront's window space. That cap sits inside a five-category sign list, monument, shingle…

A garage sale sign in unincorporated Knox County counts as a temporary sign under Zoning Ordinance Sec. 3.90.05, so it can't be nailed, wired, or tied to a utility pole, tree, stone…

A small family home daycare fits within a home occupation, but a group day care home in unincorporated Knox County is a use-permitted-on-review under Zoning Ordinance 4.91, requiring a…

A home business sign in unincorporated Knox County is capped at two square feet and has to sit at least 20 feet back from the street right-of-way, under Zoning Ordinance Sec…

Knox County allows home occupations in residential zones only if no non-resident works there, no more than 25% of the dwelling's floor area is used, there is no outdoor storage or…

Knox County sets no separate cottage-food rule. Tennessee's Food Freedom Act (T.C.A. 53-1-118) lets you make and sell most homemade, non-hazardous foods without a state license…

Knox County's zoning ordinance requires outdoor lighting used for parking lots, outdoor storage, product display or security to be shielded and aimed away from any lot boundary next to…

Knox County has no formal dark-sky ordinance, but its Zoning Ordinance requires outdoor lighting for parking, storage, display, or security to be shielded and aimed away from…

Knox County parks close from a half hour before sunrise to sunset, and Sec. 27-2 bars anyone from entering or remaining in a county park after sunset without special permission from…

Recycling in Knox County is voluntary, not mandatory. Residents drop recyclables free at Convenience Centers, which take plastic bottles/jugs labeled #1 and #2, mixed paper, cardboard…

Knox County has no curbside yard-waste pickup: residents haul greenwaste, meaning logs, limbs, leaves, grass and brush, to county convenience centers equipped to accept it under Sec…

Knox County runs no curbside garbage or recycling truck outside the incorporated cities: households haul trash themselves to county convenience centers under Sec. 26-129 of the Code of…

Knox County has no curbside trash service, so there are no set trash-cart setout times, but open storage of junk and debris is prohibited on residential lots. Abandoned or inoperable…

Knox County residents can self-haul large items free to a Convenience Center, which accepts hot water tanks, furniture, and small demolition debris from home improvements. Quantity…

Dumping more than ten pounds or 15 cubic feet of waste anywhere in Knox County is aggravated criminal littering under Sec. 26-125, a Class A misdemeanor that becomes a felony on repeat…

Converting a garage into living space in unincorporated Knox County must keep the lot to one dwelling and cannot create a separate second unit. A home occupation may run inside the…

Knox County's own zoning ordinance defines a garage apartment as a dwelling unit built above a private garage, but whether you can build one depends on your zone. The RAE Exclusive…

The Knox County Zoning Ordinance has no separate tiny-home category. A tiny home is treated as a dwelling, and the ordinance allows only one house per lot in residential zones, so a…

A carport in unincorporated Knox County is an accessory structure. It cannot extend into the front yard, must keep an 8-foot side yard (5 feet on deep lots) and at least 5 feet from…

County traffic law bars stopping or parking within five feet of a driveway, fifteen feet of a fire hydrant, twenty feet of a crosswalk, or on a sidewalk or crosswalk itself. Parking…

Knox County has no blanket overnight parking ban for ordinary cars, but heavy trucks over 18,000 pounds and vehicles hauling explosives or more than 50 gallons of flammable liquid may…

Knox County zoning permits one camping/travel trailer, recreational vehicle, hauling trailer, and/or boat trailer per household on a residential lot, stored behind the front building…

Knox County zoning requires each residence to have its off-street parking (a lot, driveway, garage, or combination) on the same lot as the home. RVs and trailers must sit behind the…

Under Knox County Ordinance O-12-09-101, an abandoned or inoperable vehicle cannot be stored on public or private property for more than 48 hours. An inoperable vehicle lacks a running…

Knox County requires commercial loading docks in its EC Employment Center Zone to sit at the rear or side of buildings, set back and permanently screened from neighboring properties…

Knox County zoning permits one commercial vehicle per household in a residential zone, and it may not exceed one and one-half (1.5) tons rated capacity. Vehicles hauling explosives…

Knox County levies a privilege tax on hotel stays under 30 days, capped at 5 percent of the room charge if the county has undertaken a tourist facility, or 3 percent otherwise. The…

Knox County's RA Low Density Residential Zone caps lot coverage at 30 percent: main and accessory buildings combined cannot cover more than three-tenths of any lot. The rule applies…

In the RA Low Density Residential Zone, no main building may exceed 3 stories or 35 feet, and accessory buildings are capped at 18 feet. Farm buildings, chimneys, spires, flagpoles…

In the RA Low Density Residential Zone, Knox County requires a 35-foot front yard, side yards of 8 feet for single-story and 12 feet for taller dwellings, and a 25-foot rear yard…

Knox County prohibits tobacco and vapor product use on the grounds of every public park, public playground, and public greenway the county owns or controls, plus any other public…

Knox County bans soliciting or advertising for alms, funds, or contributions on any public roadway, and bars collecting from anyone inside a moving car on a public road. Sec. 54-1 caps…

Neither drivers nor passengers may keep an open alcoholic beverage or beer in the passenger area of a vehicle anywhere in unincorporated Knox County. Only a manufacturer's unopened…

Skateboarding in Knox County parks is confined to designated spots and paved greenway trails under Sec. 27-8, and every rider in a county skatepark must wear an ANSI-, Snell- or…

Pedestrians crossing a county roadway anywhere other than a marked or unmarked crosswalk must yield the right-of-way to every vehicle on the road. Between two signal-controlled…

Reserving a Knox County park or field for a special event runs through Sec. 27-11(b): file an application with the parks and recreation director, who must find the event will not…

Only the county Department of Engineering and Public Works can close a county roadway to traffic. Anyone else wanting to close a street, including a neighborhood group planning a block…

Knox County licenses festival and parade vendors as "street barkers" under Code § 12-26, lets them cry out to attract customers during recognized festival or parade days as an…

Knox County's Lot Cleanliness chapter of the 2018 IPMC amendments declares overgrown vegetation and accumulated debris a nuisance, caps uncultivated weeds along a lot's public-facing…

Knox County adopted Tennessee's blighted-property statute wholesale, letting the code official order an owner to fix a vacant, blighted or deteriorated property within thirty days…

Any construction or land-disturbing activity in unincorporated Knox County, even work exempt from a stormwater plan, must run erosion prevention and sediment control under Sec. 26-251…

Knox County requires a development permit from the county Engineering Department before any construction, fill or substantial improvement in a FEMA-mapped special flood hazard area…

Knox County's engineering and public works department enforces the Knox County Stormwater Management Ordinance, Sec. 26-151 et seq., across the entire unincorporated county. Violators…

Knox County requires new construction and substantial improvements in mapped flood-hazard areas to elevate the lowest floor at least one foot above the base flood elevation where BFE…

Knox County requires anyone who owns, operates, or works as a tattoo artist to hold a permit from the local health department under Sec. 38-171. Permits require sterilization training…

Knox County requires every sexually oriented business and its employees to hold a county license under Sec. 50-29, with a $100.00 initial and $50.00 annual renewal fee for the business…

Anyone going door to door as a peddler or solicitor in unincorporated Knox County must obtain a county license under Code § 12-28, pay a $50.00 fee, pass a sheriff's office background…

Post a sign reading "Peddlers or Solicitors Prohibited" at a Knox County home or business and it carries the force of law. Knox County Code section 12-30(5) bars every licensed…

Knox County's 2018 International Property Maintenance Code amendments delete the model code's seasonal heating window, so a landlord's duty to supply heat runs every day of the year…

Knox County bans owning, selling or keeping any "wild, exotic, dangerous or nondomesticated animal" countywide under Code Section 6-35(a), defined to include everything classified as a…

Knox County has no breed-specific dog ban. Code Section 6-79 explicitly bars recognizing "any similar such designation by another lawful body, humane society or governmental entity" if…

Knox County classifies "domesticated poultry" as livestock alongside horses, cattle, goats and hogs under Code Section 6-31, so backyard chickens are covered by the same fencing and…

Knox County caps how many dogs and cats a household may keep based on lot size under Code Section 6-34: any lot may hold 1 to 5, but 6 to 10 requires at least 1.5 acres, 11 to 20…

Knox County requires every dog owner to keep the animal "exclusively upon his own premises" or under "direct control" whenever it's off that property, under Code Section 6-32. Direct…

Knox County exempts eartipped, sterilized "community cats" fed by neighborhood caregivers from licensing, stray and at-large enforcement under County Code Section 6-31 and Section…

Before Knox County will permit a private pool, § 10-238(b) requires the pool plans, including the required fence, to be approved by the county health department; the county's…

Private pools in unincorporated Knox County must be walled or fenced at least four feet high and kept in good condition under Code § 10-238, and pool plans cannot be approved for a…

Knox County adopted the 2018 International Plumbing Code by reference under § 10-136, with local amendments that reset permit fees to a county fee resolution, set minimum sewer depth…

Knox County treats rodent or insect infestation as a public health and safety nuisance under Sec. 38-201. The Health Department director can inspect property, order abatement in as…

Knox County treats a mobile food vehicle as a "transient vendor" under Code section 12-31 and bars it from ever setting up on a street, right-of-way, sidewalk, or other public area, or…