Knox County, TN Parking Rules: Loading Zones (2026)

The EC, Employment Center Zone is Knox County's district for business parks and industrial employers, and its site development standards address loading directly under Sec. " Every loading dock must sit at the rear or side of a building, never facing the street, and if the lot's shape, topography, wetlands or sinkholes make a rear dock infeasible, a side dock is allowed only if landscaping screens it from neighboring properties and public rights-of-way. Truck and trailer parking is held to that same rear-or-side rule. Docks also have to be set back and permanently screened, whether by landscaping, berming or an architectural screen, so neighboring properties and passersby are not looking at an open loading area.

The ordinance goes further than placement: vehicle maneuvering for loading and unloading is barred from abutting rights-of-way outright, so a truck backing into a dock cannot block or swing through the public street to do it. These standards sit alongside the EC zone's other area regulations under Sec. 03: a five-acre minimum zone size, one-acre minimum lot, 45-foot height cap (35 feet within 100 feet of a residential zone), 50-foot setbacks on all sides, and a 50 percent maximum lot coverage that expressly counts loading platforms toward the limit. Off-street parking for EC zone uses otherwise follows the county's general parking table in Sec. 50, with reductions available near Knoxville Area Transit stops.