Category: Land Surveying

One of the earliest steps in the site design process is a review of the Zoning Ordinance to determine requirements for a particular property based on it’s zoning classification (such as residential, business, commercial, industrial, etc.) The Zoning Ordinance contains information that is relevant to both the land surveyor and civil engineer.

In Knoxville or Knox County, you can find the applicable zoning classification for a particular parcel using the KGIS website: http://www.kgis.org/KGISMaps/Map.htm

Once we’ve identified the zoning classification for a particular property, we will review the local zoning ordinance for a summary of the requirements.

For the City of Knoxville, you can review the Zoning Ordinance here:  https://www.municode.com/library/tn/knoxville/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=APXBZORE

For Knox County, you can review the Zoning Ordinance here: http://archive.knoxmpc.org/zoning/KnoxCounty.pdf

If a proposed site design cannot meet all of the requirements for a particular zoning classification, the owner can apply for a variance. In Knoxville, an applicant submits a site plan to the City’s Plans Review and Inspections Division, and the requested variances are presented to the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) for an approval or denial of the requested variance.

You can find more information about the City BZA here: http://knoxvilletn.gov/government/boards_commissions/board_of_zoning_appeals/

You can find more information about the Knox County BZA here: http://www.knoxcounty.org/codes/bza.php

If you have any questions about zoning variance for your project, contact LandTech at http://landtechco.com/contact_us

An important step for a land development project is confirmation that the final site was constructed in accordance with the design plans. In the City of Knoxville, this step is called a Development Certification.

According to the City’s Land Development Manual, or LDM (website link LDM):

“An approved development certification is one of the items required prior to the release of any bond (also called Performance and Indemnity Agreement) that has been collected by the Stormwater Engineering Division. The development certification is issued by the Stormwater Engineering Division after all construction has been completed in accordance with the design plans and requirements of the Knoxville Stormwater and Street Ordinance.

Appendix A contains a site review checklist for final approval of a constructed site development project and the associated as-built drawing.

Every as-built drawing must be properly certified by the appropriate design professional engineer and the registered land surveyor.”

Therefore, the development certification involves both the civil engineer and the land surveyor.  Land Tech staff includes both professional civil engineers and registered land surveyors that can assist with the development certification process.

Contact us if you have any questions about this process for your project. http://landtechco.com/home

The internet is a technology that has altered our society in many ways, and the civil engineering and land surveying professions are no different. There are many websites we routinely use when working on land development projects. Below are a few examples.

1. Knoxville Code of Ordinances : We use this website to get information on zoning and stormwater regulations for the City of Knoxville.

2. Knoxville-Knox County Metropolitan Planning Commission : This website has information on subdivision regulations, and zoning ordinances for both the City of Knoxville and Knox County.

3. City of Knoxville Engineering Department : This site contains links to various engineering divisions, the BMP Manual, the Land Development Manual, and KGIS mapping for the City of Knoxville.

4. Knox County Engineering Department : This site contains information for the Knox County Engineering Department, such as their stormwater manual and contact information.

5. TDEC Water Pollution Map : This Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation (TDEC) website provides water quality information for streams and water bodies in the State.

6. USGS Map Locator & Downloader : You can find and download the most current or historic U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) maps, which includes roads, contours, streams, and other relevant mapping information.

7. OPUS : The National Geodetic Survey (NGS) provides an Online Positioning User Service (OPUS) for uploading GPS data and obtaining geodetic (latitude and longitude) or state plane coordinates.

These are just a few of the websites we routinely use to acquire civil engineering and land surveying data needed for our land development projects. If you have any questions about your project, please contact our LandTech staff.

For more information about us, and contact information, visit our website:  http://landtechco.com/home.

LandTech was recently contacted by a property owner in Knox County, Tennessee about providing a design for a pipe culvert in his side yard. Approximately 25% of the property is isolated by a stormwater ditch crossing the parcel. The property owner wants to install a pipe culvert crossing for easy access across the swale to the isolated portion of the property.

Sometimes a seemingly simple project involves numerous regulatory issues.

When we visited the site, we noticed a small amount of water flowing in the ditch. This would mean the ditch is technically a “stream”. Construction in a stream requires an Aquatic Resource Alteration Permit, or ARAP, from the Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation (TDEC). More information about ARAP’s can be found here:

http://www.tn.gov/environment/article/permit-aquatic-resource-alteration-permit

We also discovered this portion of the property is in a FEMA 100-year special flood hazard area. This means the culvert would need to be sized to pass a 100-year flood without impacting the water surface elevation. If you’re interesting in finding the limits of any 100-year special flood hazard area, visit the FEMA Flood Map Service Center website:

http://msc.fema.gov/portal

Needless to say, this project is more complicated than the property owner anticipated, but LandTech can ease your burden by providing the advice and professional land surveying and civil engineering services needed to navigate the complexities of a project like this.

For more information about your project or our services, visit our website  http://landtechco.com/home or give us a call.

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed legislation to restrict the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) from:

 ….developing, finalizing, adopting, implementing, applying, administering, or enforcing the proposed rule entitled, “Definition of ‘Waters of the United States’ Under the Clean Water Act,” issued on April 21, 2014…..

Of course, the legislation would also need to pass the U.S. Senate to become law, which is doubtful this year.

https://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/5078

This legislation impacts land development professionals, such as civil engineers and land surveyors, because of impacts to stream and wetland permit regulations. New Federal rules could reassign regulatory jurisdiction from State Regulators (such as the Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation) and Local Regulators (such as the City of Knoxville or Knox County) to Federal Regulators such as the EPA or USACE.

This will definitely be a topic of interest in upcoming sessions of Congress. Stay tuned.