Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Development Report topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Knox County sees another record year of residential permits, staff says
Summary
Aubrey Whelan told the Knox County Planning Commission that 2025 saw 5,822 new residential units approved, driven by multifamily growth and strong county-sector gains; staff highlighted large private investment and noted the unincorporated county outpaced the city in permitted units.
Aubrey Whelan, the county’s senior research associate, told the Planning Commission the county’s Development Activity Report shows residential development “is trending up and it has been for a while.” She said staff counted 5,822 new residential units approved in 2025 and that the county has posted record-breaking years since 2020.
Whelan said the distribution of growth surprised planners: Northwest County led all sectors in total units, East County’s permitted units surged because of two large multifamily projects, and the unincorporated county produced more residential units in 2025 than the city. “The unincorporated county has gotten a total of more multifamily units than single family detached units,” she said.
The report summarizes building permits, rezonings and subdivisions and includes a decade-long, inflation-adjusted chart of construction value. Whelan pointed to recent large investments that contributed to nonresidential totals, including a planned Greenheck Group campus in East County she said is expected to be about $300 million, and noted roughly $28.8 million in related building-permit value reflected so far in the staff numbers.
Staff also highlighted subdivisions and rezonings: Strawberry Hills subdivision produced 64 lots in 2025, and the office recorded 141 rezonings approved during the year (55 in the city and 86 in the county). Whelan said the number of new residential lots “is catching up to pre-pandemic numbers,” and added the county uses approved lots as one input to school enrollment projection models.
Why it matters: the report frames near-term housing supply and where infrastructure and services may be needed. Whelan said the figures will inform the county’s and city’s comprehensive-plan work and upcoming public engagement sessions.
The presentation concluded with commissioners’ questions about sector patterns and maps in the report; Whelan encouraged commissioners to review the distributed report and attend a July workshop that will summarize community engagement findings.
