Historic Old North Knoxville - Late Breaking News

Old North Knoxville
Discussed in Knoxville Street Tree Masterplan

By: Kim Davis (Old North Knoxville webmaster)
October 12, 2002

Fall foliage displayed by Glenwood Avenue street trees

In May and June of 2002, the Metropolitan Planning Commission (MPC) held public workshops as part of the public input process for the development of a five-year tree planting and improvement program for the City of Knoxville. The purpose of this plan is to improve and refine the city policies currently in place for planting trees, using standard urban forestry guiding principles along with advice of city engineers and landscape architects. Mike Carberry, a principal planner for the MPC, is spearheading this effort.

On October 8, the Knoxville Street Tree Masterplan was revealed to the public. Public space, particularly rights-of-way, is the major focus. Since it may take decades for trees to reach maturity, this plan is also inherently long range in nature. Long-term conservation and planting strategies are:

Creating medians and planting strips,

Widening sidewalks and planting trees or planting trees within existing sidewalks,

Creating planting strips and constructing sidewalks that are well separated from automobile travel lanes, and

Redesigning parking lots and planting trees with redevelopment.

The area around Old North Knoxville was specifically mentioned in this plan. Many of the trees in our neighborhood are from the nineteenth century and add immeasurable beauty and character to the area. Unfortunately, we have all witnessed many of these gorgeous trees fall victim to disease, lightning strikes, and even human-induced atrocities (e.g., shoddy trimming by electrical utility contractors). This underscores the need for the city to adopt a coherent tree replacement plan, in addition to beefing up the tree ordinance to protect existing trees. The Knoxville Street Tree Masterplan will attempt to accomplish these goals, through approval by the MPC and the City Council.

A map showing the Central City Sector, Broadway Corridor and Central Avenue Corridor is presented here, along with the legend. A special note accompanies the Central City Sector map that says, "Old North Knoxville: Focus tree planting on Oklahoma Avenue and similar streets." The text of the plan also calls for the improvement of the streetscape along Broadway and Central to enhance the setting of adjacent neighborhoods, including:

The creation of space for tree planting between Central and Glenwood Avenue with elongated planting wells, yard trees and occasional landscaped medians

Planting of trees perpendicular to Broadway on the eastbound streets as gateways to Old North and other adjoining neighborhoods

The development of elongated planting wells in the Happy Hollow (Central St.) for street trees.

Update, February 2, 2003: It was reported in the January 31 edition of the Knoxville News-Sentinel that citywide, more than 1,000 trees will be planted before the end of March. The city has budgeted $160,000 to plant different species of trees this year around town, according to Bob Whetsel, Director of the City Public Service Department. Dogwoods, flowering cherries and sugar maples will be among the trees to grace different parts Knoxville. Old North Knoxville had put in a special request last Fall for plantings around the neighborhood entrances and in other areas conducive to street trees.