64-1-504 - Powers and duties with respect to planning Designation of region as planning region. - Tennessee Statutes

64-1-504. Powers and duties with respect to planning Designation of region as planning region.

(a)  The agency has the following powers, duties and functions with respect to planning:

     (1)  It is the function and duty of the agency to make and adopt a general regional plan for the physical development of the territory of the region. Any such plan shall include the planning of municipal territory to the extent that, in the board's judgment, the same is related to the planning of the region as a whole. The plan shall not be deemed an official plan or part of the official plan of any municipality having a municipal planning commission unless adopted as such by the municipal planning commission. The regional plan, with the accompanying maps, plats, charts and descriptive matter, shall show the agency's recommendations for the development of the territory covered by the plan, and may include, among other things, the general location, character and extent of public ways, ground and other public property; the general location and extent of public utilities and terminals, whether publicly or privately owned, for power, light, heat, sanitation, transportation, communication, water and other purposes; the removal, relocation, extension, widening, narrowing, vacating, abandonment or change of use of existing public ways, grounds, open spaces, buildings, properties, utilities or terminals; the general character, location and extent of community centers, town sites or housing developments; the location and extent of forests, agricultural areas and open development areas for purposes of conservation, food and water supply, sanitary and drainage facilities or the protection of urban development; and a land classification and utilization program;

     (2)  The regional plan shall be made with the general purpose of guiding and accomplishing a coordinated, adjusted, efficient and economic development of the region that will, in accordance with present and future needs and resources, best promote the health, safety, morals, order, convenience, prosperity and welfare of the inhabitants, as well as efficiency and economy in the process of development, including optimum distribution of population, urbanization and the uses of land and resources for trade, industry, recreation, agriculture, forestry, tourism, and such other uses as will tend to create conditions favorable to transportation, health, safety, civic activities and educational and cultural opportunities, reduce the wastes of financial and human resources that result from either excessive congestion or excessive scattering of population, and tend toward an efficient and economic utilization, conservation and production of the supply of food, water, minerals, drainage, sanitary and other facilities and resources. Such plans may include the design and layout of industrial parks and feasibility studies for extension of utilities and services to areas deemed suitable for industrial development;

     (3)  The agency may adopt the regional plan as a whole at one (1) time or, as the work of making the plan progresses, may from time to time adopt a part or parts thereof. The agency may from time to time amend, extend or add to the plan or carry any part of the plan into greater detail;

     (4)  The agency shall certify a copy of its regional plan or any adopted part or amendment thereof or addition thereto to the state planning office, to the county legislative body of each county within the region, and to the planning commission of each municipality within the region having a planning commission. Any municipal planning commission that receives any such certification may adopt, as a part or amendment of or addition to the plan of the municipality, so much of the regional plan or part or amendment thereof or addition thereto as falls within the territory of the municipality, and when so adopted it shall have the same force and effect as though made and prepared, as well as adopted, by such municipal planning commission;

     (5)  It is the further duty of the agency to promote the mutual cooperation of the planning commissions of municipalities within the region and the coordination of the plans of such municipalities with the plan of the region, and generally to confer with and advise municipal and county executive and legislative bodies and officials for the purpose of promoting a coordinated and adjusted development of the region. The agency may also advise county legislative bodies and municipal legislative bodies with respect to the formulation of public improvement programs and the financing thereof. It may also cooperate with the planning, legislative or executive authorities of neighboring states, regions, counties or municipalities for the purpose of promoting coordination between the development of the region and adjoining or neighboring territory; and

     (6)  All municipal, county and other local public officials within the region shall, upon request, furnish to the agency, within a reasonable time, such available information as it may require for its work. The agency, its officers, agents and employees, in the performance of the agency's functions, may enter upon any land and make examinations and surveys and place and maintain necessary monuments and marks thereon.

(b)  The state planning office is authorized to designate the region covered by this part as a planning region in accordance with § 13-3-101, and to designate the board of directors of the agency as the regional planning commission for such planning region. In that event, the board shall have all of the powers, duties, and functions of such a regional planning commission as provided in title 13, chapter 3; provided, that such designations shall in no wise affect or diminish the powers, duties and functions specifically set forth in subdivisions (a)(1)-(a)(6).

[Acts 1968, ch. 460, § 4; impl. am. Acts 1972, ch. 542, § 15; impl. am. Acts 1978, ch. 934, §§ 7, 36; T.C.A., § 66-1-504.]