2023 Tennessee Code › Title 13 - PUBLIC PLANNING AND HOUSING (§§ 13-1-101 — 13-30-120) › Chapter 3 - REGIONAL PLANNING (§§ 13-3-101 — 13-3-603) › Part 3 - REGIONAL PLAN (§§ 13-3-301 — 13-3-304) › Section 13-3-304 - Certification of plan to counties and municipalities - Adoption by municipalities

(a)
The regional planning commission shall certify a copy of its regional plan or any adopted part or amendment thereof or addition thereto to the department of economic and community development, to the legislative body of the county or of each county lying wholly or partly within the region, and to the planning commission of each municipality having a planning commission and located within the region. Any municipal planning commission which 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.
(b)
(1)
Once the planning commission of the region or the municipality has adopted and certified the general regional plan, the planning commission's transmittal of the certification to the legislative body may simultaneously include a resolution by the planning commission requesting the legislative body's consideration and adoption of the general regional plan. The county legislative body, by resolution or the municipal legislative body by ordinance, may adopt the general regional plan, or in the case of the municipality, their element of the plan as certified by the planning commission. Prior to the adoption of the general regional plan or amendment of the general regional plan by a legislative body, the legislative body shall hold a public hearing thereon, the time and place of which shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the county at least thirty (30) days prior to the meeting in which the adoption or amendment is to be first considered. If the legislative body adopts the general regional plan in the form of an ordinance by the municipality or a resolution by the county, then any land use decisions thereafter made by the legislative body, planning commission or board of zoning appeals when the board of zoning appeals is exercising its powers on matters other than variances, must be consistent with the general regional plan.
(2)
[For applicability of prior law in certain counties, see Compiler's Notes.]
If the planning commission initiates the adoption of and votes to adopt an amendment to the general plan, the legislative body must pass the amendment by a majority vote in order for the amendment to be operative.
(3)
[For applicability of prior law in certain counties, see Compiler's Notes.]
(A)
The general regional plan may be amended upon the initiative of the legislative body. The initiative must be transmitted, in writing, to the planning commission for its review, consideration, and vote. The planning commission must take action on the amendment within sixty-one (61) days of the submittal of the amendment to the planning commission by the legislative body.
(B)
If the planning commission votes to approve or not approve the amendment or transmits it back to the legislative body with no recommendation, the legislative body must then approve the amendment by a majority vote in order for the amendment to be operative.
(4)
[Not applicable in certain counties. See Compiler's Notes.]
The general regional plan may be adopted as an element of the jurisdiction's growth plan through the process established in title 6, chapter 58, but if the regional general plan is not adopted as part of the growth plan, it nevertheless cannot be inconsistent with the growth plan or the intent of title 6, chapter 58.
Amended by 2022 Tenn. Acts, ch. 993, s 1, eff. 7/1/2022.
Acts 1935, ch. 43, § 14; C. Supp. 1950, § 3291.20 (Williams, § 552.20); impl. am. Acts 1972, ch. 542, § 15; impl. am. Acts 1978, ch. 934, §§ 7, 36; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 13-207; Acts 2008 , ch. 1150, § 4; 2010 , ch. 648, § 1.