The subject line says it all. Except that I have never been to TN and my company job postings only last about 1 week! I don't have much time to get up there and check the place out so it's a crap shoot, need to depend on like minded individuals in the shooting and amateur radio community to fill me in on the area.

Job is in Knoxville and a e-mail from the local manager there today stated he want's the tech to live in Knoxville. I am not a city boy, I got 1.25 acres now and am 8 miles away from town and looking to get more like 10+ acres. I did some searches on the area and it looks like a big city, traffic and concrete do not get along with me. Is the whole city busy or are there areas that are considered rural ? The MLS listings looked really good to me in Jefferson County!! but again kind of ticked that I got to live in Knoxville. 12 years ago I spent $99K on my house, now my 1.25 acres are worth $80K hence the reason I need to get out of dodge! This place right now will go for $400K and from the looks of it I could live like a king in Jefferson county.

Info on the city and also worthwhile towns 30-40 minutes away would be greatly appreciated!

There are parts of Knox county that are not crowded.

E Tn is a good place to live. Thats why I came back.

What parts ? I am at a total loss since I have never been in the area. About all I can do is search the MLS listings. For instance an area called Strawberry Plains has a large lot up for sale but I have no idea where that is, going to search.

Any of the rural areas that have a name to them or subdivision please pass that along. Hey... if it's near Knoxville I may be able to pull it off. Heck he made it sound like I had to live in Knoxville but that seems unreasonable, it's not a huge county, maybe he meant in Knox County.

Roane County is where you want to go, IMO. Lots of land, great lake in Watts Bar & only 15-20 minutes from Knoxville.

Nice little gun shop there in town too.    

I think what we are trying to say is that you will love living here!!!

Is there the possibility of moving here and renting for 6months--giving you ample time to check out the surroundings and then decide to purchase.

FWIW, you could probably score 20 acres w/ a 2K+sq' house for less than $300k in any of the immediate surrounding counties...

Quoted: Roane County is where you want to go, IMO. Lots of land, great lake in Watts Bar & only 15-20 minutes from Knoxville. Nice little gun shop there in town too.    hr

Me and some of my close friends have had bad experiences with that gun shop. 15-20 minutes is optimistic for most parts of Knoxville but can be true of getting to the edge of Knoxville. That said, there are some places in Roane County that are quite beautiful. The commute to downtown can be bearable in the right times of day.
Cons of Roane Co.: Not much to do, if you arent into that then you will be fine. Right next to Oak Ridge facilities, not too much fun if there were to be a "terrorist attack" in our area, that would be a major target.

IMO unlike BobCole, I would not want to live in Roane County, and for the record do not deal with that gunshop anymore.

Strawberry Plains (known around here as Strawplains) is not far from the east side of Knoxville, I know of lots of folks who lived in Strawplains and commuted to Knoxville frequently with not much complaint, property in that area is getting expensive, but beautiful. That side of town, can be quite terrible in the rush hour times.

Too give you bearings Roane County is North/West of K-town, where there is more land available than to the east. Strawplains is to the east.

Another place to consider is toward the South, Blount county, Maryville (known here as Mur-vul) some places there can be expensive, but some are quite affordable, and still lots of land. In fact my parents recently sold a beautiful house in Walland on about 7.5 acres for around 300K.

Of course I think all parts of east Tennessee are gorgeous, I have lived here all of my 27 years. However, we already have too many gator fans in the area, so if this is you use caution.GO VOLS!

Quoted: I think what we are trying to say is that you will love living here!!! Is there the possibility of moving here and renting for 6months--giving you ample time to check out the surroundings and then decide to purchase. FWIW, you could probably score 20 acres w/ a 2K+sq' house for less than $300k in any of the immediate surrounding counties...

+1 you will love it here, I always have, and you can come shoot with me and JHill and see him hit 135 yard targets with a pistolhock.gif

Good area in general.  I'm from jefferson county (live in Maryville now which is nice but a bit more pricey) and my dad lives in strawberry plains.  It's convenient to east knoxville so if your job is there, should be good to go.  Not real convenient to west knox.  What part of knoxville is your job in?

Jeff Co. is small in terms of population and cost of living/land are low.  But it's currently the second fastest growing county in the state.  As I said, if your job is in east knox, you'll be fine.  Jeff Co. is also very gun friendly, there are two lakes, and decent fishing/bird hunting.

Also, my dad is an realtor in straw plains. Land and property is cheap there but won't be for long. Shoot me an IM if you need a hookup for a realtor.

Thanks for all the info guys...The office is in Knoxville but the job by what I can tell from the e-mail today from the local manager is for the city of Knoxville. I am a cell tech and maintain the electronics at the base of the towers, normally the job is based out of your house since you have no need to be in the office other than for meetings and picking up parts. Since most of us carry spares in our trucks we only go there to ship out the old and pick up replacements.

If you are familar with South Florida our office is in Jupiter (10 minutes north of West Palm Beach) but we have technicians that live about 80 miles north and south of the office and they take care of the cell sites in those respective areas. I happen to be lucky and live 2 air miles from the office but 10 driving miles...rural area.

Now my thinking is if the tech job is for the greater Knoxville area there should be no problem living 20 miles away, I am sure some of my responsibility will overflow outside of the city. We don't have a problem with a tech living a outiside of the area if it's a reasonable distance down here but oh well...The man spoke.

Job posting closes on the 7th... if I see it posted 1 more time that means no one took the bait. If I see it posted another time after that then I will have a talk with them since they may be willing to make exceptions.  In the meantime I will take all of the town suggestions you have all mentioned and search as much as I can on the internet.  SayUncle... I will keep your Dad in mind if I get that far.  I know that TN must be a good place to live, it sucks... this is the first TN job I have seen open in the company in over 2 years. That tell's me that no one want's to leave the area and there must not be a lot of screw ups working there! Also looking at the Concord NC area as a interesting place but a) no one leaving there and b) NC is not looking as gun friendly as I would have thought prior.

And yes looking for LOTS of land if the price is right. Selling off some investment properties here right now + my house + my mom's huge house. Heaven would be to get a big chunk and just sit on it for 20+ years, build a small house for my mom and of course a nice little guest house on the "back 40" with a 4-5 port private range attached. Did see 67 acres for sale in strawberry plains on the MLS but I am getting ahead of myself.

Thanks All!
Rich

I lived in knoxville for about 7 years before moving to the Jackson area and I very much miss the K-town area. Roan county is nice, anderson county is nice as well.  I would suggest finding a place to rent for a few months and do a lot of searching of the outlying areas before buying. ALL of east TN is beautiful in my opinion.

Quoted: I think what we are trying to say is that you will love living here!!! Is there the possibility of moving here and renting for 6months--giving you ample time to check out the surroundings and then decide to purchase. FWIW, you could probably score 20 acres w/ a 2K+sq' house for less than $300k in any of the immediate surrounding counties...

I am thinking I may need to rent for at least 3-4 months while the wife get's our main house sold and my Mom's, I already have our other 2 up for sale. It's going to stink, never lived in an apartment since I was 7, been spoiled all my life. Was wishing to buy and move things by trailer every month or so while the wife is back here then finish off with the moving company.  Also my Mom is in no shape to be living away from us for any extended period of time. That may work out since she can take over the apartment while we build her a place of her own. No chance in hell of all of us living in the same place at the same time!!! It's gonna be a mess no matter how I look at it, we will just need to take it like medicine and get it over with and know it's not going to be pretty

It's tough moving. I moved from Knoxville (Powell to be exact, nice area, but you wont find 10-20 acres) last summer.  Did the whole apartment thing.  Yeah, its tough especially after living in a house for 5 years and having people above and below you.  It was worth it to figure out where we wanted to live and where the best housing deals are.  Moving everything yourself isn't the greatest either, but it beats paying someone.

Strawplains is a good area.  Worked with a guy that lived out that way.  It took him 45 minutes to get to work in West Knoxville.  Traffic on the interstate isnt the greatest but could be worse.  Another guy I worked with lived in Jeff County and it took him every bit of an hour to get to the same job.  He moved to Kodak and it took him roughly the same amount of time (maybe 10 more minutes), but he got a house with 1 1/2 acres of land and pretty peaceful area.

Anderson County is good (north).  Clinton, Norris (small town).  Grainger County isn't too terribly far.  Blount county is nice and has grown like crazy.  Jeff county.  I've never been a big fan of Loudon and Roane county.  They are fine areas for people but they've never really sparked my interest.  If I found the right place I would live there.  Cracks me up to see Lake lots on Watts Bar advertised in Sky magazine and other places.

Good luck.  I would guess you will like the area.  I grew up in Oak Ridge and lived in knoxville for nearly 10 years, Tri Cities for 5.  That being said, I dont really miss the area, but I always new I would never settle there (although it is a good place).  I traveled around in the military and liked living in different places.  Good luck.  IM or email me if I can be of any help.

Quoted: Me and some of my close friends have had bad experiences with that gun shop.

Which shop is this?

Quoted: 15-20 minutes is optimistic for most parts of Knoxville but can be true of getting to the edge of Knoxville.

I agree.

It all depends on where in Roane county you start from and where in Knox county you end up. If this trip involves going through all the construction mess on I-40, it could be a whole lot longer than that. Roane county size wise is pretty large and depending on which side of the river you are on it could take quite a bit longer than 15-20 minutes to get to Knoxville and even then it depends on which side of Knoxville you are going to.

That is what I like about my job I really don't have an office or a specific place to go, just a specific area. Problem is that it was not stated to me what specific area other than Knoxville, who knows it may be the entire city considering cell sites are spaced every 6 or so miles (sometimes more or less) from each other and we are usually responsible for 28-30 of them. My area right now takes about 50 minutes to travel N-S and about 1 hour E-W since I am in somewhat of a rural zone with 1-2 small cities, that will give you an idea of "my office space". Local managers like you to live in your specific area of responsibility but don't have a problem if you are a little further away. I like to live in my area just for the reason that if I am home I am still in my working and quick to respond.  BUT hey 20 or so miles away is not unreasonable at least down here but it seems so up there from the looks of his e-mail.

Quoted: Me and some of my close friends have had bad experiences with that gun shop.

Maybe you should try paying for the guns first, before taking them home??????  



Just kidding!!!

I admit to not having bought a gun there, only shopped & bought some piddling little stuff. However, they treated me nicely when I go there.

Feel free to post what your events were, I'm not related to the shop owner or even know his name, for that matter.

Originally posted by Bob Cole:

Maybe you should try paying for the guns first, before taking them home??????  

Quoted: Good area in general.  I'm from jefferson county (live in Maryville now which is nice but a bit more pricey) and my dad lives in strawberry plains.  It's convenient to east knoxville so if your job is there, should be good to go.  Not real convenient to west knox.  What part of knoxville is your job in? Jeff Co. is small in terms of population and cost of living/land are low.  But it's currently the second fastest growing county in the state.  As I said, if your job is in east knox, you'll be fine.  Jeff Co. is also very gun friendly, there are two lakes, and decent fishing/bird hunting. Also, my dad is an realtor in straw plains. Land and property is cheap there but won't be for long. Shoot me an IM if you need a hookup for a realtor.

I lived in Jefferson county for about 10 years graduated from JCHS GOOOOO PAAATTTTSSSS  New Market in Jefferson county is actually pretty damned nice.  Strawberry plains is a good spot to live in, I live in Anderson county now (we have a really nice range).  Once you come to East Tn, it will always be home.

What is the school system like in Jefferson County ?

Quoted: What is the school system like in Jefferson County ?

It is ok however you really need to have all of your highschool age children in the advanced classes (they are like normal classes everywhere else)  Most of the teachers in Jefferson County are the real good ole boy type and don't really care or are tired of seeing people coming through there classes with no desire to succeed because they know that after they graduate they are going to work on the farm or in dad mechanic shop.   There have been a couple of incidents involving firearms this year one was FUBARED but what people don't realize is that in Jefferson County, most High school age students go hunting most weekends and just leave the rifle in the truck.  It is however one of the fastest growing counties in TN, ohh yeah and be carefull they LOVE to write speeding tickets in New Market and Danridge. Ask me how I know that last one  

Well I decided to take the plunge. I sent one more e-mail to the manager after his initial reply that he wanted the tech to live in Knoxville, the reply was that Oak Ridge and Strawberry Plains was OK..well that is not exactly JUST Knoxville.

I got a relocation package in the mail from the chamber of commerce web site last night and looking at the maps if I would take those distances and streched it out NE and SW that gives me quite a few more options. If I get hired then the options may open a bit more, I did ask if Anderson, Jefferson and Loudon Co. would be OK but he only answered Oak Ridge (hear there is a good range there!) and Strawberry Plains.

So... I decided to jump on it and filled out the internal job application this afternoon. My boss said that usually the process would not take more than 2-3 weeks for a decision and then I would have 2-3 weeks to get my behind over there if I was chosen.

I'm really stressing now trying to figure out how I am going to get cash for a truck (I got to turn this one in since it's a different office), a place to stay and to move. I'll figure it out but all my money is tied up on 3 houses down here and I doubt I would be able to sell one of them in the 2-3 weeks I'll have before I would need to leave!

Oh by the way any sort of restrictions in the general Knoxville area RE: firearms or shooting ? While surfing the MLS listings I want to know where NOT to live. For example here in my county we have an ordanance that no firearms can be discharged East of the Everglades unless at an approved range.

In AZ I know you can shoot anywhere that is public land. Wondering if Knoxx or nearby countys have restrictions on shooting on your own property. Been eyeing up some 10 and 20+ acre pieces of property, if I got a choice of a place where I can shoot in the back 20 or where I can't you know what I would be picking!

No ordnances like that in Knox county.  As far as I ever knew.  It was your land, you could shoot on it if you wanted to.  Seems like there is something in the law about being 100 or so yards away from another dwelling.

The range in OR is one of the nicest around.  It is a little pricey to join and stuff but that is meant to keep some of the riff raff out.  Taxes in the city of OR are killer.  My mom thought about moving back about 4 years ago and checked into and said forget it.

You shouldn't have any problems in the county.

Quoted: No ordnances like that in Knox county.  As far as I ever knew.  It was your land, you could shoot on it if you wanted to.  Seems like there is something in the law about being 100 or so yards away from another dwelling.

As long as you you reside in Knox *county* and not within the *city* limits of Knoxville, you should be okay as long as you meet the min. distances stated.

The range in OR is one of the nicest around.  It is a little pricey to join and stuff but that is meant to keep some of the riff raff out.

The range in Oak Ridge is *only* $100 a year. No initiation fees, etc. That is more than reasonable for what you get. Compared to other areas and the prices they charge for usually much less, I would not call that pricey.

Taxes in the city of OR are killer.  My mom thought about moving back about 4 years ago and checked into and said forget it.

+1. City of Oak Ridge taxes are high and getting higher. The infrastructure in most of the city limits is also seriously deteriorating due to its age and the way it was constructed for the war effort. I would not be surprised if you see the city residents take some really big hits for this in the next few years.

Thanks for the info... ranges here are scarce. There is 1 county range that have some really bad range commandos and it costs $8 an hour. Not to mention it's the closest range at 1.25 hrs away other than indoor ranges where you can only shoot pistols and no magnums. There was 1 range about 6 years ago 15 minutes away, $100 initiation and $265 a year plus $5 a day SOOO $100 does not seem much for me. The local snobs bought out the property behind it for a multi-million dollar (avg. home) golf community and one day all the locals started calling each other. The place closed up, no refunds of membersip or anything! Since I am busy at work and have sporadic schedules that is why I have been entertaining a large piece of property for a) Shooting on my time b) retirement investment 20 or 25 years down the road. Heck I lived here for 15 years and I really was not crazy about the area!

Taxes... this may make you feel better. 1.25 acres with a 3/2 house that is 1600 sq feet is about $2800, insurance is $3400 with a $1K deductable, gas is at $2.55 unleaded and $2.90 diesel. My house is a "fixer upper" and it will probably go for $400K, I am waiting for an agent to show at 5pm for a better idea. My wife and I have been checking the MLS the past few nights and they list the city and or county taxes, our jaws dropped they were so low, they get you on sales tax! Decision now once I get final word on the job is a) rent and build a dream home b) buy a modest home with a lot of property and enjoy a very small morgage. I think we will probably opt to rent a house for a year so I got a place to stay while she is here and I'll start looking for builders when I get up there. Taxes will probably be low if I end up buying land, what we are looking for will probably mean well and septic since chances are we will be on county land instead of a city.

OR range for $100/yr is a deal.  If my memory serves me correct, when I checked into it a few years back it was almost double that and there was an initiation fee.  Not to mention it would have been a 45-50 minute drive when I could go 15 minutes to Norris.  Granted its a whole lot more range than Norris.

Man your taxes are high.  Seems like I paid $480/yr in knox county on my 1650 sqft house.  Good luck with it all.

Quoted: OR range for $100/yr is a deal.  If my memory serves me correct, when I checked into it a few years back it was almost double that and there was an initiation fee.  Not to mention it would have been a 45-50 minute drive when I could go 15 minutes to Norris.  Granted its a whole lot more range than Norris.

It has been $100 a year with no initiation fee for years. At least back to the early 80's if not earlier. It has never been over $100 per year, ever.

That seems to be a nice range, similar to one that I was a member of in NJ long long ago. Only difference was that full members had access to the club house at all times for personal use while
at the range. I like the idea that is has 600 yards and quite possibly 1K yards from their web site.

Pistol along with my .22 and AR I hope to be able to do actually in my own yard if all goes well so that
is not a big deal.  Several trucks of fill along with a weekend rental of a loader should do the trick. I had no idea that there were so many large properties for sale  just minutes outside of Knoxville in county territory. I may even buy a large chunk drop a double wide on it, build a new house and sell the trailer in a year or so once the house is done.

Just had lunch with my Boss's Boss and he knew about the transfer request since he was in NC for a regional meeting the day I sent in the application. Appears that the Director up there spoke to him about it. He gave him a call a couple of hours ago along side me and gave a really good sales pitch, he must want to get rid of me! As long as someone's "cousin" ain't looking for the job it's starting to
look like I'll be BUSY real soon!

FLRIch - LOL.  I guess we are swapping.  I just moved down to FL from E. TN.  Lived in rural Blount county for 6 years in the mountains, and then 2 years in Oak Ridge.  In fact, SigSaurP228 has been living in my house in Oak Ridge for 5 months now.

Let me tell you a few things:  

I LOVED Oak Ridge.  It had great city services, very fast and professional response on all issues related to utilities, police are very professional, and the CLEO has no problem signing off on Suppressors, MGs, and SBRs.  In fact, I was the guy who educated him all that stuff :)

Taxes are not bad at all - my house on 1/2 acre, in the city, appraised at $85,000 was about $950 a year for city AND county taxes.

School system in the City of Oak Ridge is the best in TN, bar none.  And they are building a brand new high school as well.  Close to everything, convenient.

However, you can't buy my house - SigSaurP228 has first dibs.

Hmm, here's an idea - maybe you can rent a room from him for a while while you get your new job started and find a home?  Knowing him, he'd charge you about tree-fiddy!

Oh, and the Oak Ridge Sportsmans Club is AMAZING!  Best range east of the Mississippi, and the only civilian 1000 yard range out there.

Where in FL did you relocate to ?

Well finding a place should not be that big of an issue. I am leaning more towards building a place so it looks like rent for me and the family while my Mom can buy a small town home. After all the info that I have received on this forum along with a few amateur radio forums that I am a part of I am sure all will work out just fine.

Even if taxes were a bit more it would not phase me one bit since they can be nowhere near what I am paying now! Things changing fast but the best would be a chunk of land that I like with a barn on it in good shape. Use the barn to store all of our stuff and drop a double wide on it for a year so I can be a PIA to the builders watching their every move. Once the house is done sell it for what I can and consider it cheap rent. Later I can use the barn as a large garage and workshop or maybe rent it out to someone who want's to have a few horses but does not have the land for it.

Quoted: Taxes are not bad at all - my house on 1/2 acre, in the city, appraised at $85,000 was about $950 a year for city AND county taxes.

It's even better in Knox county. I live in a house that the tax appraisal is at $102K and on a 1/2 acre lot and I pay $680 a year in property taxes, county only, I don't live in the city. Property taxes in general here in TN are pretty reasonable.

School system in the City of Oak Ridge is the best in TN, bar none.  And they are building a brand new high school as well.  Close to everything, convenient.

Very true. They are building a new school, but right where the present one is along with upgrading existing facilities.

Oh, and the Oak Ridge Sportsmans Club is AMAZING!  Best range east of the Mississippi, and the only civilian 1000 yard range out there.

True again, I know of only 1 other 1000 yard range in the state and that is at AEDC near Tullahoma and it is owned by the govt. They do allow match shooting but only on certain days. A 1000 yard privately owned range is quite rare here in the east.

Never done 1K but I did do 600 Yards many times back in the 80's when I was on a team and went to Camp Perry. Our local range did reduced 300 yard targets for team practice but it's not the same when you got to learn about the wind. Heck the winds at 600 were interesting coming off of Lake Erie, we really had a handicap when it came to that part of the match.

I tried match shooting here in FL once about 4 years ago but it's a different beast. When it's 98 degrees and 90+ humidity and you got  a sweat shirt on and a coat and are in the direct sun it's NOT FUN! Much of all the shooting season is during the high temps so I gave up on match shooting, may get back into it once we are settled in since the weather up there is better. I miss going to the nationals every year.

Trust me, Rich - you will fall in love with the ORSC range - I really miss it.

I was just on-line checking out the Knoxville City Ordnances for the heck of it. Boy... this sounded strange for such a gun friendly state. The wording in subpart "c" is more like something I would expect from New York City, it's scary! I guess no indoor ranges ?

Sec. 19-109. Discharge of firearms, air guns, etc.

(b)   Discharge of air guns, spring guns, etc.  It shall further be unlawful for any person to fire or discharge any air gun or air pistol, spring gun or spring pistol, or other device or firearm which is calculated or intended to propel or project a bullet, pellet, air or similar projectile, within the city.  

(c)   Commercial indoor shooting ranges.  Because of the ultra-hazardous nature of the operation of a commercial indoor shooting range, and because of the potential threat to the safety of the citizens of the city from the operation of such activity, it is hereby declared to be an unlawful purpose to operate an indoor commercial shooting range within the city limits.  

(e)   Exception.  Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section or any other provisions of this Code, nothing in this section is intended to prohibit the discharge or firing of any firearms by anyone lawfully engaged in hunting upon any property owned by the state and managed by the state wildlife resources agency which may be located within the municipal limits of the city.  
(Code 1962, § 28-418; Ord. No. O-258-90, § 1, 8-21-90)

Quoted: I was just on-line checking out the Knoxville City Ordnances for the heck of it. Boy... this sounded strange for such a gun friendly state. The wording in subpart "c" is more like something I would expect from New York City, it's scary! I guess no indoor ranges ? Sec. 19-109. Discharge of firearms, air guns, etc. (b)   Discharge of air guns, spring guns, etc.  It shall further be unlawful for any person to fire or discharge any air gun or air pistol, spring gun or spring pistol, or other device or firearm which is calculated or intended to propel or project a bullet, pellet, air or similar projectile, within the city.   (c)   Commercial indoor shooting ranges.  Because of the ultra-hazardous nature of the operation of a commercial indoor shooting range, and because of the potential threat to the safety of the citizens of the city from the operation of such activity, it is hereby declared to be an unlawful purpose to operate an indoor commercial shooting range within the city limits.   (e)   Exception.  Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section or any other provisions of this Code, nothing in this section is intended to prohibit the discharge or firing of any firearms by anyone lawfully engaged in hunting upon any property owned by the state and managed by the state wildlife resources agency which may be located within the municipal limits of the city.   (Code 1962, § 28-418; Ord. No. O-258-90, § 1, 8-21-90)

In other words, don't live within the city limits of Knoxville, I don't. The city itself occupies a fairly small area of the entire county. City taxes are right at what county taxes are and that is the main reason I do not live within the city limits.

Knoxville does in fact have an indoor firing range, Coal Creek Armory. It is in the west end just off of the interstate near Lovell Rd.

Quoted: Quoted: I was just on-line checking out the Knoxville City Ordnances for the heck of it. Boy... this sounded strange for such a gun friendly state. The wording in subpart "c" is more like something I would expect from New York City, it's scary! I guess no indoor ranges ? Sec. 19-109. Discharge of firearms, air guns, etc. (b)   Discharge of air guns, spring guns, etc.  It shall further be unlawful for any person to fire or discharge any air gun or air pistol, spring gun or spring pistol, or other device or firearm which is calculated or intended to propel or project a bullet, pellet, air or similar projectile, within the city.   (c)   Commercial indoor shooting ranges.  Because of the ultra-hazardous nature of the operation of a commercial indoor shooting range, and because of the potential threat to the safety of the citizens of the city from the operation of such activity, it is hereby declared to be an unlawful purpose to operate an indoor commercial shooting range within the city limits.   (e)   Exception.  Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section or any other provisions of this Code, nothing in this section is intended to prohibit the discharge or firing of any firearms by anyone lawfully engaged in hunting upon any property owned by the state and managed by the state wildlife resources agency which may be located within the municipal limits of the city.   (Code 1962, § 28-418; Ord. No. O-258-90, § 1, 8-21-90) In other words, don't live within the city limits of Knoxville, I don't. The city itself occupies a fairly small area of the entire county. City taxes are right at what county taxes are and that is the main reason I do not live within the city limits. Knoxville does in fact have an indoor firing range, Coal Creek Armory. It is in the west end just off of the interstate near Lovell Rd.

Coal Creek Armory is not actually within the city limits, it is really in West Knox County, and still called Knoxville for some reason.  That is why they can have a range.  In fact the city limits are quite small.  Most of "West Knoxville" residents don't actually pay city property taxes, because they aren't in the city. Strangely it is still called Knoxville.

I have noticed that while searching the MLS listings. A LOT is called Knoxville but the listings show county and not city tax. It's a good thing... that is why I almost did not apply for the job. I'll just be working in the area but FOR SURE not living in the city. Still waiting for the phone interview, sometimes it takes up to 3 weeks by what I have heard, a bit tense hoping that it will all work out, at least my Director has put in a good word over there still crossing my fingers.

Don't buy a place too close to Knoxville, though, since they are gobbling up outlying areas and forcing them to become part of the city for tax purposes.

Quoted: Don't buy a place too close to Knoxville, though, since they are gobbling up outlying areas and forcing them to become part of the city for tax purposes.

Forced annexations have not happened in Knox county in several *years* now. Due to changes in state law concerning annexation, it is not as simple as it used to be. That is not to say that there will not be anymore forced annexations, but they have been elimated at least for now.

I say this as one who lives in the county but can literally throw a rock at the city limits. I have lived here 18 years and am still not in the city.

Well it has been slow going. I contacted the Knoxville manager and he had received 100 job applications so it's a slow process getting through them all. From expirience here probably a good 50% of them or so are not qualified, people trying to get out of sales or customer service just doing an internal job request so it's not as bad as it sounds but still slows the process down!

Just saw another TN posting but don't know much of the area other than many people here commenting to stay away from Memphis, Arlington TN. I Googl'ed it up and seems to be a suburb or Memphis, can anyone shed any light on the area ? I got another week till' the posting closes to apply. Really like the Knoxville idea more and more but I got a 1:50 chance give or take, got to think of something else to fall back on.