Permit Requirements

Driveway permits across Tennessee

Where each city draws the line on driveway work. Sort any column — useful if you build across several towns and need to know where the rules change.

Cities compared 23
Always need one 4
Depends on size 7
No permit 1

The statewide starting point is International Residential Code, принятый Теннесси, 2018. Cities that changed the rule are the interesting rows below.

Where the line falls Fee
Nashville 704,963 Unconfirmed
Memphis 610,919 Depends The slab sitting on your own lot is exempt: sidewalks and… The work permit costs $0.24 per square foot of sidewalk and…
Knoxville 198,722 Unconfirmed
Chattanooga 191,496 Unconfirmed
Clarksville 185,690 Unconfirmed
Murfreesboro 168,387 Unconfirmed Not applicable for a building permit.
Franklin 89,142 Yes A driveway entirely on private property is exempt from a …
Johnson City 73,635 No Driveways are on the state list of work that needs no bui…
Jackson 69,303 Depends driveway slab itself is exempt; a curb cut or driveway ap…
Hendersonville 63,947 Depends required for a driveway curb cut across a curb or sidewal…
Smyrna 60,302 Depends The driveway slab itself is exempt, but cutting the curb …
Kingsport 57,109 Unconfirmed
Gallatin 52,489 Depends The driveway slab itself is exempt as a driveway; a permi…
Brentwood 45,525 Yes No size threshold in the code
Mount Juliet 44,066 Unconfirmed
La Vergne 41,430 Unconfirmed Set by the fee schedule adopted with the annual budget.
Germantown 40,128 Unconfirmed
Morristown 32,994 Unconfirmed
Bristol 27,867 Depends permit required to cut or build a driveway across a curb …
Farragut 25,242 Yes No size threshold in the code
Springfield 19,842 Yes driveway/curb-cut work in or adjoining a public right-of-…
Goodlettsville 17,433 Depends if the driveway joins or cuts a public right-of-way (curb… $100.00 per application for work within the right-of-way (S…
Nolensville 15,809 Unconfirmed

“Unconfirmed” means the city's code doesn't state the rule plainly enough to publish. Those city pages link straight to the ordinance section instead.

Why neighboring cities disagree

Every city starts from a model code and then edits it. One town raises the shed cutoff, the next lowers the fence height, a third exempts the structure where its neighbor only exempts repairs to it. None of that is visible from a national article — you have to read each ordinance, which is what these pages do.

This is a reference, not legal advice. Confirm with the building department in the city you're building in. How we build these pages.