Image Credit: Preserve Wilson – Let’s Keep It Country / Facebook
The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
A farmland preservation group is calling on Wilson County residents to oppose a plan that aims to rezone tens of thousands of acres of agricultural land.
The Wilson County Master Land Use Plan is being updated for the next two decades. The county has requested public feedback until October 15th, 2025.
The current land use plan was last updated in 2006. While the process to update the plan began three years ago, it was put on hold while the county and its three main cities of Lebanon, Mt. Juliet, and Watertown reviewed and then revised their own urban growth boundaries.
A final public meeting of the proposed plan was held at Cumberland University at the end of September with Plan Wilson laying out strategies for development until 2045.
Jessica Hill, the Director of Community and Regional Planning for Greater Nashville Regional Council (GNRC) says that in twenty years the population of Wilson County will likely grow to a quarter of a million people. As of last year, the population was estimated to be just shy of 170,000. The official population recorded in the 2020 census was less than 150,000.
With so many people moving to the county, and housing developments popping up as a result, current residents are concerned about the preservation of farmland.
Last year, a different organization battled a Texas-based company’s plans for an industrial park project spanning almost 1,400 acres of Wilson County farmland and ultimately prevailed.
The fight for Tuckers Crossroads was mentioned at Plan Wilson’s meeting.
Wilson County Planning Director Christopher Lawless said that community feedback was taken into consideration as the proposed Master Land Use Plan was shaped, accounting for the preservation of rural farmland while also accounting for urban growth.
However, Preserve Wilson – Let’s Keep It Country spokesman Michael Swope is sounding the alarm over the definitions of Rural Living and Rural Agriculture that he says have been changed at the eleventh hour.
In a message sent out yesterday to concerned residents, Swope relayed that the changed definitions allow for 90,000 acres in rural Wilson County to be rezoned from agricultural to R-1 neighborhoods.
“Neighborhoods in our rural and agricultural areas threaten to ruin our way of life,” said Swope. “The only thing standing in their way is people voicing their opinions on the new survey to say they want GNRC and the Planning directors recommendations that rural areas need to be less dense.”
In addition, Swope said that the county was forced to reduce agricultural lots to one acre due to a lawsuit by developers. While the county has started the process to re-implement the old lots sizes, the issue will be heard on October 17th by the planning commission and then move on to the county commissioners in November. Swope urged concerned residents to attend the November county commission meeting.
“We know this is getting old, but the developers are counting on wearing you out. They get paid to wear you out,” said Swope. “We are close to the finish line. Let’s push hard to Keep Wilson County country.”
Swope can be reached at 615-484-3774.
The Master Land Use Plan also rezones much of what is now rural living areas to commercial use by creating a commercial corridor along Highway 231, south of Lebanon.
Critics of the plan like Bob Zenker, a resident on Old Murfreesboro Road for the last seven years, say there’s not enough infrastructure to support commercial use. With the area in question sitting atop limestone and limited access to utilities, no major sewer access, along with low water pressure and inadequate road shoulders make the area ill-suited for commercial development.
Zenker says that understaffing at the county level and reliance on self-regulation means that commercial projects often proceed with insufficient oversight. When projects are overseen with minimal attention, issues like construction runoff, unsafe driveway access, and traffic congestion become problematic.
In addition, better locations for commercial projects already exist in Wilson County. Sites off of I-840, I-40, and in the cities of Mt. Juliet and Lebanon already have roads, utilities, and access to water to enable the growth that comes with commercial projects.
Zenker fears that traffic and safety will both grow worse if the plan is approved with Highway 231 already overloaded with truck traffic. Adding commercial zones “would only increase accidents, noise, and road wear” while there is no active state plan in place to mitigate such factors.
Zenker is asking for Wilson County residents to leave a comment on the map or the online feedback form opposing the Commercial Corridor on Highway 231 and to keep it and surrounded areas zoned as Rural Living.
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
2 Responses
The misappropriate of our farmland has got to stop. The solar farms are destroying the land and wildlife; gross housing developments are cluttering these fertile lands with ugly, HOA-ruled enclaves that invite investors rather than legitimate homebuyers. There are plenty of areas where homes can be built that do not destroy our valuable farmland. These initiatives are never as innocent and USA resident friendly and supportive as they they purport. They are a money-grabbing, taxation bidding tool of developers who pay off local officials to vote their way, look the other way, and change the landscape forever to a destructive environment. Housing developments are the worst thing to happen to this state and it is all about money, not the people’s welfare.
That’s funny, you act like they actually vote and act on these things per their constituents desires. They ignore every comment that doesn’t agree with theirs-look at gallatin for proof!