I am ‘New Nolensville’. I moved here at the end of 2016 with my family. We chose Nolensville for its location, charm and potential growth. We saw it as a community worth settling in. We still feel this way about Nolensville.
I chose to start getting involved in local politics after seeing what our developer had done to the neighborhood we chose. Though disappointed in the results, I learned how to start navigating our town government. I started attending Planning Commission (PC) and Board of Mayor and Aldermen (BOMA) meetings. I found an engaged, educated populace that had the ability to speak directly to elected leaders. This made me love Nolensville more.
As I attended these meetings, I started hearing about a development called Southwalk. This development seemed catered to Nolensville’s growing populace. The development is a mixed use (which I learned later is recommended not just for Nolensville, but for Williamson County as a whole). I like mixed use developments. I like to eat local, not drive far, and even shop a little here and there.
As the project progressed, I started seeing things that frustrated me with our local government. I started seeing a town that appeared afraid of change. Check that: A town leadership that was afraid of change. Our Mayor voiced strong concern over population density. I initially saw this as a very valid concern. Nolensville is growing fast, and dense population centers in a small town can be bad mojo. I started hearing rumblings from other BOMA and PC members that seemed to be about design issues. “If you stack all the residential on top of each other it is 16 floors of people”, “Where will children play”, “Traffic will increase terribly” were all phrases heard directly in conversations. I appreciate these concerns. Smart growth is good growth.
As the project left PC, however, I was heartened that it seemed to be moving forward. Then, a PC member showed up to BOMA and totally misconstrued the project and tried to spend the developer’s money on her vision. I found this to be dishonest, as she voted to move the project to BOMA, not mentioning ANY of these concerns in PC. Also, she is not an investor. It is really easy to spend someone else’s money. Then the Mayor voted against having a public hearing. That really threw me. The Mayor decided that BOMA’s voice were the only ones that should matter.
The public hearing did happen, however. The rest of BOMA had sense enough to listen to constituents. After the public hearing, I was feeling positive about the potential of a mixed-use area in our town. Little Nolensville was going to grow up despite a few BOMA members antiquated views of town. The people showed up and overwhelmingly stated approval for the project (me included).
Then came the workshop. This was a bad night. The developer amended his project to meet the demands of the BOMA members who had concerns. The developer offered an alternative plan for growth, faster growth, with lower density. BOMA could not figure out how to handle this. The same concerns were thrown about, and BOMA was absolutely paralyzed by a change. Instead of “workshopping” the change, they argued with the developer, scolding him for daring to make a change (Vice Mayor did this piece). The Mayor once again spoke against ANY high-density project.
With townhomes going up on Rocky Fork (I know, different zoning), I do not see the big difference with Southwalk, or Southwalk v2. The town is fine with the (in my opinion) ugly townhomes, but not a town center style development.
I went to social media (God help me) to post my concerns. I found people from both sides engaging in (mostly) civil banter. I started thinking, why can’t our town leaders host a “town hall” style meeting to converse with the populace? Why won’t they answer our questions? We can speak in “citizen comments”, but the BOMA does not answer when we do. Maybe, just maybe, a back and forth with town leaders is what is needed. Perhaps on a weekend, when more can attend would be best? I don’t have the answers, but I want to ask questions directly to BOMA, questions that have a chance of being answered.
I love Nolensville. This is our home and its going to be for a long time. Our children go to school here. Our son is in our high school’s awesome marching band. We shop here. We eat here. We want Nolensville to grow with its charm. These are not mutually exclusive ideas. Southwalk may not be the answer, I certainly don’t speak for Nolensville, just for me. I hope we can come to some understanding and grow Nolensville smartly. Nolensville will grow, the “Southwalk” land is owned and zoned. Let’s work with the developer and make this thing happen.
-Jarred Rossin
TNI 