Meet the Developer

Meeting concerning Horseshoe Estates

My dear friend got this lovely piece of paper in the mail a few weeks ago. Many of the surrounding neighbors got one too.

It looks really official. It looks like the county may have sent it since it contains the word “Notice.” The county did not send these. The developer and the property owner sent these. This property includes two parcels. One that is five acres and the other is just over 60. This plan is for a PUD with 185 homes. A PUD goes in front of the board as is, and the zoning change is only for that specific development. They can ask for changes to home design and if they encounter elevation issues, but they cannot add more homes once their plan has been approved.

The meeting was ran by the representative from the developer. They have not yet purchased the properties. The land owner and the engineer were also in attendance. The representative for the developer spoke for ten minutes. He was interrupted with facts and questions and struggled to get through. He did and opened it up for questions. You can watch the entire meeting here. My husband took a video, but missed the first couple of minutes.

The take away from the room is that no one wants this project. The concerns are the same as they have been from the other 5000 projects in White House. Traffic, EMS, and schools to name a few. However, let me walk you through what they want to “give” us.

This is the front of the packet they gave us.

First I want you to notice the meeting dates on this page. The 18th was only a community meeting. This meeting didn’t count for anything. Mr. Neuzil stated that they do these meetings to see if there are particular issues that can be resolved with the community. For example if there is a clump of trees that are really old that the community would like to see preserved. A few of us think that they do this the week before the official meeting so that the community feels as if they have already spoken and don’t need to attend the county meeting. That is pure speculation on my part. On this page is the next two planning meetings for Robertson County. They plan on being approved at both and sent on to the December commission meeting for the rezone. How sweet of them.

Current zoning on this property is Ag. It is my understanding that they could build houses on 5 acre lots. Don’t quote me on that, I tried to read through all of the zoning rules and regs, and couldn’t find just definitions. I’m sure there is someone smarter than I am out there that can find it. If you look at the right side of the page, that is an example from the county’s comprehensive plan. Here are two other screenshots of their plan. One is just zoomed in further than the other.

That plan is all well and good, if the roads were set up to handle that. They aren’t, and neither are the schools. But I get ahead of myself. What these developers do is look at the future comprehensive plan and say, “See!! Our project fits your comprehensive plan, you should let us build.” Then the board says, “Oh gee, there is nothing we can do, this is in the comprehensive plan.” Then they get approval and you have 5000 units in your city. Or, like on Pinson Road with the town houses, “Those don’t really fit the comprehensive plan, but we’ll let you build anyway since there are already 1100 houses out there.” Do you see how this works yet? The comprehensive plan is supposed to be a guideline, not a rule book. It does not prohibit a planning board or a commission from making well thought out decisions.

Oh look, they are giving us 31 acres of open space instead of the required 10.76. My guess is that much of that is un-buildable and probably too close to the creek. But gee, thank you for leaving us green space that we can’t see from Calista.

Oh, here’s where it gets really fun. They completed a traffic study. They didn’t have to, but out of the goodness of their hearts, they did. You should go back and read what I think about traffic studies. (hint, it’s not much) First, take a look at that white box with the white arrow. That’s Horseshoe road where they think only 35% of the traffic is going to come out. You’ll have to excuse me a moment. I just snorted the coffee out of my nose as I was looking at that entrance.

Those photos are the Google Maps of where their entrance is going to be. But wait, there’s more.

Their traffic study said that they would not need to do anything to fix the traffic and or road issues. Ok, maybe one. They need an entering and exit lane to their own project. Well good. At least that problem is solved.

I guess they do realize that Horseshoe is an issue. Looks like instead of fixing anything and putting in the proper turn lanes, they would just make it an emergency exit. Good thing they paid for that traffic study.

What do you have to offer? That is the question I asked the developer. The answer, was nothing. They are not putting money toward a school or roads or any EMS. When I sat down to figure out what they will be doing for the county, it’s not much. If you average the square footage of the homes you get 2250 sq ft. The county charges fees on each home. $.70/sq ft, adequate facilities tax $1.50/sq ft, plus $200 for inspections. Multiply that by 185 homes and you get $927k. According to one of the commissioners that was there, that money doesn’t even get us another ambulance. It’s $1 million for a new ambulance and to staff it. The property taxes on each home will simply maintain the road that is already there. How exactly does that get us $60 million that we need to build a new middle school in the Heritage district? (that’s what middle schools cost now)

They want to go down Horseshoe and tear things up to put in larger water lines. They will be required to tap into the line on 31W. That’s going to go really well. Tear that all up while the dump trucks and concrete trucks are still heading into White House to finish building the 5000 units that only have about 1000 completed. They want to use the step system septic above a creek. Ask the mayor of Cedar Hill how well those work. Ask him if it has been inspected this year like it was supposed to be.

I leave you with this. These are the same cookie cutter houses they are building all over middle Tennessee. Nothing new, nothing beautiful, nothing interesting. They won’t stop. They will keep coming until we stand up over and over and over. We need to tell them to come back when we’ve caught up with what is already here. Here is the link for the planning meeting minutes and agendas. It will tell you when and where the meeting is. Show up.

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