Riddle Me This.....
How does any of this make sense? (another opinion piece)
Here is the new industrial area. The photo on the left is the entire area from a Google Maps view. It’s the area south of Lowe’s and Advanex. The area in the blue on the right is the wooded area on the left. The area in blue on the right was the topic of discussion at the planning meeting Monday night.
The properties to the south of the blue property are part of the new industrial area. This area has been in the works for YEARS. Not just the past 2-3 like they want you to think, closer to 15+ years. The city’s comprehensive plan was adopted in 2019 but started in 2018. This industrial area was part of the “future” of White House.
From conversations I have had with various people in White House and in the city, it is my understanding that this area has been under consideration for industrial for closer to the 15 year mark. This is what the city has wanted and has been working toward for years. The Robertson County Economic Development Board got involved, and now the TVA has chosen this area for industry. Fantastic. Industry and jobs are great.
Now riddle me this…Why on earth would the city approve apartments, single family homes, more commercial space, and an assisted living facility on a road that was going to be needed for industry? They planned for industry. They wanted industry. They asked for industry, and yet, they created a nightmare first.
The previous mayor and board of aldermen behaved very similarly to toddlers. Toddlers do not like or understand the word “no.” Yes-Put apartments there. Yes-Put more houses there. Yes- Assisted living, we need that. Where was the demand for improvements? Monday night, the city administrator stated, in order to widen Sage Road from Crossroads to Cardinal point, the city needs funds. Make these developers pay. Hell, make the Robertson County Economic Development Board pay. Impact fees cover very little from my understanding.
The phrase they threw around last night was “minimal impact.” 1200 trips a day does not sound like minimal impact to me.
Their proposed building has 34 bays. Included in those 1200 trips are semis. “Minimal impact” is a great phrase if you don’t have to live or work around here. The city engineer behaved as if this is just the price for growth. Does he have kids at Woodall? They didn’t even mention school traffic and that intersection. So here we “grow” again White House. We will be Mount Juliet before you know it and at this point it can’t be stopped. Although, what do I know, I’m not a traffic engineer.
You know who doesn’t care about how long you sit in traffic? CESO, the company that provides these traffic studies. Al Neyer that builds and leases these properties. The Robertson County Economic Development Board that has worked so tirelessly to get this done. Your planning board. Your planning board does not seem to care how long you sit in traffic or even what you think about it. There were concerns about traffic discussed, but not in an angry/meaningful way. The people on the board are supposed to be one of you. They are supposed to be representatives of the population of White House. Your mayor is the only one that voiced the concerns of the people and the traffic. Only one of those members up there even has to sit in the traffic they have been a part of creating. Not one of them has to take their kids to school in the morning. How is this board representative of the people of the city? Where are the business owners? Where are the moms that have to sit in school traffic? Where are the fathers trying to turn out left out of the soccer complex? Where are the people that have to commute to and from White House and sit in the traffic with the trucks? Those are the members we need on this board. Keep that in mind as construction begins on Sage. Keep that in mind as the road isn’t widened before more industry comes to town. Keep that in mind as these member’s terms expire.
Thanks again Nikki! Yes, and those poor people turning on to Hester, and sitting attempting to get in to KFC, there is NO turning lane for them so everyone turning left sits in the intersection. The sage road traffic light allows three cars out, possibly 4 if you can get people off of their phones. Why is there still NO turn lane coming out of McDonalds? Yeesh! Some times of the day you can only be aggressive to get through! We shouldn’t be forced in to that mode of driving.
Before anymore building is considered, I’d love to see some improvement to roads BEFORE something else comes along industrial or residential. Raymond Hirsch backs up almost to Papa Johns some mornings because of bad flow there. There are these spots all over town that work against each other.
I worked in a retail planning environment for years, you can look at numbers all you want, and draw many conclusions on paper to sell your argument, but it isn’t until you go in to the store and realize they have no room to display what you’re attempting to push in, or you aren’t sending enough to fill the display unit the does reality ever hit. Worked great on paper, but it never fit the 150 stores you were called to support. You can’t just send you goods based on your best selling scenario and think it does well for the other 149.
They need to get out during peak hours and drive these areas. Getting a left on to 31 from Colorado Grill is a nightmare at 6 p.m. You can’t do it, you can go right and hopefully wind your way through back roads to get over to the other side of town, if you can get someone to break the line and let you through. I questioned last year or the year before, some of the members on these boards didn’t actually live in city limits. I think Mandy said a rule was in process for changing that, I hope that it happened. I believe it did. I think it’s a good group of people, they just need to be out and about being witness to these issues, and get things going on putting the pieces in place to make the flow work. The more we see them working against the mayor, and traffic woes continue, they’ll just be replaced.
Once again, board approved the project with only Mayor Corbitt voting no. Can the incoming Mayor make new appointments? When I read your notes, I could not believe that board voted to approve. So many things up in the air, undecided, and they approve? And, I agree about placing more residential units near “industrial” businesses….just doesn’t mix well.