State of the City Address

Presentation by City Administrator Herman at the Chamber of Commerce Lunch

On Tuesday October 17th, 2023 Mr. Herman gave a presentation on the status of the city of White House. He began very lighthearted with some videos and a couple of jokes. Since it is October, he added clips from old school TV and movies. He had 12 life lessons from Herman Munster. He then jumped into updates starting with population.

Population

The 2020 census showed that White House had 13k people living in the city. Between 2020 and 2023, the city added 1189 homes with approximately 2.8 people per home. White House estimates that 3329 people moved in in the three years since the census was completed.

Currently approved housing units that have yet to be built are 3117 single family homes and 1290 multifamily units. Without approving another unit in the city the next slide shows what we are looking at for future population.

The city has seen an average of 361 units built a year. At that projected pace, the population will increase to 28k in roughly 8.6 years.

That may actually be faster than the 8.6 years. Cardinal Pointe, (Sage North), and The Mill on 76 will be ready for occupancy in the spring and fall of 2024. That could add roughly 2200 people. Cardinal Point and The Mill have 428 units combined.

Adding 2k people in a year is a big jump. The city only added 3k people from the 2010 to the 2020 census, and then 3k from 2020-2023. The jumps after 2020 are pretty big. Once the city hits 28k, it puts White House in line with the populations of Goodlettsville and Springfield.

The city does NOT dictate when Halloween occurs. The calendar dictates that. The city is making sure that all new subdivisions have sidewalks for the kids. The city recommends hours, but is not in control of trick or treating. They tried it once years ago. It was supposed to rain, and the city tried to change the date. It was the worst decision ever made. Herman had more calls and emails. It will never happen again. Don’t ask to change Halloween. (This entire section was given with much humor and laughter from the audience)

Commercial Growth

Sembler is making good progress with the Publix site. They already have walls up. They will be adding a traffic signal at Raymond Hirsch and the water tower. A turn lane will be added at Raymond Hirsch and 76. The Publix will be open within a year.

The Charter Assisted Living Facility will be open late spring. The city has been working for years to bring a facility such as this here. There are 25 memory care units and 54 assisted living units. They are already booking spots.

The Smile Center is building a new facility in front of Tractor Supply. That will be completed within a year. Norfleet Retail is going in next to the current Smile Center. It will be office space and warehouse space.

Twin Springs retail space is ready. The owner says that there will be an eye care business in one of the spaces, but is not sure of the other spaces as of yet.

Two new fuel stations are being added. The Shell on 31W is nearing completion. The Speedway on 76 is just getting started. There was talk that on 76 a 7-11 would be built. 7-11 owns Speedway, so yes, 7-11 owns this but a Speedway is being built.

Express Oil was just approved at the planning commission this month. They will be building two new buildings on the old Rod’s Tire Shop property on 76.

The White House Utility District is adding a new headquarters near the fire station on 31W. This is separate from the city. The city does NOT manage the White House Utility District.

This is a 300k square foot building going in behind the Love’s Truck Stop. There is a possibility of three businesses on this site. This should also be completed within a year. This is the first of its kind here in White House.

SRM Concrete has started construction on a plant in the industrial park by the wastewater plant. Exotic Marble is building on Union Road by the storage facility. Stutz Wire, a local Robertson County business, is adding a new facility at the end of Dee Cee road.

Transportation

The Heritage High School connection road is completed. This road makes it easier for families to come in the back of the school. The city built the road, Robertson County Schools will maintain it. Pleasant Grove and 76 and Cross Plains Road and 76 are both dangerous intersections and this new road allows the families to avoid those.

Sage Road is being widened. The Sage/31W intersection is completed. The city worked with the state for that light to be added. The east side of 31W was McCurdy Road will now be CedarBrook. That will connect all the way to Tyree Springs when it is done.

The next Sage project is to widen it from CrossRoads Medical to Cardinal (the curve in the road). Sidewalks will be added and it will be a three lane road. The Rogers Group has been hired to do this and they expect to be done by Christmas. The city is working on getting easements on Sage from 31W to Cardinal. The plan is to widen that section of Sage so that there are shoulders. Currently it is a struggle for two trucks to pass one another on that portion of the road.

Raymond Hirsch and the 31W intersection also needs improvement. The city had applied for a grant and was approved. The grant included federal Covid money. The money was to pay for design and the environmental study. While the city was in the design phase, the federal money had disappeared. They were able to get funding from the state to continue the project. Construction should begin in June.

Pleasant Grove and 76 intersection has been an issue for years. A turn lane was put in by The Parks and at 76 on Pleasant Grove. However, the Board of Mayor and Alderman let the city know that this is high priority. The design phase should be done by the end of the calendar year. There will be a light and turn lanes on 76. Construction should begin by the end of the fiscal year.

This is the light that has sparked confusion in the city. There is a light coming at South Palmers and Tyree Springs. There will be a turn lane into Willow Grove. The light is on order and has been on order for 3 years now. The agreement to put in the light is with Safe Harbor, who is building Dorris Farms, not Lennar, who built Willow Grove. Safe Harbor will NOT be given certificate of occupancy until that light is complete. Along with that, there will be sidewalks added from these subdivisions to White House High School with improvements made to the intersection on Tyree by the high school.

Parks

The tennis courts are completed. When Mayor Corbitt was alderman, he asked that the tennis courts be reviewed. They were and it ended up being good timing to build new courts as a road was needed from Indian Ridge to 76. The courts were dedicated on October 16th. The road from the courts to Kroger will be named Byrum Drive.

The soccer complex recieved a grant from the state for $650k for the parking lot. The city was to match the money to complete the project. When the city went to bid the lot, the lowest bid came in at $3million. Inflation is crushing the city. The state came back with several options and ultimately said they could do $1.5 million if the city could match it. The city found the funds and is just waiting on final state approval to get going.

The rec center is moving along well. It’s a 72k square foot, $24million facility that should be open in December of 2024.

The Trail of Treats has moved to the city park. This will take place on Thursday the 26th at the city park.

Public Safety

The fire department has ordered a new engine. The last engine ordered was under $500k. The new engine is $1million and will take 2-2.5 years to receive. The police department ordered two cars over a year ago. They just came in. They are going to order four more in the coming months.

As population has increased, the number of calls the fire department responds to has also increased. The department has added a new fire fighter each year. They are looking to add another captain in the coming years to help with training. Police calls have stayed relatively static.

The wastewater department wants to remind people to only flush the three P’s. Pee, Poo, and Paper. Many of the calls they receive deal with items that should not be flushed. The new plant design began several years ago. It is now expected to be done in December or January. With the size of the plant and the expected growth of the city, this plant should be great for 20+ years.

The southern force main was at capacity. The city started adding 12 inch lines to help with the water pressure. Along this red line, they are adding pipe that looks to be 18-24 inches in diameter. The city received money from federal, state, and private entities. This is a $7million project.

The city has been in the process of changing over the old grinder sewer connections to the gravity connections. All new subdivisions have the gravity connections. This year the gravity finally surpassed the grinders. The city spends time and money with failures and clogs in the grinder systems. They have spent $500k on replacing the grinders. The city has seen no calls about the gravity systems.

There are three storm water projects under way in Indian Ridge. They needed a crane to haul in the box on Hobbs Drive. They are hoping to have all projects completed in the next few months.

Tourism

The city is looking at having a stagecoach built to put in front of the Museum. They are currently getting bids. This would be a tourist attraction that would allow for photo ops.

The Christmas parade is coming as is the new tree. The new tree is 34ft tall and will stand in front of the library. The topper is 6ft tall. It came in a truck and was unloaded into the old rec center.

The parade will be December 2nd at 3pm.

This was the conclusion of the presentation. The lunch was provided by Southern Key BBQ.

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