CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The Regional Planning Commission held the first of three workshops Monday at Veterans Plaza Civic Hall, giving residents a chance to weigh in on the future of their community through a new 20-year Comprehensive Plan.
Around 70 people were grouped up, given maps, and asked to highlight the types of growth they would like to see in different portions of Montgomery County. They were given surveys, and asked questions by RPC employees and a consulting team from Houseal-Lavigne, who is assisting in data collection for the project.
RPC Director Jeffery Tyndall told Clarksville Now that the new plan will help prepare Montgomery County for the future, and will help guide zoning decisions by the city and county.
“This part of the planning process is where we take the community’s desires, wants and needs that they’ve identified, and we apply it to reality,” Tyndall said. “We try to then marry their needs to what we can do fiscally and with the rules that we have already.”
Why a comprehensive plan?
The Comprehensive Plan serves as a guide for the next 20 years of land use, development and public infrastructure investment in Montgomery County. It includes housing and neighborhoods, economic development, transportation, utilities, parks and the environment.
Currently, the RPC uses a Land Use Plan developed in 1999; however, the county’s needs have changed drastically in that time. In the last decade, Clarksville and has become home to corporations like Hankook, Bridgestone and Amazon and has received accolades from publications like Money Magazine and Opendoor.
“It is no secret that Clarksville and Montgomery County are growing at a rapid pace. We repeatedly make national news for ‘Best Place to Live,’ ‘Most Desired Zip Code for Relocation’ and ‘Best Place to Retire in Tennessee.’ But this growth has quickly stressed our infrastructure, government capacity and, for many residents, put us on a less than desired path forward,” Tyndall said in a recently published op-ed. “It is time to recalibrate and develop a plan for the next decade!”
The RPC will hold two more workshop events today, July 12. The first will be at Kenwood High School from noon-2 p.m. Lunch will provided to the first 200 participants by food trucks Say Cheese Please and Tacos Azteca. The second will be at Old Glory Distillery from 6-8 p.m. Snacks will be provided, and there will be a door prize raffle.