CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The City Council approved the first reading of an overlay district on Tiny Town Road and Fort Campbell Boulevard on Tuesday. Several council members had their concerns, but the proposal was approved in a narrow vote.
At the end of 2024, the City Council asked the Regional Planning Commission (RPC) to study and return design overlays along Tiny Town Road and along Fort Campbell Boulevard. The RPC ended up combining the two efforts since they are similar in the review process, materials and signage. They were returned to the council as one ordinance, according to RPC Director Jeffery Tyndall at the council’s executive session meeting on June 26.
Councilperson Deanna McLaughlin, who proposed the original study on Fort Campbell Boulevard back in December, continued to show support for the overlay zoning but spoke on concerns regarding parking regulations.
“On the bottom section about parking, it does not require parking in the side and rear across all corridors,” McLaughlin said. “There are two corridors that will allow for it, one of which is Dover Crossing, and then also in transition zones where you have collector roads, it would also be permitted. So, it’s not eliminating parking in the front across all the corridors.”
Councilperson Stacey Streetman, who sponsored the overlay district on Madison Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway, said she is in support of the proposed overlays, saying that both Madison Street and the newly proposed overlay areas are entrances to the Clarksville community as well.
“I’m very supportive of the design overlays; just as that area is an entrance to our community, so are these other areas, and I think they’re very important to our community that we have these standards in place,” said Streetman.
Concerns over increase in crime
Other council members, such as Jimmy Brown and Ambar Marquis, were hesitant to support the proposal. Marquis said she planned on voting no to remain consistent after voting against the proposed overlay districts for Madison Street in 2024.
Brown cited several concerns he has with the proposal, including on parking and the building distance from the road.
“Some of my concerns with parking on the side and back, as law enforcement’s driving down the road, they’ll be driving down Tiny Town Road, and they cannot see the parking lots from the street,” Brown said. “When an officer is driving down the road, they’re looking at what’s going on at the side of the road. … If they cannot see the parking lots as they are driving through, because this is saying there needs to be some type of barrier between that and the road, they won’t be able to see the parking lots and so, people leaving these businesses are going to be, you know, not visible from the road. So, I hate to say it, but it gives criminals more opportunity to be hidden,” said Brown.
Concerns about an increase in the number of accidents, specifically cars crashing into buildings that are set back 5 feet from the road, were also brought up by Brown during the meeting and before the vote.
McLaughlin brought up that there is a process if someone wanted to appeal the variances and setbacks. “There’s actually two places you can go, the Design Review Board and then also, the Planning Commission staff can work to address those,” she said. “I also want to reiterate that Madison Street corridor overlay has been in place since 2010ish. It has the exact same setbacks as mentioned in this overlay presentation.”
Ultimately, the first reading of the overlay district for Fort Campbell and Tiny Town Road received council approval 7-5-1, with Councilpersons Brian Zacharias, McLaughlin, Jerry Haywood, Streetman, Joe Shakeenab and Keri Lovato and Mayor Joe Pitts voting in favor.
Voting no were Carlos Peters, Tim Chandler, Marquis, Wanda Smith and Brown. Travis Holleman abstained.
Christian Brown contributed to this article.
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