CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLENOW) – What was once a quiet suburb of Clarksville is now roaring with the sounds of dump trucks, bulldozers and construction, leaving many neighbors frustrated by the change.
Rossview’s Farmington neighborhood lies alongside a major road widening and, across that road, two projects under construction: the Kirkwood school campus and a new housing development.
The county’s decision to build the newest school here came with coordination with the Tennessee Department of Transportation for a needed widening of Rossview Road (State Route 237).
“The school growth is obvious in Montgomery County, and we have not built a new middle school in over 10 years,” County Mayor Jim Durrett told Clarksville Now. “The Northeast and Rossview school campuses are busting at the seams.
“The new campus will provide instant relief for both of these campuses. Historically, when new schools are built, development follows, and with that development we see properties that was farmland for years turn into subdivisions,” Durrett said.
The expansion will double the size of the road and will impact Farmington’s residents, with some homeowners on the edge of Rossview losing 40 to 80 feet of their backyards. According to TDOT communications manager Beth Emmons, contractors have already started working on the widening.
Farmland view
Todd Trapnell moved into the neighborhood in 2019 after spending the previous 16 years in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. His family enjoyed the view of a corn field from their backyard. That view is now a sea of dirt and gravel.
“When we moved, we picked the exit that seemed the least busy, and that’s kind of going away a little bit now,” Trapnell said. “(Exit) 8 was the best, because you get off at (Exit) 4, it’s a zoo; you get off at (Exit) 11, it’s kind of a zoo. 8 was good, because it was simple. I was close to the interstate, and my goal was to drive to Nashville. Now it’s potentially going to be quite, quite busy.”
Trapnell and his family, plus at least one other homeowner along the back end of the neighborhood, are considering moving. He mentioned that with the expanded route, a careless driver could veer off the road and land directly in the back of his home.
Other residents voiced concerns to Clarksville Now about the possible impact of the new neighborhood on the value of their own homes and the continual growth that Clarksville has seen in recent years.
Growth next to growth
Some residents of this fairly new neighborhood, which itself replaced quiet farmland outside the city limits, said growth comes with the territory.
“I feel like unless you’re moving completely out of Clarksville, I don’t think that you can escape it,” said Jamie Keenan, a stay-at-home mother of three. “Clarksville’s only growing. With Nashville taxes going up and housing in Nashville being so expensive, you’re only getting those people that are making that commute now.
“Wherever you go in Clarksville, it’s only growing. I don’t really think that you can escape more people being around you,” Keenan said.
“My opinion is, we’re blessed to live in this neighborhood. It’s a beautiful neighborhood, and having a street that’s a little bit farther over in my yard is not the end of the world.”
Others, like three-year tenant Yunjung Ko and her family, look forward to less traffic congestion along what has been a two-lane highway.
“I agree with the expansion of the road size, but I’m not sure what my neighbors think,” she said. “If I owned this house, maybe I wouldn’t be very happy.”