CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The Killebrew, a 307-acre, 1,378-unit mixed-use community project planned for the Rossview area, received rezoning approval from the Montgomery County Commission Monday night.
The Killbrew development, announced in March, has been presented as a fully walkable, live-work-play community with housing, retail, education, entertainment and extensive greenspace. According to the master plan submitted to the Regional Planning Commission by Rossview Farms, the project will include six districts: two high-density residential districts, two single-family residential districts, a “Main Street District” and a riverfront camp and recreation preserve. Clarksville Christian School has also announced plans to build a new campus within the community.
Commissioners voted 15-5 in favor of the rezoning. Voting no were Carmelle Chandler, Joshua Beal, Robert Sigler, Garland Johnson and Jerry Albert. Commissioner Brandon Butts was absent.
Whereas the Clarksville City Council requires two votes to pass a rezoning application, Montgomery County only requires one, meaning the Rossview Farms, the developer behind the Killebrew, is free to move forward to the next phase of development.
‘Do we add bodies to an overcrowded sinking ship?’
Sigler and Garland both spoke in opposition to the rezoning on Monday, citing among other concerns the impact so many new residents would have upon schools and traffic for Rossview residents.
“We’re building new schools to help alleviate the already overcrowding in our schools. We’re exasperating this overcrowding by allowing new, large communities. We, the current citizens, are feeling this pain in traffic, in our schools, and the cost of housing. Current teachers and children face the uphill battle of increased class sizes, portable buildings and stretched resources. Do we add bodies to an overcrowded sinking ship? I hope not,” Sigler said Monday. “The surrounding community, who have flooded my phone, aren’t happy. I’ve never been more popular in my life.”
“It truly is a beautiful concept, and it would be fabulous in a different part of the county,” Garland added. “We have overcrowded schools, so we spend hundreds of millions of dollars per school to build a new three-school complex, then we pack a neighborhood right beside it. We spend millions to widen the road, and we pack it full of cars.”
Last week, James Bagwell, agent for the Killebrew project, told commissioners that the development would include several phases and would take 15-20 years to complete.
RPC Director Jefferey Tyndall told the Regional Planning Commission at their April meeting that the Killebrew would require several site plan reviews throughout the construction process in order to ensure the project does not outpace infrastructure improvements.