CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Two rezoning applications failed Monday night at the county’s formal session following a candid public hearing last week. While both resolutions failed, one received a few more comments before voting began.
The first resolution, and most controversial, was a request from Benton Walker, who owns and operates Benton Builders. The second was from H&H Sheet Metal Fabrications, who was looking to rezone land east of Guthrie Highway for the construction of a warehouse.
Deerwood Road rezone
Benton Walker was requesting that 9.75 acres of his family farm be rezoned to R-1 from Agricultural (AG). The land faces Deerwood Road and is south of Highway 41A South. Walker stated previously that he was looking to develop a single-family subdivision on that property with around 15 homes, each costing around half a million dollars.
During discussion, Commissioner Tangi Smith asked that those in attendance in opposition to the rezone application to stand, to which around a dozen audience members did.
Commissioner Joe Smith noted that the applicant went back and did what the commission asked him to do last year by surveying the land. He said that going against someone who has owned that land for many years and did what was requested by the county is a bit egregious.
“This is a lifelong resident of this road. It’s not some big out-of-town developer coming in, and I think it’s going to be somebody who’s going to make a nice addition to this neighborhood and this area,” Joe Smith said. “I do realize we’ve got a lot of people standing over here in opposition, but I remember when I lived just around that corner from that road, actually right in front of it, there were only about 8-10 houses on that road. So, half of the people that are living there now weren’t living there then and half of those houses weren’t built.”
Commissioner Jason Knight had other thoughts on the rezone.
“I just wanted to have everybody be mindful of what’s important and who’s important within our community, and that’s the people, and the people have made their voices heard, and I think we would listen to them.”
Other commissioners also expressed concerns about further development on the property and the current capacity of schools in that area. However, Commissioner David Shelton explained that he would be voting yes.
“We’re going to have super full schools, and that’s a fact of life. We can’t ignore that, but we would have to stop all growth in order for that to change, and I’m not prepared to do that tonight,” Shelton said.
The motion failed with 17-3. Voting yes were Joe Smith, Shelton and Billy Frye.
Guthrie Highway rezone
Another rezoning application also failed Monday night. H&H Sheet Metal Fabrications was requesting to rezone 21.75 acres of land east of Guthrie Highway from AG to C-5. The applicant stated they are looking to build a warehouse, which a few residents in that neighborhood were opposed to.
The measure saw no discussion on Monday. The resolution failed 12-8.