CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – A proposal to rezone more than 112 acres west of the Hampton Station Road and Webb Road went before the Montgomery County Commission on Monday night, as the applicant is looking to transition the land from agricultural to M-2 general industrial district.

The applicants, Thomas Oliver Jr. and Terese Oliver, were represented by agent Larry Rocconi Jr. While making his case to the County Commission, Rocconi said the applicants are looking to bring the acreage into conformity with the other M-2 in the area. He pointed out the Comprehensive Plan shows the land should be used for manufacturing or industrial.

“They reached out to me, we reached out to the Industrial (Development) Board to talk to the IDB and said, ‘What can we do to be a good partner?'” Rocconi said. “It has rail access; it lends itself to manufacturing and industrial. It’s an extension of the M-2, so it’s an extension of the existing class. And when you look at this land, as the IDB looks at bringing in larger companies and larger employers for our community, this is what’s called a tier two or tier three. So, this would be smaller so these would be the suppliers. This would be a feather in a cap for the people bringing more industry here to where this is a spot for their suppliers to go.

“This makes sense in the scheme of things for what we need out there. The Olivers want to basically control their destiny,” he said. “So, this is them controlling their property. They want to get it rezoned to M-2, which makes sense, so they can market their property.”

Rocconi also said the 112 acres is an extension and sits within the unofficial Industrial Park boundary.

When asked about the rezoning case, IDB Executive Director Josh Ward told Clarksville Now with the Oliver Family Farm being located within those informal boundaries of the Industrial Park, being directly served by rail, as well as being surrounded by industrial uses, the property is well positioned for future industrial development.

Question over flooding concerns

When Regional Planning Commission Director Jeffery Tyndall was speaking on the case, Commissioner Billy Frye asked him to elaborate on what would be done to improve the flooding across the entire area where the land is located when developed. “Because it’s kind of in the middle where water has flowed up from LG down to our recently impacted neighbors towards the bottom,” Frye said. “What can we do to help improve that situation with this development?”

Tyndall said it’s a great question, and the piece of land in question is a piece to a bigger puzzle.

“This property has a mix of, I think, upland and lowland. When we go through the subdivision or the site plan process, if it does get to be rezoned, then it comes back to the Planning Commission a couple of months from now. We will look at the drainage (calculations) – when I say ‘we,’ I mean the County Code Department will look at the drainage calculations. If it’s in the city limits, the City Street Department will look at the drainage calculations.”

Tyndall said that typically in a post-development scenario, you can improve the drainage on a property because you can slow it down where it needs to be slowed down, and you can retain it where it needs to be retained.

“The flow needs to be at or below current levels and controlled for those other events higher than a 100-year flood. So, I can’t exactly say what this property could do for the whole area, but as it develops it will be analyzed and reviewed for its impact to itself and its surrounding properties.”