A

The Planning Commission approved a 99-lot plat and voted to recommend a 182-acre Planned Unit Development to the Board of Mayor and Alderman in a five-hour meeting on Mon, Aug. 21.

The 99-lot Short Springs Subdivision was submitted as a pre-plat, and the proposed development allowed for single family homes in the 50-acre lot.

Attorney Garth Segroves, representing developer Allan Howard, gave the commission a brief overview of the proposal.

“I think informally, everyone knows [the property] as the Kennedy property,” said Segroves, “Mr. Howard has been a developer in Coffee County and Manchester for many years now. All requirements have been met at this stage.”

Nicholas Northcutt, Howard’s surveying engineer, also spoke to the commission, reiterating that all requirements required by the city have been met.

Another Engineer, Kenny Sadler, also spoke on developer Howard’s behalf regarding people’s comments about drainage issues and easements. He emphasized the developer’s responsibility in obtaining easements.

“I want to make clear,” he said, “water from this development is not going into other developments, we are picking water up from the adjacent developments and routing that down the road through pipes into detention into the floor plain.”

Citizens also took their turn to speak regarding the development.

Resident Patty Dean said “What I wanted to comment on–with my background as a geologist–is that, looking at the topographic contours of the proposed drainage easements, drainage within this property relies on easements within the existing properties. It will flow through existing Macon Manor easements. This adds to the already overburdened drainage in Macon Manor. My second point also relates to drainage, but more importantly conserving Tullahoma’s quality of life. Lots 41, 42 and 53 to 64, located on the southern section of the property largely follows what is labeled as ‘Buffer area.’ This buffer area follows a wide, yet steep-sided stream bed that serves as the outflow from large parts of Macon Manor to Bobo Creek, and then out to Normandy Lake, part of our drinking water supply. During large rainstorms, this creek becomes a raging, turbulent river with water outside what might be considered its banks.”

Dean added that the proposed plat area is surrounded by wildlife, and said that the development would require the removal of a large amount of trees. Dean challenged the board to consider the “unknown affect[s]” of changing that area of land on the surrounding area in Tullahoma.

Another speaker was Yvonne Bridges, whose property borders the development, and would, according to her statement, have four and one-third homes in her backyard alone.

“We were the second family to pick out a lot,” in her neighborhood, she said.

She explained that she and her family have lived at their home since 1995, and that she watched all of the surrounding neighborhoods grow up around them.

“We wanted to set our house as far back as we could,” she said, “because we liked the area,” and they wanted privacy.

She explained that the new development would strip away that privacy, along with the chance of devaluing her property.

After several more comments from citizens, the commission discussed their concerns about the development before voting.

Commissioners Daniel Berry and Marvin Sellers both expressed their main concern about the proposed fire lane which went partially into the neighborhood, but did not span all the way through.

Interim Fire Chief Larry Sloan was asked to give his opinion about the fire lane and any other access points to the neighborhood.

“That was a concession that the developer made,” he said regarding the fire lane, “they didn’t have to do it because of the stub out onto the Anderson property.”

He agreed with Berry that there is “limited access” to the neighborhood.

Berry responded, “It may meet the requirement, but that doesn’t seem, to me, it meets the actual intent or reason behind having access [to the neighborhood].”

Sloan said that may be true, but a precedent had been set by the planning commission, which would allow these types of plats to be approved.

After an hour of back and forth with the developers’ representatives, the commission voted.

The approval passed four to two, with Sellers and Berry voting ‘nay.’

Next, a Planned Unit Development plat was presented to the commission by Chris Rod of Beacon Acquisitions, LLC.

The development, to be called Summerlin, would be Planned Mixed-Use (P-MU) if approved by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen. Since the PUD is a request to rezone the area to P-MU, it could only be voted to recommend to BoMA.

According to the Staff Report memo from Rush, the 182-acre area is currently zoned agricultural. It is located off of North Jackson Street, and proposes a total of 996 units. These include 350 single-family one to two story homes of 50 foot wide lots with 6,000 square feet, 326 townhomes on 20 foot wide lots with 2,000 square feet and 320 multi-family homes, along with 3 acres of retail space along North Jackson, according to Rush’s memo.

Rod said the project would take up to 10 years to complete.

Once the public hearing section of the proposal was opened, it was evident that residents off of Ledford Mill Rd. had complaints concerning the back section of the development would empty out on the road.

The first to speak was John Patsimas, a resident of Ledford Mill Rd.

“Before we get started,” he said, “I am not one of these guys who is ‘not in my backyard.’”

“I’ve been living on Ledford Mill for 23 years,” he said, “my whole life is here, and I want to die here. You didn’t see my face here when they divided all the land on Ledford Mill into four or five acres tracks, you didn’t see my face here when they did the roller skate rink, you didn’t see my face here when they did the bank, you didn’t see my face here when they did the subdivision–’cause I think that’s okay.”

“This monstrosity,” he said, referring to the proposed plot, “this hideous wart on Tullahoma’s face, has to be stopped.”

He called the subdivision “the slum of Tullahoma.”

He argued that if one combined the past three developments (including Short Springs), “you would only have 220 homes, we’re talking 1,000 homes [here]!”

After Paul Schwer closed the public hearing, he asked Rush for comment, and Rush said the staff recommended the commission recommend the change in zoning to BoMA.

Interim City Administrator Kenneth Pearson then invited all of the city department heads to speak about the impact the PUD would have on Tullahoma.

Sloan said there would have to be a new fire station with 15 new firefighters to match the development area. “And at least one personnel apparatus.”

Police Chief Jason Williams said “there’s a lot of things that’s expected as far as manpower is concerned, but typically, the accepted equation that’s come through the FBI and the Institute of Public Safety Administration is that you have two officers for every 1,000 residents.”

Berry asked exactly how many officers they would need, and guessed three to four, to which Williams agreed.

The commissioners felt they needed to study the impact of the development more before making a recommendation to BoMA, so they requested Rush add a study session to their schedule, before voting to postpone.

Berry made the motion, Rice seconded, and the motion passed six to zero.