colletta
By David Walsh

By BROOKE WANSER

The municipal planning commission voted Thursday night to modify standards in the current zoning plan to push through the long-stalled Colletta Park development.

Colletta Park, first called Ashcroft Ridge, then Ashcroft Valley, has been voted down and revived on numerous occasions, most recently in August.

The property is located south of Murfreesboro Road and north of South Carothers Road, just east of I-65, and is surrounded by unincorporated land.

The commission voted to modify the standard that will allow lots to be less than one acre and cul-de-sac length to be greater than 500 feet, with assurance from the developer that no more than 199 units will be built upon a 199 acre parcel of the land.

Alderman Ann Petersen, who has long been wary of the project and questioned Gamble on slopes in the roads, and Lisa Gregory, voted against the resolution.

At a neighborhood meeting two weeks ago, residents voiced their concerns about erosion, but were far more sedate than at previous meetings.

During the public comment session, residents continued to voice their concerns with the project, pertaining to natural foliage, lot size, and traffic.

Tom Brittain, who lives in Franklin East on Ridgeway Drive, said he was concerned about traffic, and frustrated by what he recalled as “12 to 13 iterations of this plan.”

“They still haven’t come back with anything that fits R1, and it’s evident because they have to ask for an exception,” he said.

Mike Kueker, who lives in the Cedarmont Farms subdivision, said he had read the standard and zoning requirements, and didn’t see how an average of 199 lots per 199 acres equaled the standard, which call for lots at least one to five acres in size.

“I could average driving 55 miles an hour on the freeway, but I’m still going to get a ticket if I’m going 110,” he said. “The reason we create standards is so we have rules to follow. If you’re going to change the standards every time someone asks, then they’re not really standards in the first place.”

Greg Gamble of Gamble Design Collaborative represents Land Solutions, the Nashville company developing the property, and was at the meeting to speak to residents’ concerns.

Gamble said the development would have a tree canopy preservation area, in which trees could not be removed unless they had died. He said any lot greater than one acre in size requires a tree permit.

But Kueker said his fears about the trees he looks down upon from his property were not alleviated.

“I’m concerned about the tree canopy that I know is going to become rooftops and it’s going to become headlights and it’s going to become noisy things,” he said, “and that’s not what this neighborhood is zoned for.”

“When Mr. Gamble stands up there and says, we’re not going to have tree removal on one acre, There’s not one lot in that plan that’s going to be greater than one acre,” Kueker continued. They could tear every tree down without anybody knowing.”

Brittain said his major concern was traffic because of his neighborhood’s location; he expressed frustration with not being represented because of his neighborhood’s location in the urban growth boundary.

“Once you get the PUD approved, the zoning doesn’t apply,” Brittain said to Kueker, who agreed.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen will vote on the measure on Nov. 28, and Brittain said he is hopeful they will be more cautious than the planning commission, and vote the measure down. “They’re putting the density over top of the character, and BOMA seems to care more about that,” he said.