Planning Commission schedules public hearings on Parkway Place PID changes, school zoning rewrite and multiple annexations

The City of Murfreesboro Planning Commission on March 19 scheduled public hearings and advanced several zoning and annexation matters, including a proposed rewrite of school-related zoning rules, a Parkway Place PID amendment that would expand more intensive industrial uses, companion annexation and rezoning requests on Yergan Road, right-of-way abandonment on Blackman Road and a study-area annexation for the city landfill.

Parkway Place PID amendment and Volunteer Fleet parcel Planning staff proposed several edits to the Parkway Place planned industrial district (PID), including changing portions west of Richard Reeves Drive from Region 2 to Region 3 — the district’s most intensive area — and adding motor-vehicle repair (medium and heavy duty, excluding sales and rental) as an allowed use specifically for Lot 16. Staff said the change would confine the new auto-repair allowance to that parcel and keep auto-related uses away from residential edges.

Joe Swanson, representing the development interests in the PID, told commissioners the requested edit was intended to place the use “in the most industrial area” and that while he did not “foresee it,” he could not promise the amendment would be the last such request for the PID going forward. Commissioners asked whether the permit would allow similar uses elsewhere in the PID; staff clarified the requested allowance would be limited to the identified parcel but acknowledged portions of Region 3 remain undeveloped and could be subject to future requests.

The Volunteer Fleet Services site plan approved earlier in the meeting was submitted concurrently with this PID amendment; staff recommended that the PID amendment be limited to the parcel (Area 3) nearest heavier industrial uses. The Planning Commission voted to set a public hearing on the PID amendment for April 9.

Zoning ordinance amendment: school and institutional group assembly uses Planning staff presented a proposed zoning-ordinance amendment to change how schools (public, private and charter, K–12) and similar institutional group-assembly uses are reviewed. Senior planner Ken Fonley summarized the principal changes: remove the special-use-permit requirement for most school projects (so many school projects would be allowed by right), codify a required Type C buffer when a school abuts single-family residential, and require planned-development (PND/PUD) zoning for brand-new schools, for expansions or accessory structures of 50,000 square feet or more, or for athletic/recreation fields with lighting or amplified sound. For cases requiring planned development, the amendment would create minimum standards within plan documents while preserving the planning commission and city council’s discretion to grant exceptions.

Commission discussion focused on the public-notice implications of removing Board of Zoning Appeals hearings for many school expansions. Vice Chair Halliburton said he had “a little uneasiness” about eliminating public hearings for projects that could materially affect neighbors and suggested the 50,000-square-foot threshold be evaluated at public hearing. Staff agreed to present examples at the public hearing so commissioners and the public could judge whether 50,000 square feet is an appropriate cutoff. The commission set a public hearing on the proposed ordinance amendment for the April 9 meeting.

Yergan Road annexation and companion rezoning City staff presented an annexation petition and plan of services for approximately 13.74 acres along Yergan Road submitted by Shane and Duane Beard; staff said Rutherford County Highway Commission consented to the annexation of the right of way. The annexation area sits inside the city’s urban growth boundary and is contiguous to the city’s northern and western municipal limits. Staff recommended rezoning the property to RS-10, which would allow minimum 10,000-square-foot lots and a concept plan showing up to 21 lots. The commission scheduled the public hearing for both the annexation petition and the companion rezoning for May 7.

Blackman Road right-of-way abandonment The commission also set a public hearing for April 9 on a mandatory referral to consider abandoning a remaining segment of Blackman Road right-of-way where the roadway was realigned. Planning staff told the commission they had circulated the abandonment exhibits to utilities and other departments and would provide a summary of agency comments at the public hearing.

Landfill annexation study City administration asked the commission to schedule a public hearing on an annexation petition and plan of services that would cover roughly 809 acres containing the BFI landfill along East Jefferson Pike plus segments of Lebanon Pike and East Jefferson Pike state right-of-way and a Landfill Road ingress/egress easement. Assistant City Manager Sam Huddleston said the city is studying the feasibility of annexation — noting a 1995 outside-city sewer agreement included a clause that BFI would not object to future annexation — and that putting the property inside the city would allow greater engagement on operational issues (odor, shop/maintenance operations) and permit the city to capture property-tax revenue associated with changes to the site’s appraisal over time. The commission set the public hearing for the landfill annexation study for May and staff said a neighborhood meeting (approximately a 1,000-foot radius) will be scheduled.

Votes and next steps The commission voted to place the Parkway Place PID amendment, the institutional/school zoning ordinance amendment and the Blackman Road abandonment on the April 9 agenda for public hearing and to schedule the Yergan annexation/rezoning and the landfill annexation study for public hearings in May. Staff will compile the plan of services and agency comments and present detailed materials at the scheduled hearings.