Council approves first reading for Legacy Nursery rezoning after tense public hearing

The Clarksville City Council approved first reading of Ordinance 38 on Dec. 4, a rezoning request from C-4 to C-5 for property at the northern terminus of Kennedy Lane for Legacy Nursery and Landscape. The vote was 9–4.

Neighborhood residents and the applicant offered sharply different accounts of what the site would host and which zoning classification would allow it. Lisa Wiles, who said she has lived in the Meadows of Hearthstone neighborhood since 2002, told the council the proposal was “the best fit” for the end of Kennedy Lane and that she preferred a garden center to other commercial options, citing wildlife and lower traffic impact. “This is the best fit,” she said.

The applicant, David Thompson of Legacy Nursery Landscapes, said he intends to operate a retail garden center and that his interactions with building and codes staff led him to believe the site could function under C-4. “When we originally put the property under contract, we were told by the building and codes department that C-4 was suitable for what we intended to do,” Thompson said while answering council questions about prior advice and his site plan.

Councilmembers pressed Thompson on site-plan details, greenhouse use and why he sought a broader commercial designation. Councilman Streetman warned that C-5 allows a wider range of commercial activities and said the regional planning commission and staff had recommended disapproval. “This opens it up to basically every commercial opportunity that could go back there,” he said during debate, citing uses such as automobile sales and service as possibilities under a C-5 classification.

The council briefly considered a procedural resolution (Resolution 35) asking the regional planning commission to clarify definitions for garden centers, greenhouses and nurseries in the zoning code; the council declined to consider that measure this meeting, and a later vote to consider it failed. After further debate, the council voted to approve Ordinance 38 on first reading, meaning the measure will return for a second reading before final adoption.

What happens next: Ordinance 38 passed first reading and will return to council for second reading and a final vote. Council members who opposed the first reading said they remain concerned that C-5 permanently broadens allowable uses at the site; supporters said they were attempting to remedy mixed guidance the applicant received from staff and the planning commission.