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Smyrna council denies zoning for 225-acre Fall Creek Commerce PUD after hours of debate
Summary
After extended public comment focused on traffic, flooding and fiscal impacts, the Smyrna Town Council voted to deny the annexation/zoning request for the 225.25-acre Fall Creek Commerce development, citing unresolved infrastructure and truck-traffic concerns despite developer commitments on traffic mitigations.
The Smyrna Town Council voted to deny a zoning and annexation request for a 225.25-acre planned development known as Fall Creek Commerce LLC after more than three hours of public comment and council debate.
Residents and nearby property owners urged the council to reject the proposal, raising traffic safety, flooding and long-term public cost concerns. Kelly Butler, who represents neighbors opposing the plan, told the council that “Hillwood is asking the community and the town to annex this property now and trust that the remaining problems with the plan will be worked out later,” and urged a no vote.
Staff described the development as a mix of C-2 (about 34.3 acres) and I-2 (about 190.95 acres) uses, with maximum building sizes the applicant proposed for the C-2 area at 350,000 square feet and up to 2.5 million square feet in the I-2 area. Planning staff said the planning commission recommended approval with three conditions: (1) no truck traffic entering Mona Road south of the development, (2) completion of an interior roadway parallel to I-840 before permit issuance for phase 3, and (3) a 100-foot landscape buffer adjacent to existing residences within 1,000 feet.
Developer Hillwood presented a revised traffic study with fresh counts and a list of commitments intended to limit truck traffic on local rural roads, including installation of a roundabout at the project entrance, no-truck signs, two-foot shoulders on Mona Road between the entrance and Bill France Boulevard, and the accelerated construction of an internal road to connect the site to Coulter Court. Paul Ranke of Hillwood said the PUD creates “checkpoints” and guarantees in writing, and that the developer will be “by your side the whole time” as building permits are requested.
Council members said they appreciated those commitments but expressed continued concern about assumptions used in the developersupplied traffic analysis (the study tested both a 5% and a 10% distribution of site traffic to the Mona/Jefferson Pike intersection). Council members asked that future phases return with third-party-reviewed traffic studies and noted potential costs to the town for roads, fire and police service and sewer infrastructure if the project moves forward. Planning staff and city engineers told the council that the towns plan-of-services and utility agreements provide checkpoints and that required improvements would be built before specific buildings become operational.
After debate, a motion to deny the zoning request carried on roll call. The council did not adopt the developerproposed zoning; council members who voted to deny said they preferred further mixed-use planning or additional assurances before approving large-scale industrial warehousing in that corridor. The council did not foreclose a future resubmittal; staff and developers said commitments in a PUD could be revised and that future site plans and traffic studies would be required before construction permits are issued.
Vote: Roll call on the motion to deny the zoning request for Fall Creek Commerce LLC: Dempsey — yes; Peebles — yes; Cole — yes; Short — yes; Sullivan — yes; Vice Mayor Atkins — yes; Mayor Reed — yes. Outcome: motion approved (zoning denied).
What comes next: The developer may revise the proposal or return with additional studies and mitigation commitments. Council members said they expect phased traffic studies and third-party reviews for any future phase-level approvals.
