 New city manager sees new development as chance to ramp up city’s spot on radar
By Carole Robinson, staff writer
crobinson@williamsonherald.com
While most of Williamson County was experiencing unprecedented growth during the 1980s and 1990s, Fairview’s growth remained generally average.
The primary problem – traffic congestion through town and lack of a quick and easy route from the northwest corner of Williamson County to other parts of the county with amenities like CoolSprings Galleria and Williamson Medical Center, but all that is about to change.
Fairview city leaders are looking forward to the completion of State Route 840 in 2012 and the reduced the drive time to Franklin, Spring Hill and other county destinations with a hope it will be enough to lure new residents and businesses.
On Friday city leaders received much-anticipated good news that will go along way toward opening the doors to growth opportunities.
The Tennessee Department of Transportation approved a partnership with the city of Fairview to widen Highway 100 through a prime section of town. Under the agreement, the city will provide $300,000 toward the cost of the road project it hopes will also be completed by 2012.
Traffic along Highway 100 through Fairview, a two-lane road with only one traffic light, has been a thorn in the city’s side for decades. As a major byway for area residents, it also connects people in Dickson and Hickman counties with their jobs in Nashville and with each year, traffic continues to get heavier.
The widening of Highway 100 is critical to the commercial and residential growth of Fairview, said State Rep. Phillip Johnson, who worked with the city and TDOT to develop the agreement.
“Seventeen thousand vehicles travel this road every day,” said Andrew Hyatt, Fairview’s new city manager. “We have a lot of exposure.”
However, businesses just watch those vehicles pass them by during peak traffic times – it is simply too difficult to get in and back out onto the highway.
With merely the possibility of those improvements on the horizon, Tractor Supply Company and Auto Zone recently opened branch stores in town and since the first of the year, Publix Super Market, the anchor for the Bowie Commons shopping center, and O’Reillys just down the road, broke ground. A new medical center will be opening in town and there are letters of intent for 50 percent of the space available in Bowie Commons, which will open in 2011.
“The groundwork has been laid – things are going to change,” said Hyatt, who started his job in January and has been running ever since. “Now we have to anticipate what’s going to happen. This is wonderful in this economy. Here we are growing – you can sit here and watch it. Like a full yard of grass – we better be ready to mow. I see so many opportunities.”
One of those opportunities is to rework the face of Fairview from a bedroom community of Nashville to a 24-hour community with business and industry to support the area’s population, which has reached 7,000.
“We are looking for a niché,” Hyatt said. “I do see opportunities for high-tech and other clean industries, but we must put the zoning in place. There are industries looking to relocate – we’ve got to go out and find them. We don’t need to wait for someone else to look for us. Going to them is the key – putting feet to the vision.”
Hyatt said he is working with the county office of economic development and, “We’re going to go out looking and knocking on doors. We’re on a short time table.”
Hyatt, the father of three school-age children, came to Fairview from Etowah, Tenn., where he had been the city manager for two years. After 20 years in the private sector, in 1998 he received his Master’s in city management and worked in city government in the Ft. Lauderdale and Dallas, Texas areas.
“I’ve been around a little bit and seen the world from different perspectives,” he said. “But I can see this as being that last position because of the growth and the quality of life.”
Hyatt deferred to the vision of the leaders of the past 50 years that primed Fairview for the growth it is about to experience.
“We have a 700-acre park – something a lot of cities would love to have – so we already have our open space,” Hyatt said. “We need to continue to be proactive – look ahead and we want participation (from the residents).”
A new, modern city hall, the anchor of the Town Center, showcases the hometown concept and quality of life the city offers, a draw for new residents who want to belong to a small-town community. Housing developments dot the back roads and access to four Williamson County schools, “Give us the opportunity to be ahead of the curve, “ Hyatt said.
“We’ve set ourselves up for success – it’s how we handle that success that will determine our future. It’s Fairview’s time.”
Carole Robinson can be contacted at crobinson@williamsonherald.com
Posted on: 4/1/2010
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