List of 2017 Spring Hill Accomplishments

spring hill i-65
Spring Hill is hoping to get a I-65 interchange added off Buckner Lane

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Spring Hill continued on an upward growth trajectory in 2017, bringing with it many notable changes and accomplishments. Here’s a look at what the city said its accomplishments were.

Part 2 (continued):

Early this year, historic tourism signs were placed by TDOT along Interstate 65 about a mile before both the southbound and northbound Saturn Parkway (S.R. 396) exits directing motorists to Spring Hill historic sites that relate to the U.S. Civil War, including The Spring Hill Battlefield and Rippavilla Plantation. The signage points motorists to State Route 396 (Saturn Parkway), where additional signage further directs them to the proper exits off Saturn to access the sites.

Five newly elected City of Spring Hill officials were sworn into office to serve the next four years on the Spring Hill Board of Mayor and Aldermen (BOMA). In the April 13 election, Mayor Rick Graham was elected to a second four-year term, while incumbent Ward 1 Alderman Amy Wurth, who ran unopposed, was re-elected to a third four-year term. Three new aldermen also joined the board, including Jeff Graves in Ward 2, Kevin Gavigan in Ward 3, and Vincent Fuqua in Ward 4.

The City of Spring Hill welcomed three key management team members: Assistant City
Administrator Chuck Downham, Infrastructure Director Philip Stuckert and City Planning Director Steve Foote, demonstrating the City’s strong commitment to planning, infrastructure and project management amid continued rapid growth.

In August, the City of Spring Hill this summer launched Live Streaming and On- Demand Video of our BOMA and Planning Commission meetings. Live streaming officially launched at the Sept. 5 BOMA Work Session. If you missed it, no problem. Watch the meeting on-demand any time from our website under the “VIDEO” header at the top of the springhilltn.org homepage, or direct at springhilltn.org/video.

After each live stream broadcast, the recorded video will be archived on our website the following day and fully indexed with the meeting agenda. Simply click the agenda item of your choice to immediately view that segment of the meeting video where it was discussed by the board.

The existing Peter Jenkins Walking Trail was extended from where it previously terminated at Burgess Lane to Portview in the Ridgeport neighborhood.

The BOMA officially accepted the donation of Rippavilla Plantation and its related operational responsibilities, allowing for the permanent preservation of the historic home, 98.4 acres of passive park space, and all of its related buildings, and later annexed it into city limits.

Following the BOMA’s action to officially acquire Rippavilla, Mayor Rick Graham announced his appointment of a task force to oversee the transition of this historic property into city operations. That 8-member committee, chaired by Economic Development Coordinator Kayce Williams, is continuing to meet to determine how the City will operate the property at its highest and best use.

Rippavilla Plantation hired Kate Wilson as its new operations manager to oversee daily
operations at the historic mansion and grounds. The operations manager serves under
supervision of the Chairman of Rippavilla Inc. and is responsible for ensuring the organization consistently achieves its overall mission and financial objectives. A 24-member Board of Directors governs Rippavilla Inc., which employs 12 (full-time equivalent) employees overseen by the operations manager.

The new Artist in Residence program was created in late summer by the Spring Hill Arts Center(SHAC) in partnership with Rippavilla Plantation and the City of Spring Hill.
Local artists now have the opportunity to place five to ten pieces of their work on display for a month inside Rippavilla Plantation. Artists participating in this program also have the additional opportunity to create a piece of artwork to voluntarily donate to the City of Spring Hill, which includes an evening meet-and-greet hosted by SHAC and Rippavilla. The donated art pieces eventually will create the makings of a City gallery. Two commissioned art pieces have already been donated.

While the vast majority of online sales involving face-to-face transactions occur without incident, the City of Spring Hill established a “Safe Exchange Zone” at the request of residents to help ensure our citizens’ safety. Online sales and trading involving in-person interactions – such as Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace or VarageSale – have become increasingly popular nationwide. Unfortunately, meeting up with a stranger in a non-public place has occasionally resulted in armed robberies, violent incidents and scams in many cities. In an effort to avoid these types of incidents, the Spring Hill Police Department has designated three parking spaces in the lower front parking lot of Spring Hill City Hall as a Safe Exchange Zone that are video monitored by our Dispatch Center.

Residents on both the Maury and Williamson County sides of Spring Hill gained the
convenience of renewing their vehicle license plate registration within about a minute at Spring Hill City Hall or Longview Recreation Center without waiting through long lines. To use the kiosk, simply scan the barcode on your registration renewal notice, swipe your debit or credit card, and the kiosk prints your new registration and decal.

In Fall 2016, the City started the process of updating our Zoning Ordinance and Subdivision Regulations in order to create a Unified Development Code (UDC), which is key to implementing the vision laid forth in “Spring Hill Rising: 2040,” our city’s Comprehensive Plan. The UDC will take these policies as its base and provide a set of development regulations, generally organized by district, each containing specific regulations key to those policies. Currently, the rules for development in Spring Hill are contained in a number of separate ordinances. A UDC combines zoning and subdivision regulations as well as other City land development ordinances into a single code. The bulk of the UDC drafting process has been ongoing throughout 2017 and will move forward for board ratification in 2018.

The BOMA on June 30 approved in this fiscal year’s City budget funding for the design of a new police headquarters, and a new, state-of-the-art public library facility. The plan for how to construct those facilities evolved as the BOMA later moved to purchase the Northfield building. Preliminary design for the police headquarters and library at Northfield will get underway in early 2018.