The City of Spring Hill Takes a Look Back at 2017

A look back at another great year in Spring Hill
The City list 2017 highlights featuring growth and progress

Spring Hill continued on an upward growth trajectory in 2017, bringing with it many notable changes and accomplishments. Here’s a look at just some of the City of Spring Hill’s highlights from the Year 2017:

• The Late Bloomers Community Garden officially opened May 20. It was created in partnership with the City of Spring Hill by being located on surplus Public Works property adjacent to the Waste Water Treatment Plant off Mahlon Moore Road. The garden is headed up by the Senior Adult Advocacy Council, a City committee empowering and providing resources for seniors in Spring Hill, along with in-kind services contributed by the City. Garden plots are available to families for $20 per year, and $5 for seniors.
• TDOT in late summer awarded a bid for construction of the widening of the full 3.2-mile stretch of Duplex Road (S.R. 247) from Main Street (U.S.31) to Interstate 65 in Spring Hill to three lanes, with a sidewalk on one side of the road and a multi-use path on the other.
• The City of Spring Hill has invested nearly $10 million into engineering, design, right-of-way acquisition, and part of the utility relocations along this state roadway. TDOT will fund and manage the remaining $22 million construction phase of the project, which is now underway with removal of trees and relocation of remaining utilities.
• The Spring Hill Fire Department in July conducted live fire training exercises and concluded with fully involved fires in three houses acquired by the City of Spring Hill as part of the property right-of-way needed for the state to widen Duplex Road (S.R. 247). This allowed all of our firefighters, along with neighboring fire departments, to get the unique experience needed to work inside a real structure fire. Prior to the live burns, the fire department used the vacant homes for smoke, ventilation, and rescue training, while the Police Department used them for SWAT training.
• 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, residents unable to make it to City of Spring Hill public meetings gained the option of watching them online. 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 bar code on your registration renewal notice, swipe your debit or credit card, and the kiosk prints your new registration and decal.
• ŸIn 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.
• The BOMA in October voted to purchase the Workforce Development & Conference Center at Northfield for $8.18 million, which will save taxpayers millions of dollars by meeting the City’s expansion needs without the need to build new stand-alone buildings to house a new police headquarters and library. The two-story, 355,000-square-foot office building at 5000 Northfield Lane is about a mile southwest of City Hall, off Saturn Parkway and U.S. 31. The seven connected buildings on 38 acres that make up Northfield currently serves a wide range of lease tenants, including satellite locations of college and technical school programs, two call centers, the Spring Hill Chamber of Commerce, among other offices, with extensive unfilled office space.
• The City of Spring Hill, one of the fastest growing Tennessee cities, launched another special census in 2017 to certify the growth in population our city has added in recent years. It’s important to verify the latest population, and imperative that all residents respond, because of the State-shared tax revenues our city receives for each certified resident. The state is paying cities about $123 per resident in State-shared revenues. The additional revenues received for added population will allow the City to provide much needed services, such as police, fire protection, library services, Public Works, and expansion of our roads and parks. Please complete the census today at www.springhilltn.org. It only takes a minute!
• The City of Spring Hill earlier this month was designated by Governor Bill Haslam as a “Healthier Tennessee Community.” Of the 346 incorporated cities in Tennessee, Spring Hill is now one of only 46 to earn the “Healthier Tennessee Community” designation, which takes a grassroots approach to improving Tennesseans’ health by engaging citizens and local leaders to establish wellness councils and develop sustainable community-wide events and activities that support physical activity, healthy eating and tobacco abstinence. Along with these things, the City of Spring Hill has made other efforts to encourage a healthy, active population by hosting an annual Spring Hill Health & Wellness Fair, partnering with nonprofits like the Late Bloomers to help make a community garden possible, and Mayor Graham’s launch last year of the first Mayor’s Healthy Challenge.
• The Spring Hill Mayor’s Healthy Challenge kicked off in 2017 and will be continuing in 2018. It officially launches Friday, Jan. 5, and registration is available through April 6. 
 Mayor Rick Graham is encouraging businesses and their employees to compete in one of three categories: Small business, 1-6 employees; Medium business, 7-99 employees; and Large business, 100+ employees. Participating businesses will receive a window decal designating them as a healthier workplace, and the winner in each category will receive a plaque to display in their office. Six categories are offered for individual competitors: 
Males 5-19 years old; Males 20-55 years old; Males 56+ years old; Females 5-19 years old; Females 20-55 years old; and Females 56+ years old. 
Individual winners from each category will receive a plaque.
• The Maury County School District is now constructing a new campus of Spring Hill schools on land off Mahlon Moore Road. The City recently annexed the vacant property into City limits. The City also is looking at partnering with the school system to provide road improvements and eventual public park space on parts of the property.
• The City installed much-needed traffic signals at four key intersections on Duplex Road, including at Port Royal Road, Buckner Lane, Miles Johnson Parkway, and Commonwealth Drive. These are considered temporary signals as they were installed with wooden poles and strung across the roadway in order to have functional signals as soon as the property right-of-way was acquired. They will be made into permanent signals as part of the Duplex widening project, including replacing the wooden poles and wire with metal cantilever arms.
• The BOMA approved the Diablo package of improvement to U.S. 31, which includes a series of small incremental improvements intended to improve traffic flow until the road can be widened.
• Design work for the extension of Tom Lunn Road was approved and should be complete by early 2018. Construction will follow design in 2018 to widen and improve the road.
• The City in November, in cooperation with TDOT, submitted a request to the Federal Highway Administration to approve the construction of an interchange at Buckner Road and I-65. If approved, the City will be moving forward with design and permitting for the interchange and related road improvement project along Buckner Road and Buckner Lane.
• The City approved design work for the construction of Crossings Circle North that will provide a second entrance to The Crossings at Spring Hill, our city’s largest shopping center. Once design is complete, the City will more forward with construction of the road and bridge project that will extend access north of The Crossings and connect at the intersection of Stephen P. Yokich Parkway and Main Street (U.S. 31).
• The TDOT extension of Saturn Parkway to Beechcroft Road, and the related widening of Beechcroft to three lanes, is expected to begin construction in winter/spring time frame of 2018. This also will include a bridge over the CSX railroad on Beechcroft, which will resolve issues with the CSX train frequently blocking the tracks.