Williamson County Growth Plan

Background Information

The City of Brentwood, along with Williamson County, Franklin, Fairview, Nolensville, Spring Hill, and Thompson’s Station are all working to update the Williamson County Growth Plan. Brentwood is currently evaluating its Urban Growth Boundary (UGB), which is a defined area beyond the city limits in which the City of Brentwood could grow into overtime.

Williamson County’s existing Growth Plan, which was developed pursuant to the requirements of Public Chapter 1101, was adopted in April of 2001. The Growth Plan established UGBs around each of the six municipalities, as well as four Planned Growth Areas within the County. These growth boundaries have not been altered since their adoption in 2001. Each municipality is evaluating their own respective UGB and all proposed changes will be consolidated and considered for approval through a prescribed ratification process.

Why is it important?

The state legislature required all counties in Tennessee not part of a consolidated metropolitan government to complete a growth plan. In addition to the state law requirement, the UGB sets the limits for land use, transportation, and sewer basin planning efforts.

Why is the City updating the UGB?

The UGB should be evaluated periodically to account for infrastructure improvements, market trends, growth patterns, and other changes that have occurred.

When the original Williamson County Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) plan was approved in 2002, the City of Brentwood was very intentional in its planning efforts to identify those areas where the City could realistically provide essential services, including utility services. Population projection and a cost of service analysis were completed at that time based on Brentwood’s then existing zoning ordinance and long range service plans.

Since that time, the City’s long-term infrastructure planning efforts have been based on eventual build out of this original Brentwood UGB area under the City’s existing low density land development standards. In addition, Brentwood is unique in Williamson County given it is essentially landlocked on three of its borders with Metro Nashville to the north, Franklin to the south, and Nolensville to the east. To the west, topography limits the extent to which the City could reasonably provide services.

Given these factors and the desire to not promote further development in areas where the City controls utility services, Brentwood has elected not to propose any significant alteration of its remaining UGB area as part of this update to the Williamson County Growth Plan. The only changes that are proposed are housekeeping in nature. Two small portions of property north of Maxwell Lane that are currently in the Town of Nolensville are proposed to be removed from the Brentwood UGB. The second proposed update is to correct a gap where there appears to have been a mapping error in the past to include a small portion of a parcel along the north side of Sam Donald Road into the Brentwood UGB.

The Brentwood Planning Commission adopted an updated Comprehensive Plan in October 2016, after numerous public meetings and surveys to gather information regarding the future plan. The proposed UGB boundaries are consistent with the Brentwood 2030 Comprehensive Plan.

View the Recommended Growth Plan.

Summary

The City of Brentwood’s proposed growth boundaries are consistent with the requirements of TCA 6-58-106. The 2020 Census certified a total population of 45,373 persons, up from 37,060 persons in the 2010 Census. As the growth rate in Brentwood has slowed, somewhat, compared to the 1980’s and 1990’s, there are only small housekeeping changes to the UGB Boundary being proposed. Brentwood is a mature community and one of the older suburbs of Nashville with the majority of growth already occurring since the City was established in 1969. Therefore, no significant changes are proposed or desired by the City at this time.

What are the required steps?

The Tennessee Code Annotated (TCA) Section 6-58-106 prescribes the procedures that must be followed when amending the Growth Plan. It involves an almost identical process as the original adoption process.

The state law says that urban growth boundaries shall:

1. Identify territory that is reasonably compact yet sufficiently large to accommodate residential and nonresidential growth projected for the next twenty (20) years.

2. Identify territory that is contiguous to the existing boundaries of the municipality.

3. Identify territory that a reasonable and prudent person would project as the likely site of high density commercial, industrial and/or residential growth over the next twenty (20) years based on historical experience, economic trends, population growth patterns, and topographical characteristics (professional planning, engineering, and/or economic studies may also be considered).

4. Identify territory in which the municipality is better able and prepared than other municipalities to provide urban services efficiently and effectively.

5. Reflect the municipality's duty to facilitate full development of resources within the current boundaries of the municipality and to manage and control urban expansion outside of such current boundaries, taking into account the impact to agricultural lands, forests, recreational areas and wildlife management areas.

How does annexation into the City occur?

The UGB update is different from annexation. Annexation refers to the addition of properties into the corporate city limits. Annexation occurs when a property owner willingly requests to be annexed into the City, or by referendum. Property owners within the UGB are eligible to request annexation which is ultimately voted on by the City Commission with a recommendation from the Planning Commission. There is also a process to annex by referendum, barring that the territory is not within another jurisdiction’s UGB.

How can I get involved?

The City will hold two public hearings to allow citizens the chance to formally voice their opinions. The first will be held at the July 5, 2023, Brentwood Planning Commission meeting and the second will be held at the July 10, 2023, Board of Commissioners meeting. Both meetings will be held at 7:00PM at City Hall.

The Coordinating Committee will also hold two public hearings before voting on the Growth Plan and sending it back to the jurisdictions for ratification, but those dates have not been established. Please reach out to the staff directly if you would like to discuss any further changes to the City's recommendation.