What Cordova Can Teach Us

The Commercial Appeal
August 23, 2005

The transformation of Germantown Parkway from a quiet rural road to a traffic-choked asphalt jungle should have been a cautionary tale about the hazards of lightly regulated growth.

If local officials aren't careful, though, the same mistakes may be repeated all over again.

That could mean Germantown Parkway and its surrounding neighborhoods will slowly lose their luster, just as Winchester Road and the area around Hickory Ridge Mall has.

Meanwhile, some new road, perhaps Houston Levee, will inherit the dubious honor of becoming "the next Germantown Parkway," with a short cycle of largely uncontrolled growth followed by years of steady decline.

It's not just a problem for people who live in those areas that go through boom and bust cycles. Taxpayers throughout our community share the burden of maintaining infrastructure in neighborhoods that are past their prime.

Our future doesn't have to be so bleak, though. With proper planning and discipline on the part of our city and county leaders, we can have sustainable neighborhoods that have value long after developers have moved on in search of greener pastures.

City and county planners are working on a massive overhaul of rezoning and development rules, the first comprehensive effort of its kind in 25 years.

This could be a terrific opportunity, if it's taken seriously.

As state Sen. Mark Norris notes, it's not a simple question of being for growth or against growth, although some would try to frame the debate that way.

"In planning, you have to balance progress with preservation,'' Norris said.

Yet having a plan is only part of the solution. Sticking to that plan once it has been adopted is even more important.

Too often, city council members and county commissioners grant exceptions to their rules on a case-by-case basis. The effect, over time, is that the plans themselves have little value.

"Piece by piece, our officials seem to approve the type of development that people are leaving,'' said Carson Looney, a partner in Looney Ricks Kiss Architects. "We've got to stop looking at every new development as if it's the greatest thing since sliced bread."

The Germantown Parkway Study, approved in 1992, is a prime example. The study called for the road to have some commercial development, while still maintaining a rural ambience.

Germantown Parkway is about as rural today as New York City's Times Square.

City and county leaders have accepted but not actually endorsed another advisory plan for Gray's Creek, a 58-square-mile area bordered by the Wolf River, U.S. 64, Berryhill Road and the Fayette County line.

If adopted and enforced as part of the zoning regulations, the Gray's Creek plan could help create sustainable growth in one of the last frontiers within Shelby County.

Or it could be ignored just as the Germantown Parkway Study largely was.
The choice for the future is ours.