Tennessee still stay mostly country (Franklin, Brentwood: 2013, townhomes, to buy)

[dad2paisley]

With lots of people moving to TN. Lot's of spraw going on. Will the state still keep it wide open country look or will there be nothing but cookie cutter homes/townhomes, strip malls, traffic.

I don't want to see the beauty of this state go away like so many up here in the Northern states.

[Normashirley]

Well - I was raised on a small dairy farm that my nephew is now 4th generation to live on. I have lived rural most of my life.

A beautiful corner 40 acre hayfield, that sits on a hill not far from me, now has several $619,000 to $680,000 homes on it

I believe the homes each have five acres more or less.. Better than jumping-roof-top-to-rooftop homes, I guess but I am still not happy with suburbia encroachment and the likelihood “those people” will come barn storming in, trying to change our country way of living.

My road is all farms or remnants with some of us trying to preserve as much of the land as we can. We only have 25 acres and have had written out-of-state offers to buy the “vacant” property - just sign on the dotted line, on the enclosed form

I am ecstatic that there might MIGHT be one place on this entire plot that will perk for one small private residence and that my younger brother will see to it this farm either stays in the family or gets sold to someone who will appreciate it for what it is - a fantastic piece of horse property with great pasture & hay field —- that won’t perk

I could have summed my answer up in only two sentences but the mods would have been happy to ban me; the longer explanation was a good way to vent my displeasure at all the new home construction, on land in my county that used to be farm land————

[N.Cal]

that will perk for one small private residence

that won’t perk

What exactly does perk mean in this context?

[rossn2]

Won't Perk....wont hold a septic system for a house build..

[rossn2]

Believe Ocala Florida saw this same issue many years ago when horse ranches started selling off to builders. They passed a law all new houses had to sit on not less than 5 acre plots t help keep the rural feeling..

[2mares]

I agree with Normashirley.
My very first visit to TN was when I was 2 months old and I visited family once to twice a year thereafter until I moved here for 46 years ago.
I have seen soooo much farm land and wooded areas turn to housing developments, golf courses, businesses over the years and the rate of development seems to be growing exponentially and the traffic with it.
Natural areas that locals enjoyed for years, hiking, hunting, swimming, horseback riding, 4 wheeling, are now fenced off behind NO TRESPASSING signs. Some, thankfully, have been bought by the state and turned into state parks, with many restriction though.

[jabogitlu]

I grew up on a farm in a deeply rural part of East Tennessee and most of my families have been in East TN or western North Carolina since the early 1800s. So, I think I have a pretty decent handle on this question.

Tennessee's truly rural areas like northwest TN will largely stay that way. The problem is no one wants to live there, and folks who need actual functioning economies in order to earn a living really can't live there.

Much more of the casual countryside in places like Sullivan County (for example) will become suburbanized and/or the human-wildland interface will grow much more complex over the coming decades.

In order for Tennessee to maintain the "wide open country look" that you're asking about (and I assume you mean in relative proximity to desirable amenities such as economically successful towns and cities), a huge political shift would have to take place in the general populace as well as the elected government. Wide open country doesn't just happen, it has to be planned using tools like county-wide zoning standards or greenbelt laws (see: Portland, OR metro).

Planned land use is anathema to a modern conservative. And most of the folks living in Tennessee are casually conservative. Beyond that, nearly all of the folks MOVING to Tennessee, outside of Nashville, are wildly conservative. So, additional land use controls, especially in country and rural areas, doesn't look to be on the legislative agenda for the next several decades at the very least.

Tl;dr - personal property rights trump conservation in Trump country. And that isn't a judgment on whether that is good, or bad, or neither - it's just a statement of the current politics.

[Igor Blevin]

Nashville will be L.A. in 30 years.

[CrosbyStills]

Originally Posted by Igor Blevin

Nashville will be L.A. in 30 years.

It's already Orange County prices, but without the ocean/beach attraction. Last time I went through there a few months ago, there were OVER 24 sky cranes building new buildings, and they were widening country roads and freeways to accommodate the building. Every time I hear people are enamored with Tennessee and they say, "I Luuuuvvvv Nashville (or Brentwood or Franklin)!" I think, "Good!" Stay there and stay away from the other areas that are still so nice.

[N.Cal]

Originally Posted by CrosbyStills

there were OVER 24 sky cranes building new buildings,

It’s pretty much been like that since 2013-14.