Rutherford County Mayor Joe Carr’s PlanRutherford initiative has seen pushback from members of the community in the latest developments of the local property use project. A movement in opposition to the project called Protect Rutherford is finding support from county residents who fear the plan will bring more harm than good to the quality of life in Rutherford County.

PlanRutherford—a concept resulting from a collaboration between the Rutherford County Commission and the Greater Nashville Regional Council—aims to manage suburban growth and restrict land development while prioritizing rural areas to preserve scarce farmland in the region. Property rights advocates, developers and builders have banded together to protest the plan, though, citing tax hikes and job loss as reasons the “growth plan” is faulty.

The plan seeks to govern area development patterns and Rutherford County property zoning strategies in the area outside of the incorporated areas of Murfreesboro, Smyrna, La Vergne and Eagleville. Of the total 396,000 acres of total land in Rutherford County, only about 81,000 sits in those incorporated areas; PlanRutherford zoning policies would apply to the remaining 315,000 acres.

Objectives of the plan include increasing the minimum lot size to keep population density low in certain rural areas of Rutherford County and discouraging roadways supporting the development of subdivisions in these “Rural Preserve” segments.

“A comprehensive plan offers an all-inclusive approach to analyzing and evaluating future growth and provides residents the opportunity to work with county leaders to determine how to ensure continued prosperity and protect the quality of life for Rutherford County,” Carr said when proposing the plan. “Through this process, we will capture the vision of the community as it continues to grow and evolve.”

Residential categories of the proposed plan would include Rural Preserve (one residential unit per 5–15 acres), Rural Living (one residential unit per 1–5 acres) and County Suburban (one to three residential units per acre) zoning designations, as well as Crossroads, Village Center and Activity Center categories for commercial uses.

Chairman of the Rutherford County Planning Commission Pettus Read stated his support for PlanRutherford.

“We have all been affected by the surge of development in our county and I understand the effects it has on our infrastructure, greenspaces and even the basic ease of traveling from Point A to Point B on any given day of the week,” Commissioner Read said. “What we’re trying to do is develop a comprehensive plan that will give us the opportunity to work with what we have to give some builders who want to build something, but they’re going to have to adjust their planning.

“We just can’t go in there and build every little space into a house,” Read said. “We’ve got to provide for water runoff, to provide to protect the neighbor next door, we’ve got to look after things like that and to protect the beauty of Rutherford County.”

According to PlanRutherford’s webpage, Rutherford County’s population has seen an increase of 700 new residents a month since 2010 and is estimated to exceed over half a million people by 2045.

Those in support of Protect Rutherford, however, say that PlanRutherford prevents developers from building needed subdivisions in the area and that the proposed zoning would strip away individual property rights.

The Middle Tennessee Association of Realtors has funded advertisements for the Protect Rutherford movement, fearing that more harm than good will come to the community if local officials implement the PlanRutherford initiative.

To understand why MTAR is against the growth plan that the County Commission is considering, Jason White, president-elect of the association, addressed the intent of opposing the plan.

“While the plan isn’t directly focused on town centers or most town overlays, its measures could infringe on Rutherford County landowners’ property rights and make it more difficult to address the low inventory issue,” White said. “This, unfortunately, leads to higher home prices and higher taxes for current homeowners. Even more troubling, it risks pricing out our essential workers—teachers, nurses, police officers, and others who are vital to our community’s success.”

Protect Rutherford claims that the legislation will make it harder for working-class families to purchase homes due to higher housing costs and reduced availability in the market. Protect Rutherford’s website claims that the proposed growth plan threatens property rights, increases taxes and hampers economic growth by driving the workforce away from the Rutherford County area. With a reduced labor force, the organization asserts, the county’s economy will suffer as a result of the plan.

“Boiled down, PlanRutherford keeps developers from building subdivisions in places that the county and land can’t support them,” Rutherford County resident Curtis Parish commented on a social media thread about the PlanRutherford proposal. “That is why the Realtors are against it.”

Bob Williams, a resident in support of Protect Rutherford’s opposition to the plan, said, “The new plan seems to cram a bunch of multi-level housing into small areas, but with nearby shopping, which is how the area around Medical Center Parkway was developed. Have you experienced traffic in that area lately?”

While those in favor of PlanRutherford cite slowing down subdivision developments in rural areas as a reason to support the legislation, those in opposition of the plan fear that property being downzoned by the government would hurt the value of properties for many landowners throughout the county.

For more details on PlanRutherford visit planrutherford.org; learn more about the Protect Rutherford movement at protectrutherford.com.

View the full draft of the PlanRutherford Comprehensive Growth Plan here.

PlanRutherford’s adoption process is scheduled to begin in January 2025. Public hearings will be held to submit comments to the Rutherford County Commission. Contact your county commissioner to express your view on the plan.

For more information on meeting dates, visit the Rutherford County Planning and Engineering Department’s website at rutherfordcountytn.gov/planning-engineering and planrutherford.org/events.