Community Leaders Share MCWA Vision For Green Corridor 

Nolensville leaders, MWCA, and EPA pull together to grow smarter!

The Mill Creek Watershed Association (MCWA) launched an effort to get town staff and residents on board with an idea featuring Mill Creek in a walkable green corridor through Nolensville’s town center. Through this endeavor, the EPA selected Nolensville as one of only four U.S. communities to receive technical assistance through a Smart Growth Building Blocks grant. Thanks to the actions of MCWA Director Dr. Kathleen Dennis, and Secretary and Treasurer Gretchen Anderson, along with others who shared this vision, town planners and staff are moving to consider a commercial and residential growth plan that integrates the unique environment of the Mill Creek watershed.

Why Nolensville?

Nolensville continues to experience explosive growth. Its population has increased more than 107% since 2010, and is expected to continue at an even more rapid rate. This places the town in danger of overwhelming the capacity of its existing infrastructure. The September 13th, 2020, flood resulted in the closing of more than a dozen roads in Nolensville, and flooding of the town’s recreation and historic community centers. The story is only too familiar throughout the greater Nashville area. Many sources point to Middle Tennessee as one of the worst locations for urban sprawl in the country.   

Local citizens show concern for Nolensville’s economic and environmental future. Nolensville High School Environmental Club students, Avery Noe and Jack Hoeffler selected the MCWA to receive 100% of the proceeds of their fundraising efforts, amounting to $2,000 for our association, and so much more in advocacy for our Watershed as they educated the community through their Nolensville Farmer’s Market booth over the summer with an overall objective to reduce consumption of single-use-plastics. As Noe and Hoeffler graduate this year, Nolensville High School’s environmental committee plans to continue advocating for the MCWA and other environmental endeavors at their Green Nolensville Farmer’s Market booth.  

Last fall, a group of citizens promoting a green Nolensville invited Kathleen to inform them about our Watershed.  Kathleen and Gretchen attended the meeting, led by Lori Bostleman and also attended by Nolensville Commissioner Hallie Gallick.  In the meeting, Kathleen shared the idea of featuring the creek in a green corridor through town, and presented handouts that specified ways to preserve the Watershed through promotion of low-impact development practices. 

Why are Mill Creek’s headwaters so important for the greater Nashville area?

Nolensville is built around the headwaters of Mill Creek, and much of its commercial and historic districts are within the creek’s floodways. This makes the town’s situation unique. 

A stream’s headwaters can come from an underground area or any natural discharge of water from a marsh, a remote tributary, or even a stream bed that is dry part of the year. The headwaters’ supply of food and nutrients is critical for the entire 28 miles of Mill Creek, which flows north through Antioch, emptying into the Cumberland River near East Nashville’s Shelby Park. Our treatment of the headwaters can sustain or endanger aquatic life downstream. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Tennessee's stream life is exceptional on a global level even when compared with the tropics. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency lists 68 of Tennessee’s greatest need species within the Mill Creek Watershed, including the American Bald Eagle, the Whip-poor-will, the Nashville Crayfish, and many other native animals and plants. For example, Mill Creek’s mollusks act as natural biological filters, cleaning the water. They efficiently remove silt and suspended organic particles. The existence of mollusks in our creek serve as indicators of water quality. The mollusk fauna of North America exhibits the greatest variety of species in the world, and is concentrated mainly in the Southeast. Lakes, streams and rivers of Tennessee once harbored the most diverse and abundant assemblage of mollusks known in historic times. Unfortunately, they are declining at an alarming rate, and many species are now considered endangered or threatened. 

Who was involved in this effort?  

Nolensville’s Green Corridor idea originated in the office of the town’s 2019 temporary town planner, Mr. Bert Kuyrkendall. He brought the concept to light in a meeting with Kathleen Dennis and a local citizen concerned about the effects of flooding on her property.  Kuyrkendall, an experienced planner from Chattanooga, worked with then Mayor, Jimmy Alexander, to pull together a team to create a plan to feature Mill Creek as a productive mainstay of the community. Ideally this plan would uphold Mill Creek as a natural treasure, something authentic that most other towns in the area could never replicate. Mayor Alexander was delighted to hear about Dr. Dennis’ expertise and asked her to join with the Trees and Trails Committee to discuss featuring the creek in a Green Corridor. Kathleen presented the idea to the Trees and Trails Committee in a special forum to discuss the potential of integrating the creek into the town’s growth plans. 

Following especially destructive town flooding on September 13, 2020, Anderson sought advice from the EPA in Washington DC. She spoke with Mr. Clark Wilson, who informed her about the agency’s Smart Growth program. The program sounded like a perfect way to enhance planning process. Request for EPA technical assistance would need to be signed off by a town official. Dennis and Anderson took a copy of the Green Corridor idea to a town open house, but were dismayed to find an array of optional growth plans for the town, with no option that included an integration of the creek.  Commissioner Joel Miller heard Dennis and Anderson’s concerns on this topic. They informed him about the upcoming EPA Smart Growth technical assistance opportunity. Anderson followed up with an e-mail. Miller, who had campaigned on the platform of sustainable development, was incredibly supportive of the effort. “When it comes to preserving our natural resources, I want to move as quickly as possible. I believe that Mill Creek and a green corridor should not just be considered, I believe it is an absolute necessity,” said Miller. He agreed to sign a letter requesting technical assistance from the EPA. 

Commissioner Miller, Town Planner Diana Tomlin, and the town planning staff, in conjunction with Kathleen Dennis and Gretchen Anderson, are currently working on a more comprehensive list of stakeholders to include in the planning process.  Stakeholder meetings will provide an open forum for regional representatives who can provide a variety of expertise. Ideally, a strong planning effort would include representatives for local developers, private sector business leaders, economic development entities or business groups, utility districts, parks, public and private schools, community-based organizations, social justice groups, cultural groups, community emergency response teams, public-private partnerships, faith-based organizations, and state and federal partners. Tomlin may choose to merge EPA Assistance efforts with meetings already in the works for widening Nolensville Rd., and the town’s upcoming rezoning forums.

What will EPA Smart Growth Assistance include?

Nolensville was one of only four locations selected for the EPA’s Building Blocks Technical Assistance Program. The others were Cape Ann, Massachusetts, Beaufort County, South Carolina, and Orange County, Florida. 

As a result of this selection, the EPA will help these four locations tackle complex disaster resilience issues including:

• engaging key stakeholders and forging lasting partnerships 

• assessing both natural disaster and social vulnerabilities 

• developing priority actions for resilience

• implementation and funding for those actions  

The period of performance for the assistance is 12 months after the date of the award, including a second optional year, as necessary. 

The objective of the planning effort specifically includes the MCWA as central in the town’s new smart growth plan. The statement of work reads as follows: “Nolensville, Tennessee, and the MCWA want to plan for expected explosive population growth, tying watershed plans to floodplain protection, and creating green corridors for outdoor recreation, water quality protection, and flood mitigation for the entire region.” The action plan will include updating local codes and identifying specific green infrastructure projects. 

It took a team of engaged residents and staff at every level, including the national level, to bring this vision to life.