Question about 385/I-269 exits in Fayette County and eastern Shelby (Memphis: apartments, homes)

[tigerphan]

The eastern section of Memphis's outer beltway could possibly be complete by the end of this year. There's currently existing exits at highway 64 in the Hickory Withe/Memphis/Eads area, Poplar ave in Collierville/Piperton, and a half exit at Macon Road. A future interchange will be built at Ral-LaGrange. As I'm sure most of you know, the southern leg between I-55 and Collierville through Marshall and DeSoto counties won't be complete for several years.

I was wondering if anyone knew if Fayette Co has adopted any development code for those areas near these intechanges and adjacent to the new freeway, seeing as how they are likely to be developed into retail and residential in the future (and in the case of Marshall County, industrial and distribution businesses).

Germantown and Collierville have some pretty impressive restrictions, zonings, and required setbacks. Is this area going to develop like that or is it more of a free for all? Western Fayette seems to be an odd mix of estate homes and rural tracts of land....but virtually no retail or employment centers outside of the new intermodal facility on the southern end. With the quality of public schools in Fayette being in question, I don't see too much suburban development (subdivisions, apartments, etc) occuring but that doesn't mean they shouldn't plan for it.

Do those towns like Piperton or Hickory Withe have sewers or are they still using the more rural field bed/septic systems? Do they have zoning commisions or any kind of plan to deal with what could be serious growth for them? I've lived in rural areas before that completely lost their character because of suburban sprawl...and it could have been avoided if they were a little more strict with their development code.

[Tigertate]

I am not sure about the development code in Fayette County, but I am pretty sure that only a couple cities have sewer service. The rest have septic. The cities with sewer service have higher taxes, which makes sense. The one thing that will hurt Fayette in terms of growth is the fact that there is very little infrastructure and not really a good infrastructure back bone. Its is basically untapped territory. People like to talk positively about the low tax rate, but if the area ever grows any the tax rate will go up, which is the reverse of what usually happens with positive growth.

[eastmemphisguy]

This road to nowhere really gets under my skin. If our metro area had Nashville's level of growth, it might have been a good idea. As is, we're just spending an enormous amount of money to shuffle the same folk around even further. I'm sure it'll be a boon to the people who build strip malls, schools, and subdivisions though.

[tigerphan]

Originally Posted by eastmemphisguy

This road to nowhere really gets under my skin. If our metro area had Nashville's level of growth, it might have been a good idea. As is, we're just spending an enormous amount of money to shuffle the same folk around even further. I'm sure it'll be a boon to the people who build strip malls, schools, and subdivisions though.

If we are going to be a distribution hub, we need a good highway and rail network. I think it's more important to link Memphis to other cities than it is to build a bypass. I'm thankful for the new intermodal facility being built just outside if Piperton.

I'm not against this bypass project, but I question the need for so many interchanges and exits on secondary arteries like Macon Road. At least for now, Marshall and Fayette county public schools are pretty weak. That alone will keep most of the suburban residential mega projects in the established suburbs and municipalities in Shelby and Desoto county. I hope the new DC hubs and manufacturing jobs are new to the area and not businesses relocating from Memphis.

It's definately fueling a construction boom in Marshall County for new manufacturing and distribution (in part because of generous tax breaks going to businesses opening in struggling counties in MS), but I have a feeling it will be primarily retail and residential development in eastern and northern Shelby and Fayette. That's why I'd like to see more controls in place to ensure that what is built there is of decent quality and not a bunch of metal buildings and truck stops. The only land use plan I've found online was from Piperton.

We really need to get I-69 complete north and south of town to link Memphis with other metros. That entire project looks like it's going to take 50 years.

[tigerphan]

I've been looking for information on the land use aspect of this new highway and the possible I-69 connection between Memphis and the mid west (which I think is critical for Memphis's future as a distribution hub). Information on I-69 in Tennessee is especially scarce. The whole I-69 project appears to be tabled completely, which I think is a significant missed opportunity for Memphis and eastern Tennessee. For now, I-269 will dead end at highway 51 in Millington unless a northern bridge crossing route is revived for the "southern gateway" or I-69 work starts up again.

Along the existing beltway, it looks like Marshall County is already getting some industrial and DC development while Piperton and Fayette seem to be trying to mimic Town and Country, MO (St. Louis suburban area). There's no real information on the rural areas in northern Shelby county, but I don't see the potential for very much suburban development there without a freeway connection into Memphis directly. I'd honestly rather see that area developed before southern Desoto county. If we are going to have Sprawl, we should at least put it communities as close to downtown as possible.

I found an older article that indicates Desoto county's desire to push for white collar job centers in suburban office developments similar to what exists along Poplar/240 and along Winchester in eastern Shelby.
DeSoto County pushes for office parks along new I-269 loop » The Commercial Appeal

This quote was kind of interesting:

"I-269 is going to be something that changes the landscape of the county," Nelson said. "It'll be very similar to what was built around Dallas. It should look like a string of Class A office buildings, which we don't have now. It should not be just suburban residential, distribution, smokestack industry and convenience stores.''

Benchmarking a Texas city like that is a very high expectation. Is that even possible? I don't think there's any doubt about Desoto's explosive growth, but I really hope the job growth they are planning for comes at the expense of the midwestern cities and not Memphis....if it comes at all.

Given Desoto's geographically large size and Mississippi's desire to finish I-269 by 2017 and the outmigation occuring in Hinds County, I wonder if Desoto may become the most populous county in Mississippi within a couple of decades.

[eastmemphisguy]

I'd rather get the connection to Lamar/78/22 figured out than worry about a propsed route to the North that nobody has a timetable for. Atlanta is where the action is, and the road is nearly complete outside of a short section in TN.

[tigerphan]

Originally Posted by eastmemphisguy

I'd rather get the connection to Lamar/78/22

I really can't believe it's not in the works right now.

It looks like the western terminus will end up being I-269. I don't think Tennessee will ever get around to upgrading Lamar between the state line and I-240.