Company appealing after Wilson County Planning Commission votes against industrial development

WILSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — A Texas-based company isn’t backing down after members of the Wilson County community made it clear they don’t want an industrial development in their neighborhood.

Hillwood is appealing a rezoning proposal after the Wilson County Planning Commission voted against the development of a 1,400-acre industrial park.

On June 21, farmers and community members held a tractor protest before packing into the Wilson County Courthouse for a planning commission meeting.

“Obviously, the county is against this, the people are against this,” Michael Swope said.

Swope created a petition after it was brought to his attention that a Texas-based company was interested in rezoning approximately 1,400 acres of agricultural land near the Interstate 40 Linwood interchange.

“Our community is so overwhelmingly against this,” Swope said.

In a previous statement to News 2 , Hillwood officials not only said they would preserve roughly 265 acres of land on the plot in question, but they also discussed opportunities to work with farmers and build several miles of water lines after they became aware of a lack of public water. The project would provide public water to 50 properties.

“Hillwood has reached out to me and everybody that’s adjacent to that land, offering to bring city water out there. Everybody out there has a well. Everybody has access to water,” Swope said.

The company also said that the land it’s interested in was slated for a large-scale residential community with more than 1,000 homes, which is something Swope said the community would have also been against.

“We are opposed to anything where the land is getting rezoned to anything other than agricultural,” Swope said.

After the planning commission unanimously voted against the rezoning proposal, Hillwood decided to push back and appeal.

“There’s no compromise, and the reason why is because once they get their zoning, it’s going to allow the whole area to be rezoned,” Swope said.

Hillwood also proposed building a fuel stop and convenience store at the Linwood exit.

News 2 did contact Hillwood for an updated response, but we have yet to hear back.

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