Oppose Connection of Tap Root Hills via Lorena Court to Watkins Creek, Franklin TN

We are signing this petition to strongly request Williamson County deny a request to connect Watkins Creek, located within the county, to Tap Root Hills, located in the City of Franklin. The request specifically involves the connection at Lorena Court within the Watkins Creek neighborhood. Please see the concerns listed below outlining the reasons for our strong opposition to this connection.

1. The City of Franklin Master Transportation Plan shows a future Market Street extension from Clovercroft Road to North Chapel Road and then to Highway 96 as a connector road for this area. This plan appropriately reflects that the Market Street connector road will go around Watkins Creek, not through it. The City should NOT be permitted to use Watkins Creek as a “temporary” connecting artery while waiting for the Market Street extension to be built at some unspecified date in the future. There is no justifiable reason for such a connection.

2. Connecting Watkins Creek at Lorena Court will result in an extremely large increase in traffic and dangerous conditions. Watkins Creek is a quiet County residential community with roads designed to accommodate neighborhood traffic. Our neighborhood roads are not designed and were never intended to accommodate the substantially increased volume associated with major connecting arteries.

• Daily School Traffic from Amelia Park and Tap Root Hills to Trinity Elementary, Page Middle, and Page High Schools This will be the shortest route and many people will use it to transport their children to and from school. Inexperienced high school drivers will also use this route to drive to school. This will be at a time when the children of Watkins Creek will be walking to and waiting at bus stops resulting in a significant in increase in the risk of harm to children.
• Fly Park There are many sporting events held at Fly Park’s baseball and soccer fields. A connection through Watkins Creek would result in heavy traffic flow through our neighborhood during these events.
• Other Traffic This connection would be used by others as a quick route to connect back and forth from Clovercroft Road to Highway 96. This would include delivery vehicles and service vehicles (such as landscapers with trailers) for neighborhoods surrounding Watkins Creek. Our roads are not designed for this heavier traffic flow.
• Garbage Collection Watkins Creek, as a County neighborhood, does not have a common garbage collection service. We have garbage cans on streets several days of the week. Some garbage services have separate pick-up days for regular garbage and recycling. Vehicles are not able to travel in both directions with the garbage cans partially blocking one lane. This creates an almost daily additional hazard for heavy traffic to navigate our roads.
• Cars Parked on the Street There are also frequently cars parked on the street that also limit the ability to pass.

3. Children at Play. Many families with school age children live in Watkins Creek. Children play in their yards and in the various common areas throughout the neighborhood including a large open space at the corner of Lorena Court and Cecil Lewis Drive. The heavy traffic that would be created by the proposed connection would be right next to these areas making them unsafe places for our children to play.

4. Increased Congestion at the Intersection of North Chapel & Highway 96 This is currently a dangerous intersection. There have been several accidents at this intersection involving cars turning in and out of N. Chapel Road. It is especially difficult to turn left from North Chapel Road heading East onto Highway 96 (to get to Trinity Elementary school) as both lanes of traffic need to be crossed. Over the next several years Highway 96 will be widened, and it will be even more difficult to use this intersection during the construction project. Allowing traffic through Watkins Creek will significantly increase this danger.
5. Market Street Extension: An Available Alternative Currently Oxford Glen Road, 3/4 of a mile West and Wilson Pike, 3/4 of a mile East, connect Clovercroft and Highway 96 via North Chapel and Trinity Road. These routes are currently used for anyone north of Watkins Creek and should continue to be used until the City of Franklin provides a connecting artery such as the Market Street extension as is in their transportation master plan.

For the above reasons we request that Williamson County NOT allow the City of Franklin to connect to Watkins Creek at Lorena Court, and we urge our County officials to protect the residential character of Watkins Creek