The rumor mill has been alight with misinformation by anti-development crusaders lately, so let’s dismantle these falsehoods about the Think Tullahoma 2040 comprehensive initiative.
MYTH: The Think Tullahoma 2040 plan was developed to double our population in the next 20 years.
FACT: The Think Tullahoma 2040 plan was initiated as a response to the latest national census data that predicts our city population will increase by 1 to 2 percent annually over the next 20 years. This plan includes, among many other aspects, addressing the housing shortages that are obvious to everyone.
Inviting developers into our community has been the job and mission of every economic development agency in Tullahoma and Coffee County for decades, so recruiting business and interest in our region is nothing new. This document acknowledges that private investment is the only way that we’ll be able to build what we need. Placing our government in a position of strength to manage timing, permitting, and the pieces that fit into our vision only has a net-positive impact on the growth that is going to happen anyway.
MYTH: The comprehensive plan and Traditional Neighborhood New (TNN) will raise your taxes.
FACT: In fact, the opposite is true. Single-family and low-density housing neighborhoods are the biggest draw on financial resources in our budget. In study after study from communities across the country, the return on investment of high-density developments outperforms low-density sections of cities by a very wide margin. Many professional organizations recognize that higher density subsidizes the entire city budget, with benefits that bleed into the rest of the community, sustaining its lifeblood of funding for roads, schools, infrastructure and city services.
MYTH: Our schools are already overloaded, and it’s going to cost taxpayers an insane amount of money to build a new elementary school to accommodate all this projected growth.
FACT: The school system had a seat at the table in these discussions as the plan was developed, and it is not anticipated that a new elementary school is going to be needed in the next 20 years based on data-driven growth projections.
The school system has a separate board and planning group that looks at and contemplates expanding the current capabilities of the existing schools and upgrading facilities based on realistic projections of growth. This expansion is normal and healthy for our community.
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