Welcome to New Forest Hills!
This page is intended as a guide to what is happening
with the community of New Forest Hills, Tennessee. Where relevant to
the New Forest Hills area, information about the other ten areas that
had proposed incorporation in Shelby County is included, but the focus
is on New Forest Hills.
[ Newsflash | Background | The Proposed City | Other Proposed Cities | The Fallout | Pros & Cons | What's Next? | In the Fourth Estate | Other Coverage | Copyright | Formula For Fairness? | Press Releases | Last Update ]
- [Feb 21] Thanks to Tom Jeanette, MemphisWatch is
providing the public with the Tennessee Suburban League's analysis of the
first draft of the legislature's proposed changes to annexation and
incorporation law in Tennessee.
- [Jan 31] MemphisWatch is a series of weekly essays on
current issues facing the Greater Memphis area. The current week's issue is now online.
- [Jan 24] The state
legislature is back in session. Several bills have been
introduced, including a moratorium on annexations and incorporations during the
legislative session.
- [Dec 28] Read my proposal for a
regional government for the Greater Memphis area, based on successful
frameworks used in New York
and Toronto. It now includes
the map alluded to in the text.
- The Tennessee Supreme
Court heard arguments on Public Chapter 98 in Johnson City on
Wednesday, November 19. On Tuesday, November 25, the court issued a
brief statement that it had found Public Chapter 98 unconstitional. In light of the proposed
annexation of the New Forest Hills area by the City of Memphis, this
site will be refocused as a source of information about the pending
annexations by the City of Memphis (specifically, for Nonconnah
[Hickory Hill or Southeast Memphis], New Cordova and Independence
[Countrywood/Stonebridge], New Forest Hills [Southwind/Windyke], New
Berryhill [Berryhill], Riverbluff [South Cordova] and Nashoba
[Southeast Memphis Extension]) and the efforts being made to fight
those annexations in court. Special attention will also be given
to proposals for reform, consolidation, and/or abolition of the City of Memphis and Memphis City Schools;
more detailed analysis of the Formula for
Fairness; and investigation of how other North American cities are
dealing with these issues.
- The University of Memphis
held a panel discussion, called "Incorporation: Both Sides of the
Story" on Thursday, November 13. The four panelists were Jackson
Baker, political columnist for the Memphis Flyer, David
Cox, professor of political science at the University of Memphis;
Dennis Huffer of the Tennessee Municipal League; and State Senator Tom
Leatherwood. Topics discussed included the constitutional issues
surrounding Public Chapter 98 and the possibility of municipal
government in Shelby County. You can read a letter addressed to
Flyer editor Dennis Freeland regarding his paper's blatant
misrepresentation of Sen. Leatherwood's remarks at the forum.
- An article about this site appeared in the October 23 Memphis
Flyer on page 14. The "Suburban Reporter" article,
written by Jim Hanas, includes excerpts from an interview with me.
- Mayor Herenton has proposed his "Formula For Fairness,"
but is it really such a good idea? And is it
really fair?
On Monday, June 30, 1997, a petition was filed with the Shelby County Election
Commission, to cause a referendum on the creation of the city of New
Forest Hills, Tennessee. On the same day, petitions were also filed
for New Berryhill and Independence, which are to the east and north (respectively) of
the existing Memphis city
limits.
The incorporation petitions depend on a recently-passed state law,
shepherded through the Legislature by Lt. Gov. John Wilder
(D-Somerville). He proposed legislation that would allow the
community of Hickory Withe to incorporate, including within its
boundaries land that was located in the 3-mile annexation limit of
Oakland (both located in Fayette County). This proposed legislation
was ruled to be too narrow in scope, so he drafted new legislation.
The law that passed was not scrutinized heavily by the Tennessee
Municipal League (the cities' special interest group), apparently
because Wilder threatened more sweeping legislation that would have
banned all incorporations across county lines and required a
referendum in areas to be incorporated (annexation limits that are
common in other states).
The legislation (Public Chapter 98), the full text of which (along
with some background information) is available at the state legislature's web site, has the following effects, all
of which expire on April 19, 1998: it allows communities with more
than 225 people (as opposed to 1,500 under the previous law) to
incorporate themselves under a mayor-aldermanic charter (as used in
all Shelby County cities except Memphis); it only requires one person
to request the referendum (as opposed to a percentage of the area's
population); it removes proximity restrictions on the proposed cities
(previously, no area less than 3 miles from any other city, or 5 miles
from any city of 100,000 or more, could be incorporated); and it gives
proposed cities priority over annexation claims by existing cities.
Most observers say the law tips the balance of power in certain
annexation cases like those in Shelby County. Prior to its passage,
Tennessee cities had virtually unchecked annexation authority in areas
within their annexation reserves.
The legislation was not widely publicized until the incorporation
petitions were filed. At least one Memphis official has gone on
record as knowing the implications of the legislation, but not making
the information public. The lead petitioner for Independence, State
Sen. Tom Leatherwood (R-Bartlett), was also apparently aware of the
full scope of the law. Wilder was one of the attorneys for the New
Berryhill and New Forest Hills groups for a brief period. The lead
petitioner for New Forest Hills is Charles Perkins, a former lobbyist
and attorney for the county (who resigned from his county position a
few days after the petitions were filed). Perkins's law firm is also
handling most of the other incorporation petitions in Shelby
County.
New Forest Hills would encompass the same area as the proposed
Southwind-Windyke annexation area of Memphis. It is roughly bounded
on the west by Hacks Cross Road, on the north by the City of
Germantown, on the east by Houston Levee Road (and its proposed
southward extension), and on the south by Nonconnah Parkway (State
Road 385, due to open to Bailey Station Road in Collierville by
January). Winchester Road and Forest Hill-Irene Road are the only
additional through streets in the area at present.
![[Map of the Proposed City]](nfh.gif)
The New Forest Hills area currently has between 3,500 and 4,000
residents. The largest subdivisions in the area are Windyke, Kings
Mill, Southwind and Oak Manor, which encompass everything from patio
homes to million-dollar houses. Champion Hills at Windyke, a new
apartment complex, is also located within the proposed city limits
along Winchester Road.
There is some light industrial development along the north side of
Winchester, including a large Nike
distribution complex and a distribution center for Jostens. The new headquarters of
Thomas & Betts is located at
Southwind, as the proposed new Federal
Express headquarters will be. Commercial development also
includes several smaller businesses (including several national
fraternities and sororities) operating at Southwind and a Methodist Primary Care facility at
Hacks Cross and Winchester. Celcore's corporate headquarters, relocated from Corinth,
Mississippi, is also located within the incorporation area, as is a
new ServiceMaster facility.
There are three churches in the proposed city: Christ the Rock
recently moved to the area, St. Mark's United Methodist, and Knight
Arnold Church of Christ (which is nearly completed). The community
also includes two golf courses: the Tournament Player's Club at
Southwind (home of the FedEx St. Jude Classic) and Windyke Country Club. The West
Tennessee Veterans' Cemetery is also within the area to be
incorporated.
There are ten other communities in Shelby County which have
formally proposed incorporation:
- Eads
- This community is located just south of U.S. 64, centered on
Collierville-Arlington Road. Like Fisherville to
its south, it is a fairly undeveloped area. Part of this community
would be in Arlington's proposed annexation reserve (the Memphis City
Council rejected Arlington's proposed reserve area in 1995).
- Fisherville
- This community has been unincorporated for over 150 years. This area has
a great deal of future growth potential, due to the proposed
Collierville-Arlington Parkway (SR 385), which may become part of the
Interstate 69 connection (the proposed interstate highway connecting
Mexico City to Montreal, which now ends in Indianapolis). It is
roughly bounded by U.S. 64 on the north, Houston Levee on the west,
the Wolf River on the south, and the Fayette county line on the east.
- Independence
- This city would be centered around the intersection of Germantown
Parkway and Interstate 40. In addition to the Wolfchase Galleria
shopping mall, it includes most of the new development along the south
side of U.S. 64 from Appling Road east to Houston Levee Road. It
would also include portions of the Countrywood and Stonebridge
subdivisions, the Woodchase apartment complex, and Bellevue Baptist
Church.
- Irene
- This community lies to the south of the New Forest Hills area. It
would take in the area east of Hacks Cross Road (except for the
Buckingham Farms subdivision, which would be in Nashoba) to near Reynolds Road, from the Nonconnah
Parkway south to the state line. This area is still mainly
undeveloped, except for some subdivisions along Holmes Road and Shelby
Drive.
- Nashoba
- The Nashoba area is the home of Shelby County's mayor, Jim Rout.
The community is roughly two rectangles: one rectangle lies south of
Shelby Drive, east of Hickory Hill Road, north of the Mississippi state
line, and west of Hacks Cross, while the other is roughly bounded by
Germantown Extended and a line about 1/2-mile east of Hacks Cross
between Shelby Drive and Nonconnah Creek. The Nashoba incorporation
committee has established a web site at http://www.netten.net/nashoba/,
which includes detailed maps of the proposed city.
- New Berryhill
- Mainly residential, this community includes around 2,000 homes,
mainly to the south and east of the proposed city of Independence.
Some commercial development along Germantown Parkway is also located
within this community's boundaries. This community has established a
web site at http://www.berryhillassoc.com/.
- New Cordova
- This community takes in the areas to the south and west of
Independence and New Berryhill that are not yet in Memphis, east of
Whitten Road. It includes commercial developments near the
intersection of Dexter and Appling roads, as well as residential
areas.
- New Hillshire
- This community appears to be located between Whitten Road (the
future Kirby-Whitten Parkway) and Appling Road (with a jog east to
Kate Bond Road to match the boundaries of Independence), south of Stage Road (US 64) and north of Mullins
Station. This area is primarily residential; there is some commercial
development along the east side of Whitten and the south side of Stage
that would apparently lie within the city limits.
- Nonconnah
- After 10 years of battle with Memphis over annexation, this Shelby
County community, formerly known as "Hickory Hill," has
decided to go its own way. The new city, named after the creek (and
subsequent expressway) that marks its northern border, would be the
second-largest in Shelby County and the seventh-largest in all of
Tennessee, with a population estimated at 53,000. Nonconnah is
roughly bounded on the north by Nonconnah Creek, on the east by
Germantown Road, on the south near Shelby Drive, and on the west by
the existing Memphis city limits (just west of Hickory Hill, along the
south side of Winchester and between Mendenhall and Outland).
- Riverbluff
- This area became the tenth community in Shelby County to file for
incorporation on October 24, after community leaders received no
response from Memphis officials on a proposed compromise that would
have delayed annexation of the area until 2015 or 2020. Riverbluff is
bounded on the west by the Memphis city limits, north by Walnut Grove
Road, to the east by Rocky Point, and the south by the Wolf River.
The area is largely residential; some commercial development is
possible if Forest Hill-Irene Road is completed between Wolf River
Blvd. (in Germantown) and Walnut Grove.
In addition, there are several other areas that have considered
incorporating. If they seek to incorporate under the provisions of
Public Chapter 98, they must complete and file any petition before
December 31, 1997.
- Bolton
- This community would take in the area bounded by the Loosahatchie
River on the south, Austin Peay Highway (SR 14) on the west, the
Shelby-Tipton county line on the north, and Collierville-Arlington
Road on the east. The area is mainly undeveloped, but is expected to
grow with the completion of the Paul Barrett Parkway (SR 385) from
Millington to Arlington.
- East Cordova (descriptive name only)
- This area would include the area east of New
Berryhill, Riverbluff and Memphis and west
of Fisherville. If successfully incorporated,
this area would allow Riverbluff to become part of the merged city of
Cordova.
- Northaven and Woodstock
- These two communities, north of Frayser, have discussed forming a
city taking in both areas, or perhaps incorporating separately.
Woodstock, with an estimated population of 3000, is the home of the
Memphis Motorsports Park, and is centered on U.S. 51 around Fite Road,
while Northaven (population around 8000) straddles North Watkins
Street between U.S. 51 and the Meeman-Shelby State Forest.
To my knowledge, all of these communities are carved out of
Memphis's future annexation areas; none of them would affect future
annexations by Arlington, Bartlett, Collierville, Lakeland or
Millington (Germantown has already annexed all of its reserve
area).
The Fallout
Please see the fallout page for
information about the political repercussions of Public Chapter
98.
Memphis gains monetarily...
From the perspective of Memphis, an unchallenged annexation of the
affected areas would be beneficial. The Southwind section of New
Forest Hills contains many homes valued at over $400,000, and the
largely middle-class Windyke subdivision would provide additional
income. In return, Memphis would have to provide only limited
services, such as street lighting and garbage collection. However,
the nearest city police and fire stations are not close enough to
provide the same standard of coverage as is provided in the rest of
the city. Most city schools are a long bus ride from the New Forest Hills
area: the nearest city high school (Ridgeway) is over 8 miles away.
...while new residents pay for continued downtown subsidies
Residents of the annexation areas are unlikely to benefit
immediately from Memphis's annexation after the January 1998 deadline.
Proposed infrastructure improvements, including the extension of
Knight Arnold Road to the annexation area and widening of Winchester
Road to 7 lanes (within the existing Memphis city limits), are not
high on the city's priority list. Much of Memphis's high property tax
rate goes to subsidize downtown revitalization programs, like the
Pyramid, Main Street Mall, and Beale Street, instead of providing
services. Studies done in support of the Hickory Hill plaintiffs have
shown that portions of some areas that have been part of Memphis for
over 20 years (in some cases, over 50), such as Frayser, Raleigh and
Whitehaven, still lack essential city services. Last, annexation of
most of these areas leaves residents without effective representation
on the city council: the average single-member district of the City
Council includes over 70,000 constitutents.
According to Perkins, the property tax assessment for New Forest
Hills is planned to be $0.50 per $100 of assessed value, making the
annual city property tax $125 on a home worth $100,000. This will be
sufficient to fund a budget of over $1 million the first year. By way
of comparison, the property tax rate in Memphis is $3.18 per $1000,
and that of Germantown is $1.72 per $100 (none of these tax rates
include the Shelby County property tax of $3.16 per $100). The city's
portion of the 8.25% sales tax will be passed on to the county (so
Shelby County will not lose sales tax revenue that is allocated to
public education). The taxation plan for New Berryhill is virtually
identical to that of New Forest Hills. Sen. Leatherwood has said that
Independence's property tax will be $0.01 per $100 of assessed value,
with the bulk of the budget coming from the city's share of the sales
tax revenues from Wolfchase Galleria and other shopping centers in the
area.
An analysis of the potential revenues of each community (excluding
Nonconnah) appeared in the September 14 CA -- it
showed that several of the communities had economic potential beyond
that of many of Tennessee's more established cities.
Unclear at this point is the fate of proposed road projects in the
New Forest Hills areas that are planned by the county (namely, the
widening of Forest Hill-Irene Road to 7 lanes between Winchester and
the Nonconnah Parkway). Also unclear is how city services will be
provided (it has been suggested that police and fire protection would
be contracted to the county, or perhaps Nonconnah if its incorporation
proposal succeeds). It is clear at this point that sewer service will
have to be provided locally or by another city (perhaps Collierville
or Nonconnah, a community large enough to stand up for itself and
provide economical sewer coverage); however, Memphis may find it
beneficial to strike a deal with the new communities, particularly in
light of its excess sewer capacity (currently 66,000 gallons per day
and certain to rise if the new communities get sewer service
elsewhere).
The position of Jim Rout, Shelby County's mayor (and resident of
the proposed Nashoba), is also vague at the
moment. He is in a lose-lose situation: if he sides with Memphis, it
is likely that suburban voters (his core constituency, as a white
Republican) will abandon him in droves; siding with the proposed
cities will alienate key swing voters in Memphis. So far he has said
his role is to support a "dialogue" between both sides, and
has proposed a commission to study funding issues in Shelby County.
Editorial opinion in the Memphis media has been generally pro-Memphis:
- Memphis's only remaining daily newspaper, The Commercial Appeal,
avoided directly arguing over the proposed towns, instead taking the
tack that lobbyists (but apparently not the CA's
Nashville reporter) had been caught with their pants down. It is
worth noting that the CA did applaud Memphis's annexation
plans for Windyke-Southwind and Berryhill when they were originally
announced. More recently, their coverage has been more balanced,
stressing the need for cooperation between the various parties involved.
- The Memphis
Flyer (Memphis's weekly free newspaper) included a Viewpoint
column in its July 10 issue by John Branston, the editorial
director for special projects of the Flyer's parent
company, that Memphis's position on incorporation, which includes its
efforts to delay the annexation of Hickory Hill until white residents
no longer are in the majority, was hypocritical. However, an editorial
in its July 17 issue claimed, in a classic example of the
slippery slope fallacy, that annexation is essential for Memphis's
future growth, despite the thousands of acres of undeveloped land that
lie within the current boundaries of the city.
- The Shelby Sun Times, published in
Germantown and generally skeptical of all things Memphian, somehow
managed to walk both sides of the fence: the Thumb didn't like the
annexation move by Memphis, but he (she?) didn't approve of the
incorporation move by the proposed cities either. The Thumb can't
have it both ways: at the end of this, the areas are either going to
be in Memphis or they're going to be independent cities. There will
be no return to the status quo ante.
- To my knowledge, The
Memphis Business Journal has not editorialized on this
issue.
Other resources on the web with information about the incorporation
proposal:
- The Memphis Flyer
- Articles include (but are certainly not limited to...):
- Jackson Baker's Politics
column (issue 438, July 10).
- John Branston's Viewpoint
(issue 438, July 10).
- Jackson Baker's Politics
column (issue 439, July 17).
- The Memphis Flyer's editorial
(issue 439, July 17).
- A "Suburban Reporter" article about this site by Jim
Hanas, entitled "Surf New
Forest Hills" (issue 453, October 23).
- A profile of Charles
Perkins by John Branston (issue 454, October 30).
- The Commercial
Appeal
- The CA's web site does not keep articles for more
than a few days. Check in each day for the latest news on the front
page or in the Metro section. The CA is collecting its profiles of
the proposed cities on its Special
Reports page.
- Agenda
Online
- The online version of Agenda, Memphis's bimonthly
business magazine, has an article in the September/October 1997 issue
about Southwind that touches briefly on the annexation issue. You can
also read a profile of Charles
Perkins, Mr. Incorporation himself.
- Civil Engineering
News
- This is apparently a monthly trade publication for civil
engineers. It includes a column written by Ron Kirby, who is an
engineer for the City of Memphis; two of his recent columns (Be Careful What You Wish
For... and Boredom
Doesn't Last Long in City Offices) have discussed the
incorporation issue.
- The Knoxville
News-Sentinel
- Of potential interest (particularly since a consolidated
government is a pet project of Mayor Herenton's) is the Knoxville
News-Sentinel's coverage of the 1996 unification proposal
for Knoxville and Knox County (which was unsuccessful).
- The City
of Memphis
- Memphis started the War of the Websites with its pages giving Mayor
Herenton's October 6 presentation to the Shelby County Commission,
along with the outline of the Formula for
Fairness.
- Shelby County
- Not to
be outdone, Shelby County's web pages include Mayor Rout's
response (presented at the October 20 County Commission meeting),
some charts indicating that Shelby County's government spends more on
Memphis than it receives from it, and information about the Commission on
Alternative Futures, proposed before the Formula for Fairness. An
overview
statement by Mayor Rout is also available.
- The Chattanooga
Times
- The Times has several articles about the incorporation effort in
Middle Valley, a Hamilton County community seeking city status near
Chattanooga.
This information comes from published reports in The Commercial Appeal and The Memphis Flyer, as well as
official publications of city, county and state agencies. It is meant
as a general distillation of what is happening, not as a canonical
statement of what is (or isn't). The author is not one of the
petitioners, nor is he involved any of the litigation (either as a
participant or as a financial backer). All information included is a
matter of public record, or is result of analysis by the author.
The contents of this document are Copyright © 1997 Chris
Lawrence. It may be freely redistributed, so long as the text is left
intact, along with this copyright notice. Any use other than
unmodified duplication should be discussed in advance with the author.
The newforesthills.base.org abbreviated name is provided (for
free!) by Monolith Internet Services.
This site is hosted by ClarkNet of
Elicott City, Maryland.
The New Forest Hills Information Center pages are best viewed on a
web browser that understands HTML 4.0 (including cascading
style sheets and LINK tags), but they're designed to
work well with Any
Browser.
Got a hot tip? See the author's info
page for mailing addresses.
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Chris
Lawrence <lawrencc@clark.net>
(21 Feb 1998 at 23:26 CST)