GERMANTOWN, Tenn. — Many people who live in Germantown are upset with the idea of more apartments being built in the area.
They say the increase in population would hurt the city by overcrowding schools and causing more congestion.
A resolution for a temporary apartment moratorium will be before the aldermen at Monday night’s meeting, but a lot of people think it has a loophole and plan to show up.
The meeting starts at 6 p.m.
Ron Paul has lived in Germantown since 1975. He says he’s seen many changes in the city since.
“There’s more people, more traffic and more stores, but the people are still really nice,” Paul said.
That is why he understands why some residents don’t want more people moving to the area.
“We don’t need the growth. I think we’re just at where we need to be now,” said Paul.
Mayor Mike Palazzolo introduced an 18-month moratorium for new standalone multi-family developments in the smart code zoning districts.
Meaning, new applications and the processing of applications for apartment complexes would temporarily not be allowed in Germantown.
Some people think it should be permanent and see a loophole in the resolution.
Opponents say it wouldn’t stop mixed-use apartments from coming to the city, which are apartments with businesses on the first level.
Over 2,500 people have signed a petition online to vote no on all apartment and dense developments.
They say new developments would decrease property values, overcrowd the schools and cause more congestion and crime.
Many also say there are already too many projects currently in the works that the moratorium wouldn’t apply to.
Others argue new developments can benefit the city.
“We need the tax base,” Germantown resident Alice Guthrie said.
She says there are other ways to look at the situation.
“If you stop progress, you go backwards and we don’t want that,” Guthrie said.
WREG will be at the meeting with the latest updates.
