Our 2025 Wish List for SV

The Valleyist Papers 

 

A COLLECTION OF ESSAYS WRITTEN IN FAVOUR OF THE IMPROVEMENT OF STEPHENS VALLEY 

Author – William Ray 

 

Edition 4. Issue 1. 

Here we are, peering over the hill into a new year for SV. What might 2025 bring us? Well, predicting the future is just too hard, but what we can do is dream of the things we can certainly hope will happen. Come along with me as we put on our optimistic hat, and hope for the things that 2025 should bring us here in our little corner of Williamson County.  

Though we all likely have items for this list, I will start us off with some first-person items I dream of.  There are things on this list that we SV residents can accomplish on our own, but really, the big items on my list will require Rochford Realty and Construction’s diligence and commitment to the SV owners. But first comes a wish we can accomplish on our own. I wish 2025 would bring us a safer version of the pedestrian community we expected SV to be. From my observation point on a front porch along SV Boulevard, it appears that the biggest impediment to pedestrian safety in SV is, frankly, us. Even though we have big, beautiful sidewalks which are often being used by all age groups, about 40% (my unscientific estimate) of vehicles coming and going from homes in SV are driven by people holding a cell phone between their eyes and the windshield of their car. This feat is often accompanied by that same driver operating said vehicle at a rate of speed far beyond what is reasonable for a street bisecting two sidewalks being used by neighbors and their families. We can do better than this. I hope and pray that we will make that wish a reality in 2025. 

There is another thing we can largely do all by ourselves. I might sound like a broken record here (no pun intended) but, we need a regular community music event. A regular monthly jam session on the back porch of the pool house would make this wish a reality. Rochford has done us a big favor by removing the fence that separated the porch from the rear lawn. Now that area is wide open. It is covered by a roof. It has restroom and power outlets. The porch with local musicians and the lawn with local music aficionados would combine to a regular fun evening for us all. Everyone could bring their instruments and ideas about what sort of art they want to share, and everyone else could bring a chair and a cooler. This 2025 enhancement would go a long way toward placating us until we have our downtown ready for us to visit. It is a scientific reality that music heals our wounds. In 2025, let’s get going on providing our own version of SV healing right here in our own yard. 

My other wishes mainly relate to things we need help to realize. I want Downtown Stephens Valley, and I want it soon. The announcement that the Clock Tower is being built is great. We need art and architecture in our neighborhood roundabouts, but we need the downtown too. Seeing the November groundbreaking for the new Nolensville Town Square, where Rochford is commencing construction of a $200M project to provide a residential and retail center, just like the one we have all been promised for SV, naturally makes us feel more that a little bit jilted. In fact, there is likely the makings of a really good country song in the way we discovered that our developer has been galivanting with the Nolensville community while we are sitting here at home with dinner on the table. So, for all you songwriters in SV, get to work on this! 

For the sake of conversation, let’s assume that Rochford Realty and Construction decides to forsake all others in favor of building us a proper Downtown Stephens Valley. Just what do we want that downtown to include? Well, silly, first and foremost it must have a combination coffee shop/bar/conversation pit/dart pub/sandwich shop. Perhaps it would be okay if these needs actually manifested themselves in more than one establishment, but it would be much more efficient if they were all together. After all, many of us who would frequent such an establishment will have already expended a lot of energy walking from our home to the downtown area. We might also have carried heavy darts and other paraphernalia necessary to while away the hours with our SV buddies. Residents who are physically challenged already should not have to wander about from place to place.  

The dart pub aspect of this place might be new to some readers. It is a place where residents, who would otherwise be playing pickleball and harassing each other, can engage in another skill-intensive activity wherein score is kept and losing players can go back home and shop for new gaming tools that will surely turn around their fortunes. There is also the added attraction of drinking beer and the hurling of sharp pointed projectiles toward a board made of horse hair, that makes an exceedingly satisfying thud sound when said projectile hits the board. We need this. We need it in 2025. 

End of 2024 Update on Trace Creek Project

The Valleyist Papers 

 

A COLLECTION OF ESSAYS WRITTEN IN FAVOUR OF THE IMPROVEMENT OF STEPHENS VALLEY 

Author – William Ray 

 

Edition 3. Issue 12. 

As 2024 draws to a close here in Stephens Valley, it seems an appropriate time to update the neighborhood on the biggest project of 2024 – the work to restore Trace Creek. This project was something to see, and we really haven’t seen it end yet. Rather, the project has only delivered a rebirth of the creek and the environment immediately surrounding the waterway, so what we see now is the equivalent of a newborn baby. As we all know, newborns bring with them a lot of changes and a few worrisome issues, and this essay is meant to illustrate just where the Compact, the Developer, and the Owners are in the process of raising the new Trace Creek corridor now that it is born again.  

As we all know, the Cumberland River Compact's Trace Creek Restoration Project is a significant environmental initiative focused on revitalizing Trace Creek, a tributary which has its own tributaries flowing through our neighborhood. This project highlights the organization's broader mission to enhance the health of the Cumberland River and its tributaries, which are essential for the ecosystem, the communities they support, the broader watershed, and for us and the other customers of Harpeth Valley Utilities, enhance the quality of the water in the Cumberland River, where we get the water we use here in our homes. 

Trace Creek, like many streams and rivers in Tennessee, has faced challenges due to urbanization, agricultural runoff, and changes in land use. These factors have led to issues like sedimentation, nutrient overload, habitat loss, and increased flood risk, which threaten the biodiversity and health of the watershed. The Trace Creek Restoration Project is addressing these issues through a comprehensive approach that includes physical restoration, community engagement, and ecological monitoring. This is a tall order for the Compact, especially since so much of the project goes right through the middle of an existing residential neighborhood. In the history of Tennessee and the Compact, a restoration project of this size has never been accomplished so close to residences. Therein lies the friction that has developed between some SV owners and the Compact team.    

One of the very first steps in caring for the improved creek is stabilizing the streambanks. We all watched as the work was done this year. They reshaped and reinforced the creek banks with earthwork and the removal of invasive vegetation, while using native vegetation to take its place. This process not only reduces erosion but also improves water quality by filtering out pollutants. By restoring native plant species along the banks, the project enhances habitats for fish, insects, and other wildlife, creating a more resilient and balanced ecosystem. But this work, just like raising an infant, takes time and a number of intermediate steps must be accomplished before the task is done. The Compact has a plan for accomplishing the raising of this infant over the next seven years.  

Still planned for 2024 is the planting of 15,000 more trees and shrubs along the upper section of the project. The Compact is also actively monitoring indicators of stream health like stream flow, aquatic habitat, bank erosion, native plant density and diversity, invasive species, and more. During the next seven years, the Compact will take corrective actions as needed to ensure that significant, measurable ecological gains are being made. All 44 acres of the project are protected from disturbance by a permanent conservation easement held by the Compact. 

Hopefully this information answers some questions that have arisen by SV Owners, but anyone wanting a more in-depth look at the details of the project should read the excellent narratives authored by Compact staff at:  

https://cumberlandrivercompact.org/2023/11/20/restoring-a-historic-stream-along-the-natchez-trace/ 

https://cumberlandrivercompact.org/2024/07/11/onward-and-upward-restoration-continues-on-trace-creek/ 

Here are some of the concerns voiced by Owners, followed by a brief response to those concerns. 

Why does the area between the roads of Jackson Falls not look like Meriwether Park?  

It would be most useful for those with that question to read the material featured in the links above. The short answer is that there is nothing natural about Meriwether Park. The water flowing though that area is not a significant tributary of Trace Creek and restoration of that stream is not included in the project. Further, though aesthetically pleasing, there is nothing natural about the Meriwether Park area. Turf grass does not grow down to the water in any natural area, and the tributary flowing through Jackson Falls is destined for a  much higher calling with respect to making Trace Creek, Harpeth River, and the Cumberland River more healthy, and giving us all a ringside seat to a rural Tennessee stream and the diverse life attracted thereto. 

Why are we not allowed to enter the project easement area?  

As described here, work on the restoration of Trace Creek is ongoing. New plantings will be happening very soon. To protect the work and progress already achieved this year, the easement area needs to be allowed to heal and grow. However, long term, the Compact hopes to welcome visitors to the creek when it has more time to mature (see? It really is a lot like a baby), so the easement area will not be overwhelmed. 

Why can’t we access the land which contained to disc golf course?  

Provisions have been made in the design of the easements. There is at least one place where that access will be possible via designated break in the conservation easement. Of course, it is up to Rochford Realty and Construction to erect a bridge across the creek at the designated location. The Compact really has no responsibility for that. 

What happened to the birds, frogs, and other wildlife that we enjoyed before the project started?  

The project did temporarily displace some animals and aquatic life during this year’s heavy construction. However, the Compact staff expects that wildlife to return in a much more robust fashion as this baby begins to mature. Give it some time. Your favorite wildlife will return, and it will bring along more friends. 

What are those beautiful yellow flowers we saw in late summer?  

Those are Bearded Beggarticks, and they are stunningly beautiful. They will attract and enhance the population of a wide variety of butterflies and other pollinators. This is only the beginning of positive outcomes we will all enjoy from the Trace Creek Project. 

Thanks go out to the Cumberland River Compact team for meeting with us on site to provide much of the information contained in this issue. The Cumberland River Compact actively works with local residents, farmers, and landowners to raise awareness about the importance of stream health and water quality. Through workshops, volunteer events, and partnerships with local schools, the organization fosters a sense of stewardship among community members, empowering them to take an active role in preserving their local environment. In fact they came up with the wonderful idea of implementing neighborhood naturalist events for SV residents that will focus on the unique ecology of the project. Think guided walks focused on tree or other plant identification, birding, or stream ecology. Stay tuned for a schedule of events starting in 2025! 

It is hoped that this narrative will help everyone understand what we saw happening to Trace Creek during 2024. It is also fervently hoped that each and every one of you in SV has the most wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas season this year. Thank you all for the encouragement you give me to write these essays. You all are the best.