Hendersonville Standard
HENDERSONVILLE WEATHER

Big Station Camp gets much-needed fix





Repairs were underway last week on a portion of Big Station Camp Boulevard that was once deemed unsafe.JOSH CROSS

Repairs were underway last week on a portion of Big Station Camp Boulevard that was once deemed unsafe.JOSH CROSS

A piece of roadway along Big Station Camp Boulevard has received a much-needed makeover after years of neglect.

The half-mile stretch just north of Nashville Pike between Lakeland Drive and Vietnam Veterans Boulevard had been at the center of a dispute between Hendersonville, Gallatin and Sumner County officials who each denied ownership – and thus responsibility for its unsafe conditions.

Hendersonville owned the piece of road until December of 2019 when officials there voted to de-annex it along with 10 acres of adjacent land at the request of developers Southeastern Building Corp.

A year or two prior to that, both the city of Gallatin and Sumner County top-coated portions of the roadway within their jurisdictions, but Hendersonville declined, saying it didn’t have the money in its paving budget.

Following the de-annexation of Hendersonville’s portion in 2019, both the county and the city of Gallatin said the neglected stretch wasn’t their responsibility.

Leaders appeared to be at a stalemate until Aug. 27 when Clary sent a letter to the entities and Southeastern President David Luckey, proposing a solution to share the cost of the fix – an estimated $250,000.

“All of us have been asked about the status of Big Station Camp Boulevard,” wrote Clary. “I want to propose a solution and encourage you to contact me with your thoughts.”

Clary said that Southeastern had previously obligated to fixing the piece of road at issue, and proposed that it do so by Nov. 15 according to the city of Gallatin’s specifications. Gallatin is expected to eventually annex the road into its city limits.

Southeastern will manage the project and pay the full cost of repairs initially, but be reimbursed half the cost by the cities of Gallatin, Hendersonville, Sumner County and Rogers Group, Clary proposed.

Each of those entities would pay Southeastern 12.5 percent of the cost of the project, up to $35,000 by Jan. 1.

“The benefit to all of us is that the road will be repaired before winter weather causes further problems,” said Clary. “The benefit to Southeastern is that the company will be reimbursed 50 percent of the cost of repairs.”

Luckey responded to Clary’s proposal in a letter dated Sept. 10.

“We have never wavered in our commitment to install the topcoat on the Hendersonville portion of the roadway, but at no time agreed to take on the deferred maintenance left by Hendersonville since 2017/2018,” wrote Luckey. “Had the City of Hendersonville’s portion of the roadway been top-coated when Sumner County (11/2017) and the City of Gallatin (4/2018) top-coated their portions of the roadway, the deterioration would not be an issue but, we understand, you had other priorities for paving during that time.”

Nevertheless, Luckey said he agreed with Clary’s proposal to spread the cost of repairing the deteriorated section and that he would have the roadway work scheduled before the winter.

In a telephone conversation earlier this month, Luckey said the city of Gallatin bid the project in February and received a low bid from Rogers Group for $252,000.

Luckey said he has contracted with another company for work at his adjacent Westfield development and hopes to have the job done for less than Rogers Group’s estimate. He said that since he didn’t choose Rogers Group for the job, the company has said it won’t contribute to the project.

“Rogers Group is very interested in participating in the project,” Rogers Group Area Vice President Bryan Ledford said in an email to the Hendersonville Standard. “We offered to contribute $15,000 as a credit to our invoice on the project if we are awarded the work. If the work is awarded to another contractor, we would not participate.”

During the Oct. 12 Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting, Clary said Luckey asked for the city to pay Rogers Group’s portion.

“But we’re not going to do that,” Clary added.

Clary suggested increasing the city’s portion to 16.7 percent, or up to $44,000.

“We offered a deal and I feel we need to honor that,” he said.

BOMA members voted unanimously to approve the appropriation.

Gallatin leaders have yet to vote on appropriating any money for the fix but when contacted in August after Clary sent his letter to officials, Gallatin Mayor Paige Brown said that leaders there were eager to find a solution.

Sumner County leaders briefly discussed the issue during a budget committee meeting on Oct. 12, but decided to refer the matter back to the Highway Committee since the amount requested had increased.

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