You may have noticed that a significant amount of progress has been made in the development of the Highlands Industrial-Business Park.  The Park is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year and upon completion the City of Cookeville and Putnam County will have invested more than $19 million in the economic development future of our community and region.  Plans for the Park may be reviewed here.

An important component of the Highlands Industrial-Business Park is the development of a new I-40 interchange at Bennett and Mine Lick Creek Roads.  The new interchange will serve as the primary western access to the industrial-business park.  The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) currently anticipates that right-of-way acquisition for the interchange will begin late this year with construction of the interchange to be completed by 2015.  Plans for the I-40 interchange may be reviewed here.

In conjunction with the construction of the new I-40 interchange at Bennett and Mine Lick Creek Roads, TDOT and the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) are requiring the City of Cookeville to extend Bennett Road from the new interchange north to U.S. Highway 70N.  A location map for the Bennett Road extension may be found here.  In order to obtain approximately $4 million in grant monies to assist in paying for the extension, certain TDOT construction guidelines must be followed.  These guidelines include minimum right-of-way widths and access control.  During the past several months the City of Cookeville has been in negotiations with TDOT regarding these issues seeking to minimize the impact on property owners and maximize the development potential along the extension.

In an effort to keep the public informed and to provide property owners with an opportunity to ask questions and provide input regarding the Bennett Road extension, the City of Cookeville has scheduled a Community Meeting for Thursday, April 26, 2012 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. This meeting will be held at the Leslie Town Center which is located at 1 West 1^st Street in Cookeville.  During the Community Meeting, an overview of the extension project will be presented and maps will be available for review.  Staff from the City of Cookeville will be available to answer questions and record comments.

In addition to the April 26, 2012 Community Meeting, Public Hearings regarding the Bennett Road extension project are to be held by the Cookeville Planning Commission at its Monday, May 21, 2012 meeting.  The Planning Commission meets at 5:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers at the Cookeville City Hall located at 45 East Broad Street.  The purpose of the Public Hearings is to solicit comments regarding amendments to the City of Cookeville Major Street Plan and the Future Land Use Plan Element of the Cookeville 2030 Plan.  The Major Street Plan will be amended to identify proposed access points and proposed connector streets to the Bennett Road extension.  The proposed revisions to the Major Street Plan may be found here.  The Future Land Use Plan will be amended to reflect recommendations for land use development along the extension and the proposed connector streets.  The proposed revisions to the Future Land Use Map may be found here.  All interested citizens are invited to attend these Public Hearings.