Year in Review
Farragut navigates growth, infrastructure challenges and civic debate in 2025
While residents voiced concerns over congestion and neighborhood safety, the Town also marked significant milestones, including the reopening of its renovated Town Hall and museum, progress toward a new park near McFee Road, construction of a new elementary school and recognition for fiscal responsibility.
What follows is a look back at a year shaped by growth, public engagement and long-term planning.
January: Parks funding, road delays and traffic safety concerns
The year opened with positive news for Farragut’s long-term recreational plans as the Town was awarded a $2.75 million Federal Land and Water Conservation Fund grant to help develop parkland purchased in 2024. The 70-acre property, which includes 15 acres of donated land, lies on the west side of McFee Road near Boyd Station Road.
Administered by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, the grant represents a 50-percent match of the land’s purchase price and requires construction of recreational facilities to begin by 2027.
Infrastructure challenges, however, again surfaced as improvements to Union Road — a project nearly eight years in the making — faced another delay. Town officials learned a new National Environmental Policy Act document would be required due to the length of time since the original approval, pushing potential construction back to late summer.
“How close to the beginning of construction are we so we don’t have this expire again?” Alderman Alex Cain asked during a Jan. 9 Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting.
Town engineer Darryl Smith said the new requirement would slow the timeline. “We were hoping to go to construction in the spring,” he said. “With this, it’s probably going to push it to late summer.”
The Board also celebrated Farragut’s 45th anniversary, proclaiming Jan. 17 as Founders Week and honoring the residents who led the Town’s incorporation.
Planning continued on the Campbell Station Inn interior renovation following a December open house that drew more than 200 visitors. The historic structure remained closed while final design work proceeded.
Traffic safety became a focal point following a guilty plea in a hit-and-run case involving a Farragut High School student struck while waiting for her school bus in Thornton Heights in August 2024. The driver was sentenced to unsupervised probation, with restitution to be handled through civil proceedings.
The incident sparked renewed calls for traffic-calming measures in Thornton Heights. Residents entered the Town’s speed study program, though the results did not meet the threshold for speed humps under existing policy. Alderman Drew Burnette later proposed revisiting the Town’s traffic-calming rules, particularly for neighborhoods located within Parental Responsibility Zones near schools.
