NOLENSVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — It doesn't get much more Americana than the Historic Nolensville Buttercup Festival.

For the past 25 years, the town and local businesses have come together for music, food, a kids' pageant and a sense of community. There seems to be a lot of that in Nolensville.              

"One of the things that I noticed my first year here as the town manager was attending the high school homecoming tailgate party [and] their homecoming parade. Quite honestly, I've never seen anything like it, even growing up in a small community — a small town of Waynesboro, Tennessee. Nolensville's homecoming parade — it's like nothing else," Nolensville's town manager, Victor Lay, said. "The parade is well-attended to say the least. People line the street with their lawn chairs, and they're cheering [on] the students and everyone who's participating in the parade. It's quite an event."

That vibrant community life, highly-rated Williamson County Schools and a scenic landscape have attracted new residents to Nolensville. Twenty-five years ago. there were fewer than 3,000 residents. Now, the population is close to 17,000. Lay said two years ago, Nolensville reworked its zoning ordinance.

"We don't want to zone ourselves to where we overgrow and we become lost and just another one of the suburbs of Nashville," Lay said. "It was a very thoughtful process in going through that the zoning. The citizens said, 'Look, we only want to grow to a certain size.'"

There are 2,200 new homes approved to be built. Lay said that will take about eight to 10 years. With high-end developments going in and demand rising, home prices have skyrocketed.

"In 2000 the home prices were in the [$200,000s]" Lay said. "Boy, would it be great to find some home in that [price range]? ... Now, they're in excess of [$800,000] for the average home price."

Lay said commercial development hasn't been as robust, but things are picking up. The town's first grocery store, a Publix, is under construction and set to open by Thanksgiving. There is also a Kroger project in the early stages.

"We don't have any big box [stores], which, once again, it kind of goes back to the nature of Nolensville. That's not something that Nolensville has really sought after," Lay said. "They've looked for the smaller mom-and-pop shops. So when you drive the streets, that's what you see."

A project that could be the cornerstone of the area is now underway. Renderings of the Nolensville Town Square show a 25-acre mixed-use development that will include residential, retail, dining, parks and nearly 10 acres of green space. It's full of gathering areas meant to foster that sense of community Nolensville cherishes. 

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/on-tour-middle-tn/nolensville/