February 2007 Health Kick Natchez Medical Park Propels Dickson Forward By Jennifer Kiilerich
“The next 20 years are going to be phenomenal, not just for Dickson, but for the region,” says David England. He is referring to the growth expected in Dickson County, another of Middle Tennessee’s rapidly expanding communities. England, a CPA who works from his home in Dickson, narrowly lost a mayoral bid in November after serving for four years as a county commissioner. He will soon be moving into a larger office space, and his client list of small businesses locating in Dickson County keeps getting bigger. “Straight out of the Yellow Pages, I’ve got three new clients today. And they’re all new businesses. They’re going
to take their entrepreneurial risk right here,” he says. England
is among more than 43,000 individuals who call Dickson home, and with a 39% population increase between 1990 and 2000, the area is primed
for commercial expansion and continuing residential growth.
HCA Inc., took note in 2004 when the company purchased 66 acres in Dickson County for TriStar Health Systems’ Natchez Medical Park. “The location is not even one mile from I-40, which brings people in from the north, south, east and west,” says TriStar representative Betty Weaver. The medical center’s first component, the Sarah Cannon Cancer Center and attached outpatient imaging center, opened its doors in January 2007. The Center makes cancer screening and treatment available to more than 130,000 residents who previously had to drive to Nashville or Jackson for these services. “Three hundred people are diagnosed per year in this area,” Weaver says, “and they were traveling up to 130 miles for treatments, which are five days a week for five weeks.” The Cancer Center is rare in that it offers chemotherapy and radiation all in one building, as well as screening tests, which will equal better quality of life for cancer patients and their families. Within three to five years, the Medical Park will also include a surgery center, and ultimately, a new hospital to replace the current Horizon Medical Center.
The Medical Park is expected to bring a wave of new businesses and residents to the area. A new hospital often leads to an increase in doctors’ offices, drug stores and medical equipment suppliers, and England expects the Natchez Medical Park will also draw national developers, as well as transportation and logistics companies. “The level of professionalism that you will see will rise,” predicts England. Students leaving Dickson County for higher education will now have significantly more professional jobs to return home to.
With expectations for a residential boom, companies like Crye-Leike, Realtors have recently expanded into the area. “The main reason we moved here,” says Jon Stevens, managing broker of Dickson’s new Crye-Leike office, “is that it was pretty much untapped, and growth is getting ready to come.” The firm has not yet felt the immediate effects of the Natchez Medical Park but anticipates its impact. With a strip of commercial land for sale next to the Natchez site, “everybody’s trying to cash in on what’s going to happen there,” Stevens says. He says that land prices are already rising in the immediate area.
Naturally, all of this growth calls for cash to fund new roads, schools, infrastructure and staff, and Dickson residents already face the fourth highest tax rates in the state, trailing only much bigger counties like Davidson and Shelby. Leaders like David England want to make sure that sound financial planning can prevent additional tax increases for locals. Neighbors such as Cheatham County have successfully controlled growth and generated additional revenue by increasing impact fees. England argues that this method slowed growth while also maintaining high building standards, and hopes for a similar plan in Dickson, although no formal controlled growth plans have yet been made. Dickson County’s Friends of Highway 96 is among the advocate groups fighting to keep growth slow, and local leadership entities will likely continue a lively dialogue on the subject for years to come. “There are challenges here in Dickson,” England says. “There’s a wall of growth, and it’s going to crash in on us. Hopefully, our mayor and county commissioners and city councils will be prudent and work together. I think they’ll do a good job.” Dickson County sits far enough from its neighboring major cities to stand on its own as a dominant economic force, and its residents and leaders expect that the Natchez Medical Center will push the community even further forward.
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