Fort Campbell has been a defining part of life in western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee for generations, but the communities surrounding the installation are changing rapidly.
More people are moving into the region. New homes and businesses are being built. Roads and other infrastructure are under increasing pressure. At the same time, Fort Campbell’s military mission continues to evolve.
Local officials, regional planners and Fort Campbell representatives gathered Tuesday at the Tennessee Wings of Liberty Museum in Clarksville to begin to address how all of those changes can coexist.
The Greater Nashville Regional Council held the first public meeting for the Fort Campbell Land Use Compatibility Study, a three-phase planning strategy designed to examine growth around the installation and identify ways to protect Fort Campbell’s military mission while allowing surrounding communities to continue developing.
“This is an evolution of the last joint land use study that had land use compatibility study that had been done a few years ago,” said Michelle Lacewell, deputy director for the Greater Nashville Regional Council. “And this is an update based on how much growth has occurred across the region.”
The study updates a 2009 Joint Land Use Study conducted for Fort Campbell and the communities surrounding it.
Since that study, the four-county region of Christian and Trigg counties in Kentucky and Montgomery and Stewart counties in Tennessee has added nearly 72,000 residents, growing from about 275,000 people in 2010 to approximately 347,000 in 2024.
That growth has made the relationship between Fort Campbell and the communities outside its gates even more important.
The study is not intended to stop growth or impose new restrictions on property owners. Instead, it is designed to help military and civilian planners understand where growth is occurring, where it is likely to occur in the future and whether certain types of development could interfere with military operations.
Approximately 66% of Fort Campbell soldiers and their families live in the surrounding civilian communities, according to information from the study. Those communities provide housing, schools, businesses, medical services, transportation and other infrastructure used by military families and the broader population.
Fort Campbell, meanwhile, remains one of the region’s largest economic and institutional assets.
For local leaders, protecting the installation’s future is directly connected to protecting the region’s future.
Stan Humphries, judge-executive of Trigg County, said the four counties surrounding Fort Campbell have a shared interest in making sure the installation remains strong.
Humphries said Trigg County’s relationship with Fort Campbell goes back to the installation’s creation during World War II, when land in the county was incorporated into the military reservation.
“If you go back in the history books, you’ll see a big portion of Trigg County was carved out to make Fort Campbell,” he said. “So our community got smaller because of that, but I think our community got better because of that too.”
That history, Humphries said, makes cooperation among local governments important.
“In today’s world, when you have four senators that are looking over the aspects that takes place at Fort Campbell, surely four county judges and mayors can kind of come together and find out what we can do locally,” he said.
The study also comes as the region faces some of the challenges that accompany rapid population growth.
Montgomery County Mayor Wes Golden said Fort Campbell and the surrounding communities already have a strong working relationship.
“We have a great relationship with Fort Campbell today,” Golden said. “We meet on a regular basis with their leadership.”
Golden said Fort Campbell’s leadership also helps bring local governments together.
“Their leadership actually does a great job of pulling all the surrounding counties together,” he said. “So to me, it really strengthens not just the relationship we have with Fort Campbell, but the relationship we have with the whole region.”
Golden pointed to soldiers leaving Fort Campbell as another factor driving population and economic growth.
The soldiers who stay after their military service provide another source of skilled workers for the region, Golden said.
“So for me, it makes my job easier as well because these are people who already understand what it means to serve others,” he said. “So it’s the right people that you want living in your community.”
But that growth also creates pressure on local governments to keep up with roads, utilities and other infrastructure.
Golden said he used the public meeting to discuss specific infrastructure needs with those involved in the study.
“We know where we need the help and we know what they’re costing and the dollars and cents behind it,” he said.
The study will examine land-use patterns, development, transportation, infrastructure and other factors that can affect both the military installation and the communities surrounding it.
The installation occupies roughly 105,000 acres along the Kentucky-Tennessee border. As development moves closer to the installation, planners must consider issues such as flight operations, noise, lighting, building heights, transportation and other potential conflicts between civilian and military uses.
The study was also prompted in part by changes to Fort Campbell’s aviation infrastructure, including a planned runway extension at Sabre Army Airfield.
The goal is to identify potential conflicts early enough that communities and Fort Campbell can work together rather than dealing with problems after development has occurred.
Lacewell said the study will examine both sides of that equation.
“There’s an appropriate amount of distance that the base wants to protect for their purposes,” she said. “And so how do those two things occur at the same time?”
The study involves Fort Campbell, GNRC, local governments in Kentucky and Tennessee, regional planning agencies and other community stakeholders.
The Clarksville-Montgomery County Regional Planning Commission and the Pennyrile Area Development District are among the regional planning organizations involved in the development strategy.
GNRC selected Tetra Tech as the consultant for the study after soliciting proposals from several firms.
The project is supported by an Installation Resilience Program grant from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation. The federal program helps military installations and surrounding communities address issues such as encroachment, land-use conflicts and other challenges that can affect military readiness.
The study will proceed in three phases.
The first phase focuses on understanding existing conditions and identifying current compatibility issues.
The second phase will examine future growth, including challenges and opportunities associated with both the future mission of Fort Campbell and continued development in the surrounding communities.
The third phase will produce recommendations for Fort Campbell and the local governments as they plan for future growth.
“We’re starting with this public kickoff tonight to bring awareness to the study, provide background on the importance of a land use compatibility study,” Lacewell said. “And then we’re going to go into a second phase where we’re going to learn about the challenges and opportunities that exist with the base growth and its future mission support and then also the community growth.”
The final phase will bring the process back to the public.
Lacewell said residents do not have to wait for another public meeting to participate.
The survey gives residents an opportunity to identify what they value about having Fort Campbell in the region and what concerns they believe need to be addressed as the area grows.
The region has changed considerably since the 2009 study, and continued population growth means decisions made today about housing, commercial development, transportation and infrastructure could affect both civilian communities and military operations for decades.
At the same time, Fort Campbell’s influence in the region goes far beyond the installation’s boundaries.
The military brings thousands of service members and their families to the region, supports local businesses and provides a pipeline of workers who often remain in the area after leaving the Army.
For communities such as Hopkinsville, Oak Grove, Cadiz, Clarksville and Dover, the installation is also an important part of the region’s identity.
The Land Use Compatibility Study is expected to continue into early 2027.
