A new commercial/industrial park covering nearly 300 acres and more than 2 million square feet of space could soon come to Arlington south of Interstate 40.

But first the town’s Planning Commission wants a special work session with the landowner and the Board of Mayor and Aldermen to discuss the long-term project and its impact before making a decision on a general development plan.

The Arlington Planning Commission voted unanimously Monday, March 18, to defer that decision until a later date.

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“I think this is too big to work on tonight,” said Chairman Russ Campbell, who suggested the work session. “I think there’s too many things that need to be addressed that I’m not comfortable with.”

The project is proposed for 287 acres west of Interstate 269 and south of Donelson Farms Parkway. Plans for the area include commercial retail, warehousing, distribution and light industrial uses.

“The northern and northeastern parcels of this development is part of the Donelson Farms mixed-use PD approved in 1998,” Jeremy Credeur, town planner, pointed out.

The meeting included a public hearing, and resident Kathy Hollis, who lives near to the proposed site, shared her concerns over potential noise and traffic.

Project developers would be required to install gravity sewer lines, but for that to happen, the town will first have to extend sewer lines across I-40, something that is planned but still years away.

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The town is also in the process of working on bids to extend Donelson Farms Parkway from where it ends near Donelson Elementary School to I-269.

“We’re making that connection hopefully in the next year and a half to two years,” said Steve Hill, town engineer.

A 103-acre swath of undevelopableflood plain within the project would be set aside for agricultural, forestry, recreational and utility uses, including walking trails and an equestrian center.

State representative and real estate broker Kevin Vaughan, R-Collierville, represented Normandy Road Ventures — which includes members of the Fogelman family — at the meeting.

“What brought us here tonight is the fact that property (145 acres) that was owned by the Hughes family to the south was purchased by the Fogelmans,” he said. “The part of this that I find to be attractive ... is that (the project) is relatively segregated from any other uses. It has tremendous visibility from I-269 and has infrastructure there that is greatly underutilized.”

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Vaughan stressed the project would take decades to complete and no potential tenants had been identified yet.

Until sewer is extended by the town, the landowners would work on plans and securing entitlements.

“Personally, I like light industry,” Mayor Mike Wissman said. “Our businesses tell us we need jobs. We need people here during the day. But the size of it does somewhat concern me.”

He sees the site as ideal for businesses related to BlueOval City, planned about 20 miles east along Interstate 40, or medical device companies.

If a general development plan is recommended by the commission and approved by the BMA, a more detailed master development plan would be a next step.

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Arlington is not the only suburb within striking distance of BlueOval City that could see a new industrial park constructed in the coming years.

Earlier this year, Bartlett ramped up efforts toward creating a new Innovation Park for future industrial use with the annexation of 220 acres in the northwest part of the city.