Flooding the Zone
🗺️ More on the city's zoning proposals · 9-1-1: Nashville star passes · Game Day in Nashville · Much more!
Good afternoon, everyone. More on the city's zoning reform efforts from Wednesday's community meeting... College Gameday is here in town this weekend... The AG notches another victory... And much more!
Like what we do? Forward us to a friend.
🏘️ Proposed RN Zoning Hides Developer Intentions During Wednesday’s community presentation on proposed zoning code changes at Hillsboro High School, audience members had a bone to pick with Planning over the new Residential Neighborhood (RN) zoning district proposal.
When applied, RN zoning allows for the construction of anything from single-family homes to townhouse courts. Though RN zoning wouldn’t be imposed on any lots in the county upon passage of the bill, it would create a new option for developers once established in Metro Code.
One gentleman pointed out that developers currently have to show their hand when upzoning in an area by pursuing an R4 or R6 zoning classification, which indicates that a 4-unit or 6-unit multi-family residential building would be going up on the property.
“With the new regulation RN…[the people in the neighborhood] don't know what I'm going to build,” he said. “I could build a beautiful, single-family that everyone loves, or I could build something that I can make a lot more money on, but I don't have to tell you.”
“Why do we need two more multifamily zoning codes when we already have 30 multifamily zoning codes?” another attendee asked.
“So the idea behind a design-based code is that there's a little bit of a trade-off,” explained city planner Greg Claxton. “You have more certainty around the form or the set of forms,” he continued, before admitting that developers can essentially hide exactly what kind of unit they’re building.
There are four more community presentations on the legislation next week. On November 4, community members are encouraged to voice their opinions on the proposed legislation at the Metro Council meeting during public hearing.
🚍 Does Density Increase Bus Ridership? Before things wrapped, residents questioned the provision in the Voluntary Attainable Housing Incentive Program proposal that does not require parking for income-restricted units. “It's not that they are prohibited from providing it, it’s that it's not required,” explained Planner Claxton.
He went on to detail how Planning intends to incentivise income-restricted density in “transit-rich areas” where there is a “lower level of need” for parking. The crowd audibly laughed at the notion that developers will voluntarily include parking when it’s not required of them.
During Q&A, a frequent bus rider asked whether any studies have shown that increased density creates increased use of public transportation. “Be mindful, I'm a bus rider,” he chided. “I use it every day, I know the answer to that,” he continued, insinuating that despite Nashville’s growth, bus ridership hasn’t increased.
Claxton concluded that “solid findings in transit planning” show that transit opportunities align with density: “Our goal is to figure out, ‘How do we mesh things together so that it becomes more and more of a viable option, not just for transit, but for walking, for daily needs, for visiting people, for doing shopping, for getting to the park?’”
The density + transit solution sounds a lot like a provision in Mayor O’Connell’s Choose How You Move plan that has since been sidelined. Originally, CHYM was going to pursue HUD grants in order to qualify for more federal transportation funding.
During its rollout, Mayor O’Connell proposed that Metro acquire undeveloped land near transit hubs to build affordable housing. The incentive structure attached to the federal grant dollars the mayor planned to pursue disintegrated when things shifted after the 2024 elections.
🏥 “V” Over Imposed Gender Affirming Care On Wednesday, the Tennessee Attorney General’s office secured a “victory against radical gender ideology in healthcare.” Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti alongside Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch won a nationwide court ruling striking down the Biden administration’s attempt to impose gender-identity mandates on healthcare providers and Medicaid programs.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi ruled that HHS exceeded its authority by redefining “sex” under Title IX and the Affordable Care Act to include gender identity. The court vacated the rule, which would have required doctors to perform gender-transition procedures and states to fund them, affirming that “sex” refers to biological sex.
“Our fifteen-state coalition worked together to protect the right of health care providers across America to make decisions based on evidence, reason, and conscience,” said Skrmetti. “This decision restores not just common sense but also constitutional limits on federal overreach, and I am proud of the team of excellent attorneys who fought this through to the finish.”
HEADLINES
- 🏈 Wyatt Lawn at Vanderbilt University will host ESPN College GameDay live from 8–11 a.m. ahead of the No. 10 Commodores’ game against the No. 15 Missouri Tigers at FirstBank Stadium on Saturday. The last time Gameday visited Nashville was in 2008, when the then-19th-ranked Commodores took on Auburn.
- 🚨 A 53-year-old man, Phillip C. Anderson Jr. of Goodlettsville, has been charged by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department with felony false reporting and gun possession while under the influence after posting videos on social media—armed with a shotgun and claiming he planned to “find a sniper point” and “run over pedestrians” on Broadway.
- 😔 Isabelle Tate — an MTSU graduate who had just landed her first role on the Nashville-set series 9-1-1: Nashville — died on Oct. 19 at just 23 years old. Her agency says she suffered from a rare form of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, and donations in her memory are being directed to the Charcot-Marie-Tooth Association.
DEVELOPMENT
- California firm buys Gulch office tower for near record-breaking price of $218M (NBJ)
THINGS TO DO
View our calendar for the week here.
📅 Visit our On The Radar list to find upcoming events around Nashville.
🎧 On Spotify: Pamphleteer's Picks, a playlist of our favorite bands in town this week.
👨🏻🌾 Check out our Nashville farmer's market guide.
TONIGHT
🪕 S.G. Goodman @ The Basement East, 8p, $33.44, Info
🎸 Evan Dando Solo Performance & Signing @ Grimey's, 5p, Info + The Lemonheads LOVE CHANT Release Celebration
🎸 Wilby @ The Blue Room, 7p, $26, Info
🎸 Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit @ Ryman Auditorium, 8p, $73+, Info
🪕 The Cowpokes @ Acme Feed & Seed, 12p, Free, Info
🍀 Live Irish Music @ McNamara’s Irish Pub, 6p, Free, Info
🎸 Kelley’s Heroes @ Robert’s Western World, 6:30p, Free, Info
📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.
The Pamphleteer
The Pamphleteer
The Pamphleteer
The Pamphleteer
Today's newsletter is brought to you by Davis Hunt, Megan Podsiedlik and Camelia Brennan.