OPINION

Strengthening Nashville's neighborhoods

Megan Barry
For The Tennessean
Megan Barry
  • Zoning changes and planning requests have caused concern in neighborhoods across Davidson County.
  • Old Hickory, Bellevue, Whites Creek and Joelton are examples of such areas of concern.
  • We must ensure that Nashville’s growth and prosperity does not compromise our natural beauty.

The NashvilleNext process has created a great blueprint for where we need to take the city over the next 20 or 30 years.

It’s a blueprint that recognizes the importance of walkable neighborhoods with access to transit, preservation of our historic neighborhoods and protection of our natural environment.

Making all this come to life will require more neighborhood representation on the Planning Commission, council members who listen and engage with their constituents and a mayor with a strong voice and a clear vision.

A mayor who understands that a thriving, growing city is really a network of vibrant neighborhoods, each with its own character and style.

In the past few weeks, we’ve begun tackling some of these important issues on the Metro Council. There has been a flood of new zoning changes and planning requests that have been cause for concern in neighborhoods and communities across Davidson County.

Some current and concrete examples:

• In Old Hickory, residents are standing together against a proposed quarry that would destroy many acres of green space next to a beach and greenway. Councilman Larry Hagar is leading the fight to prevent the proposed project from negatively impacting the quality of life, and I’m proud to co-sponsor legislation that would ensure a quarry like this can’t be within 1,000 feet of a residential structure or 2,000 feet of a park. It’ll be a tough fight to put the brakes on this project, which would involve blasting near kids and houses, but it’s a fight I’m willing to have to ensure that Old Hickory maintains its character.

• In Bellevue there was recently a request by a developer to resurrect a plan, drafted in the 1980s, to develop up to 864 housing units on a forested ridgeline called the Nashville Highlands.

While this may have made sense to planners 30 years ago, we’ve learned much since then about the importance of protecting our natural resources through proper planning and community input. So when the developer who owns the land attempted to reactivate this plan, the community came together to oppose it, and asked the Planning Commission to join them in halting the project.

I agreed with the people of Bellevue and conservationists that moving forward with new development without taking stock of all the changes was a bad idea. So I wrote to the Planning Commission to ask them to declare this Planned Unit Development (PUD) inactive, a step that forces the owners of the land to come back with a new process that involves the Council and the community. Thankfully, the Planning Commission agreed, and now that process will have to take place.

• In Whites Creek, the only nationally registered rural historic district in Davidson County, 98 percent of the community voted in favor of being defined as “rural.” That is an overwhelming statement of support for keeping Whites Creek rural, and I look forward to working with the community so that it remains just that. As mayor, I’ll work with the Planning Commission to draft rural development regulations that will ensure the community character of this area is maintained.

• In Joelton, right up the road from Whites Creek, the community has rallied to stop the creation of a new gas compressor station that threatens to degrade the environment and their quality of life. So I’ve joined with Councilman Lonnell Mathews on a piece of legislation aimed at stopping this project from going forward in an area that is not already zoned for industrial use.

These are just a few examples of how citizens, working with their elected officials, can join together to protect their way of life.

I look forward to continuing the work we’ve started these past few weeks in Old Hickory, Bellevue, Whites Creek and Joelton to ensure that Nashville’s growth and prosperity does not compromise the natural beauty that we could never get back.

Megan Barry is an at-large member of the Metro Council and a candidate for mayor.

Opponents of a gas compressor station packed into Metro Council chambers July 21 for a public hearing. They support legislation that would restrict gas compressors to industrial areas and could keep the station out of Joelton.