February 1, 2024

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JAMES BEARD AWARDS

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HEADLINE HOMES

FEBRUARY 1, 2024 | VOLUME 36 | NUMBER 4

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‘Missing middle’ housing targeted in Nashville zoning reform push BY STEPHEN ELLIOTT

Freddie O’Connell

PHOTO COURTESY OF OFFICE OF MAYOR FREDDIE O’CONNELL

Mayor presents first capital spending proposal BY NICOLLE S. PRAINO

Mayor Freddie O’Connell this week announced his first capital spending plan, a $514 million wish list of projects around the city. While it is a more than $35 million increase from the total in the 2023 plan, Metro Finance Director Kevin Crumbo said Friday it is “investing in our city while living within our means.” “This keeps us level for where we are,” O’Connell added. “This does not increase our debt as a share of operating.” The mayor annually proposes a capital improvements budget listing potential projects to be completed during the ensuing several years. The Metro Council will have final say in which projects get funded in the annual spending plan later this year. Some of the items on O’Connell’s list have been

featured on past lists. The biggest chunk is earmarked for the Nashville Department of Transportation, not to exceed $94.6 million. There is a new line item for transportation planning and Connect Downtown in addition to renewed attention to existing work on sidewalks and bicycle lanes. Continued funding for projects include the second phase of the juvenile justice center and Lakeview, Paragon Mills and Percy Priest elementary schools. New funding is included for a 2nd Avenue waste diversion pilot program and solar panel installation for Glencliff High School and MLK Magnet School. Around $25 million is designated for the East Bank alone, the mayor said in a press conference, adding that there is more

funding for other areas of Nashville. “The neighborhood investments here far exceed it,” O’Connell said. “Our commitment is going to be to make sure that we are investing in the entire city.” Other items • $3.17 million for WeGo Access Paratransit Vehicle Replacement • $8.6 million for replacement buses/ chassis • $15 million for libraries, three times the amount from 2023 • $23 million for the Nashville Fire Department, doubled from 2023 • $3 million for replacing end-of-life police records management system A version of this story was first published by our sister publication Nashville Post.

Two freshmen Metro councilmembers are launching an ambitious push to reform parts of Nashville’s zoning code in an effort to slow down rising housing costs. Broadly speaking, the goal is to get the private sector to build more homes for middle-income residents by making it easier to build different types of housing across the city, in turn allowing Metro to redirect its own efforts to those in severe need. Additional benefits of the reforms, the sponsors said, could include reduced traffic and increased “community,” as neighborhoods grow more self-sufficient and fewer people have to drive for daily needs. Metro Councilmembers Quin Evans Segall and Rollin Horton filed a suite of bills this week, and the full council is expected to consider them on first reading next week. “Nashville’s outdated zoning code has generated accelerating urban sprawl, endangering the rural and suburban character of some of the most beautiful parts of Davidson County, while locking our streets in suffocating car traffic and congestion to the point that we have been ranked the worst commute in America,” said Horton, whose District 20 includes The Nations and Charlotte Park. “By necessitating this urban sprawl development pattern, the city’s zoning code forces Nashvillians into car-dependent lifestyles so that it is necessary to drive to meet nearly every daily need, discouraging walkable neighborhoods. This has led to increased vehicular traffic, longer commute times and ever-increasing congestion.” Horton’s bills would accomplish four goals: allow certain residential structures of up to six stories to be served by a >> PAGE 2

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