Over the next several weeks, there are three opportunities for Nashville business leaders to provide input into important community projects – the Midtown area zone change, events and activities including the Tennessee State Fair at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds, and the East-West Connector bus rapid transit project. Each of these will affect businesses in the specific areas, as well as impact the overall economy and livability of the city. It is critical that local businesspeople participate in these processes.
Public meetings are scheduled to gather input on the following community projects and processes:
- The Midtown Community Character Plan adopted in March recommended that a comprehensive rezoning immediately follow the adoption of the plan. The community plan also recommended the creation of an Urban Design Overlay District that will be delayed until the transit stops for the East-West Connector are determined and appropriate design standards are recommended. The East-West Connector will be a dedicated mass transit line from Five Points in East Nashville to White Bridge Road along Broadway/West End, and this zone change is being proposed to support that effort to promote transit- and pedestrian-oriented development and intensity in the area.
The Midtown areawide zone change is scheduled for a public hearing during the regular Metro Planning Commission meeting on Thursday, July 26 at 4 p.m. at the Howard Office Building, 700 Second Avenue South, and during the regular Metro Council meeting on Tuesday, August 7 at 6:30 p.m. at the Historic Metro Courthouse, One Public Square, Second Floor.
- The community is being asked what it thinks would make a first-class fairgrounds and event center in Middle Tennessee as part of a Phase 1 study that will recommend best practices for the Tennessee State Fair and other year-round activities at the site. A Phase 2 study will create a plan determining the highest and best mixed uses for the Fairgrounds site.
The “Fairgrounds Master Plan Phase 1 Open House” will be held Monday, July 23, from 5 to 8 p.m. in the Sonny West Conference Center in the Howard Office Building, 700 Second Avenue South.
- The East-West Connector is the focus of a series of community forums sponsored by the Nashville Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) and the Transit Alliance of Middle Tennessee for the proposed bus rapid transit service that would extend from Five Points in East Nashville to White Bridge Road in West Nashville. The East-West Connector is now in its second phase – preliminary engineering and environmental analysis – and MTA now has a route and preliminary transit station locations to share with residents, businesses, property owners and employees along the corridor.
The locations and times of the upcoming community forums are listed below, along with the current bus routes serving those areas:
Wednesday, July 11, 5:30 p.m.
East Nashville Community Center
601 Russell St.
(Routes 4 & 20)
Tuesday, July 17, 11 a.m.
615 Church St.
(Routes 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 11, 17 & 38X)
Wednesday, July 18, 11 a.m.
West End United Methodist Church
2200 West End Ave.
(Routes 3, 5 &11)