Bill to Rezone MetroCenter/Salemtown Properties for Lexus Dealership Passes Public Hearing

Council just approved bill to rezone properties surrounding MetroCenter Starbucks on second reading. No one rose to speak for or against the proposal during the public hearing. Some current residents whom the development team connected with the construction of the Lexus dealership helped in relocating their houses approached Salemtown Neighbors a few months ago for permission for the relocation. The association approved.

I believe that the lack of opposition against the rezoning and the building of the Lexus dealership is due to the existence of I-65, which both cuts a sliver of Salemtown off from the rest of the neighborhood and acts as a barrier to MetroCenter businesses encroaching into the larger portion of the Salemtown neighborhood.

Tonight's Not Just Any Another Tuesday Night Metro Council Night. It's Microbrewery Night!

The "Cat Herd" meets tonight: head 'em up and move 'em out.

In a move a lot less spicy than Rev. CM Jerry Maynard's bid for beer cabarets, CM Erica Gilmore has a bill on public reading to create a zoning use called "microbrewery" on behalf of Yazoo Brewery at Marathon Village. No strippers are involved (at least there were no strippers at the Yazoo Tap Room the last time I was there), but the bill allows per month production of up to 5,000 barrels of beer. If one of those barrels happens to fall ...

TIF Archipelago

Over at the Nashville Charrette, bzorch wonders about the fallout of Metro Council's approval of the Bellevue Mall TIF :

So the Mall is getting their TIF. I am sure it was reported last week, but it was in the Tennessean article yesterday about TIF financing. The Mall has agreed to build a library for the city in the development. There was no mention of the public space. The TIF is contingent on financing. This may be hard to come by. Especially since many stores are slowing expansion plans. I know there were a few articles written recently that talked about the Council members were beginning to look at their districts for TIF if Bellevue can get it. Is this going to start a trend? Is the entire County going to need to be broken up into TIF districts?

Antioch Neighborhood's Opposition Race Based?

P.J. Tobia reports that a largely white Antioch neighborhood may have shown ethnic prejudice in opposing the rezoning request of a Hispanic congregation. Reportedly, Council Member Jim Hodge has been leading the neighborhood's charge at the Board of Zoning Appeals, which denied the rezoning request.

One neighbor said she cultivates wildlife and the new church would take out blue jays, robins, and butterflies. I have blue jays, robins, and butterflies all over my small garden, which sits in the middle of a high density, urban neighborhood, so I find this Antioch woman's argument lame on the wildlife score. In fact, if she ever needs more robins, she's welcome to come catch mine. I don't like they way they gorge on my night crawlers.

Media Matters, Except in the Local Paper

Once again in a follow up to last night's predictable Council vote to give religious-based halfway houses special considerations in zoning issues in the wake of a lawsuit against Metro by a religious-based halfway house, one local paper avoids laying any fault at Metro Legal's or the Mayor's Office doorstep in rehashing their time-line of precipitating events.

I've admitted that I'm torn on this bill given that I don't think rural areas should generally be exempt from social and charitable services.  However, I don't think that history should be revised to saddle Metro Council with the responsibility for this mess.  Red lights and alarms did not seem to be going off in Karl Dean's Legal Department back in late 2006 and early 2007 when the thorny rose first bloomed.  But the mayoral honeymoon being what it is, even with the media, that is an ignored narrative, a boat they dare not rock.

Incompetent Justice

The worst president in history still scares Metro Council.

The same Bush Justice Department that is threatening Metro about allowing religious-based halfway houses on agricultural properties is settling out-of-court with one individual whose name it leaked to the press.  DoJ is opting to pay Steven Hatfill $5.8 million of our tax dollars rather than to defend itself against liability.

The Metro Council takes up a bill tonight that is an overt attempt to appease the keystone cops in the Bush Justice Department.  Despite the possibility that the Bush Administration may be trying to extend special rights to religious-based organizations through forcing local zoning ordinance, the Metro Council looks set to kiss Bush ring.

It looks like rather than make the hapless, unpopular Bush Administration play defense, Metro Government intends to roll over.

7th & Garfield "Ardelia Park" Development Passes on Consent

As expected.

CM Gilmore Sponsors Bill Tonight for 7th & Garfield Development

Erica Gilmore is introducing the ordinance tonight to approve SP zoning for "Ardelia Park," a cluster of 5 identical single-family homes built across two properties at the corner of 7th Avenue, North and Garfield Street. A community meeting was sponsored by CM Gilmore in April; neighbors got to express support and criticism then, as they will when this bill comes up for public hearing at some as yet unknown date in the near future (most likely the Ardelia Park rezoning bill will pass on tonight's first reading as part of the undebated "consent agenda," as most bills do).

SP zoning is "Specific Plan" zoning, which "gives developers additional flexibility up front and gives Councilmembers and their constituents greater certainty as to the resulting project." However, it deserves mention that neighborhood feedback relies on the CM holding neighborhood meetings at their discretion (in the case of our previous CM, Ludye Wallace, the controversial Schoene Ansicht development SP at Hume and 6th went through with absolutely no community meetings). Neighbors must still stay on top of any news that they can dig up about alterations to the plan.

According to the bill, the property "shall be subject to the standards, regulations and requirements of the RS 3.75 zoning district" (medium density residential for single-family dwellings) on any factor not addressed by the SP zoning.

A Malfeasant Union: Perhaps They Should Ban the Marriage of Realtors to Elected Representatives

I don't see how one could deny the ethical snarl of a wife who is a Realtor selling tens of millions of dollars in real estate based on zoning decisions made by an alderman who is also her husband. It is clear to me that such a marriage of convenience is unethical, but in Chicago it is ambiguous with lawyers calling it both ethical and unethical. I cannot believe that the alderman can deny with a straight face that he does not personally profit. So, if they divorce, the profits all go back to her? What a sinkhole.

Century-Old Germantown House Makes Historic "Endangered List"

There's a 1900-era house still standing in Nashville, which means that it's a matter of time before Metro Codes (via Sonny West) and the pro-developer, pro-big-box segment of the Metro Council call for its demolition. While the building is considered a part of the Germantown neighborhood, it actually sits across Jefferson Street in the Sulphur Dell/Bicentennial Mall section of Downtown, and the recently passed Germantown Historic Overlay does not appear to extend to the Geist property, which means that its facade is not protected should the owners sell to someone who wants to demo the structure.

Given Nashville's tear-down and pave-over culture, don't be surprised if the Geist property moves from being endangered to extinct. And it looks like there is nothing those of us with an appreciation of history, but without any power can do about it.

One of the More Important Tuesday Night Stipulations

The memorializing resolution requesting that the Vice Mayor appoint a legitimate LED task force is as expected on Tuesday night's council agenda. That resolution stipulates:

The membership of such task force should be representative of the community as a whole, including the following: Neighborhood representatives from various areas of Nashville and Davidson County, both urban and suburban

That's the way it should have been from the beginning.

Newspaper Finally Acknowledges Mayor's Office and Metro Legal in AG Zoning Controversy

Nashville City Paper reporter Nate Rau does finally get around to mentioning just barely two significant facts regarding approval of the AG zoning change bill that I've pointed out should have been placed alongside the Council's responsibility from the beginning:

Dean mayoral spokesperson Janel Lacy said Tuesday Dean never rendered a legal opinion on the rezoning measure during its first two readings while Dean was still law director ....

In addition, former Mayor Bill Purcell did not veto the bill, but he did return it to the Metro Clerk unsigned.

Okay, so Karl Dean never rendered a legal decision during the two-to-three month period that this bill was bouncing between Metro Council and the Planning Commission, but why not if it could have potentially lead to where we are now: a DOJ investigation? Buzzers and red lights didn't start going off in Metro Legal at November 2006 first reading? It is common knowledge that bills that get to third reading generally pass, so why would Metro lawyers wait until February 2007's third reading to speak up when they could have started in November 2006? Why was Karl Dean MIA on this bill?

And why does Mr. Rau seem to suggest that returning the bill back to the Metro Clerk unsigned represented anything but abdication to flawed logic? Returning it unsigned does not let the Mayor's Office off the hook, because a refusal to sign insured that the bill would become law without Bill Purcell's signature. That is not absolution. You can bet that if Mayor Purcell had simply returned the Council's news rack regulation bill with no signature rather than vetoing it later in 2007, then the Nashville City Paper would have explicitly pointed out the Mayor's failure at the time.

If the City Paper wants credit for some amazing investigative journalism on the DOJ investigation (beyond the lame claim that they were the "first" to the story), they are going to have to do more than the Mayor's Office's bidding.

I mean, get serious. Watchdogging Metro Council is not that hard. Watchdogging a popular Mayor in a strong executive government is.

Draft of Resolution to Create a Legitimate Metro Nashville Sign Task Force

The following bill will be introduced in next Tuesday's Council meeting:

RESOLUTION NO. __________________


A resolution requesting the Vice Mayor to appoint a task force to study the Metropolitan Government’s existing sign ordinance and to make recommendations to the Council regarding appropriate modifications to the sign ordinance.


WHEREAS, the Metropolitan Government sign ordinance, codified as Chapter 17.32 of the Metropolitan Code, has remained largely unchanged since its adoption in 1992; and

WHEREAS, technology in the sign industry has evolved in the last 15 years, specifically as it relates to electronic signs; and

WHEREAS, the existing sign ordinance contains ambiguity as to whether certain sign technology is permitted in Nashville and Davidson County; and

WHEREAS, the Council is cognizant of the fact that signs can have a serious impact on the use and enjoyment of residential property and the overall aesthetic appearance of the city; and

WHEREAS, the Council recognizes that certain modifications may need to be made to the Metro sign ordinance to reflect the technological advancements in the sign industry, but desires input from interested stakeholders as to what modifications are in the best interest of the city as a whole; and

WHEREAS, it is fitting and proper that a task force be appointed to make recommendations to the Council regarding appropriate amendments to the sign ordinance.


NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT OF NASHVILLE AND DAVIDSON COUNTY:


Section 1. That the Metropolitan County Council hereby goes on record as requesting the Vice Mayor to appoint a task force to study the Metropolitan Government’s existing sign ordinance and to make recommendations to the Council regarding appropriate modifications to the sign ordinance. The membership of such task force should be representative of the community as a whole, including the following:
Neighborhood representatives from various areas of Nashville and Davidson County, both urban and suburban
Representative(s) from the business community
Representative(s) from the sign industry
Representative(s) from the Planning Department
Representative(s) from the Department of Codes Administration

The task force should make its recommendation back to the full Council upon the completion of its work.


Section 2. The Metropolitan Clerk is directed to send a copy of this Resolution to Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors.


Section 3. This Resolution shall take effect from and after its adoption, the welfare of The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County requiring it.


INTRODUCED BY:


__________________
Megan Barry


__________________
Charlie Tygard
Members of Council

Still No Questions about the Mayor's No Veto of AG Zoning Bill

The City Paper continues to put all of the onus for the DOJ investigation on Metro Council. Again, formal Mayor Bill Purcell under the advisement of former Legal Director Karl Dean could have insured that the bill would have never seen the light of day, let alone become law. I bet the DOJ interviewed someone at the Mayor's Office. Why is the CP ignoring that angle?

Two Threads Coming Together

Knoxviews ties together the LED dramas playing out concurrently in two Tennessee cities and wonders when and if the state will get more involved.

Late Salemtown Questions on Germantown Overlay

The time has pretty much passed for any public feedback to Metro Council on the Germantown Overlay as proposed by Historic Germantown, Inc. and CM Erica Gilmore because the public hearing was held last week. However, the night before the public hearing at the Salemtown Neighbors Neighborhood Association meeting questions were raised about possible building height allowances of six stories in the overlay along Hume Street (which separates G-town and S-town).

Metro Planning official David Kleinfelter was at the SNNA meeting, and he later wrote Salemtown leaders the following answer to the building height question:

The issue came up at the community meeting about whether the changes to the Germantown DNDP were going to allow 6-story buildings along Hume Street. As best I can tell, that is NOT happening. Here is a link to the amendment to the DNDP, which was adopted by the Commission at its last meeting: Germantown_DNDP_Amendment_03_23_08.pdf

The end of Amendment 5, which is at the top of page 4, seems to indicate that within the "Neighborhood Urban" policy areas that aren't otherwise identified, new buildings are to be from 1-3 stories tall.

I'm sure that a number of Salemtown residents are relieved by this news. It would not have helped relations between the two associations if the height restrictions between the two neighborhoods had been relaxed, especially since Historic Germantown, Inc. leaders had assured SNNA leaders some time ago that there were no such plans in the overlay proposal.

A Juicy Portion of the "Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act"

From Wikipedia:

Section (a) of RLUIPA provides:

(1) No government shall impose or implement a land use regulation in a manner that imposes a substantial burden on the religious exercise of a person, including a religious assembly or institution, unless the government can demonstrate that imposition of the burden on that person, assembly or institution

((A) is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest; and

((B) is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest.

((2) Scope of Application. This subsection applies in any case in which--

((A) the substantial burden is imposed in a program or activity that receives Federal financial assistance, even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability; or

((B) the substantial burden affects, or removal of that substantial burden would affect, commerce with foreign nations, among the several States, or with Indian tribes, even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability; or

((C) the substantial burden is imposed in the implementation of a land use regulation or system of land use regulations, under which a government makes, or has in place formal or informal procedures or practices that permit the government to make, individualized assessments of the proposed uses for the property involved.

Currently being litigated is the conflict RLUIPA presents relating to municipalities' zoning and regulating rights. Through RLUIPA, Congress has expanded religious accommodations to a point where it appears to restrict municipalities' zoning power. Arguably, RLUIPA gives religious landowners a special right to challenge land use laws which their secular neighbors do not have. Even if a zoning law is void of discrimination Congress would have strict scrutiny apply to the city's regulation.

Might Metro Nashville have a case against the U.S. Government for coercing special rights for religious organizations that secular organizations do not enjoy?

Metro Nashville is Strong Executive and Metro Council Cannot Be the Only Responsible Party

In the current controversy over fixing a past Goodlettsville zoning bill, there are some significant issues and questions that some local media seem to be ignoring to the benefit of the Mayor's Office.

For starters, here is the time line of Rip Ryman's original ordinance:

• The offending bill was introduced and it passed first reading in November 2006.
• It went to Metro Planning for conideration, and the Planning Commission disapproved it in December 2006.
• It passed second reading in January 2007, which meant it had been through some committees.
• Karl Dean resigned as Metro Legal Director in January 2007 and started running for Mayor.
• In Feburary 2007, the bill was approved by Metro Council on final reading, but the Mayor returned it unsigned, which meant that it would become law a few days after it crossed his desk.

It is clear to me that the Mayor's Office and Metro Legal did share some responsibility for influencing the realization of this bill. But is it so clear to the mainstream media?

Whipping up on the cat herd is easy, because they practically hand you the proverbial sticks with which to flog them. But I believe that the media should be asking harder questions of our strong executives. Questions like: in the two month period between CM Ryman's introduction and Mr. Dean's resignation, what did Metro Legal do to try and stop the bill? Why did Mayor Purcell fail to veto the bill (he vetoed English Only during the same month and newsrack regulation later in 2007) if there was the slightest chance that Metro would be accused of violating federal law? What's the justification for returning unsigned? Does Mr. Dean share any responsibility for having failed to detect and to advise on the possibility that a Justice Department investigation could have resulted? Did Mr. Dean advise Mayor Purcell to veto before he left?

Nothing's Right. I'm Torn.

As for Tuesday night's council attempt to put rehabilitation services in agricultural areas like Goodlettsville:

On the one hand, with recovery facilities, homeless shelters, and social services packed into urban neighborhoods where I have lived, it is hard for me to have sympathy for burden-free rural residents who are NIMBY about bearing some of the load for rehabilitation services. On the other hand, since when does the Bush Justice Department have any credibility on enforcing the law of the land, given that they are selective enforcers? On still another hand, a law suit involving fair housing could cost Metro a bundle and Nashville has no bundles. On the other of another hand, it was embarrassing to listen to CM Jerry Maynard on Tuesday night give a sermonette on his parochial Bible from what is supposed to be his neutral and broadly representative position on the council in order to defend Metro Legal's attempts to placate the Bush Justice Department.

Geez. I don't know which way to fall on this one. There is no good position.

Germantown Overlay Passes 2nd Reading

No one rose to speak for or against the Germantown overlay at tonight's Metro Council Meeting, and it passed without debate.