Planning Staff would like to invite you to participate in an open house community meeting relating to a zoning code amendment for Compact Development (“Comp Dev”) currently proposed.
This is a drop-in style meeting, and you do not need to be there for the entire duration. Every hour on the hour, there will be a presentation of the analysis conducted by Staff, as well as the proposed development and design requirements, and sites that were tested utilizing these standards. The remaining portion of each hour will allow time for community questions and feedback, which will be taken into account when finalizing the Comp Dev draft prior to the November 9 Metro Planning Commission meeting.
Here is some background to give you a bit of information of how we got to this point.
“Cluster Lot Option, a reduced-lot subdivision tool, was one of the most widely used tools for subdivisions that focused on two main goals: natural resource preservation and open space dedication. After many decades of use, the shortcomings became evident.
In 2022, Conservation Development, a new subdivision tool, was developed by Planning Staff and adopted by Metro Council to preserve Nashville’s sensitive natural resources. This development tool requires slopes, streams, trees, etc. to be preserved, and allows the full density of the site to be built on smaller lots. With the adoption of this tool, Cluster Lot Option was removed from the zoning code, and there was no tool to reach the goal of creating valuable open space, which is when Staff began developing Comp Dev to fill in those gaps.
The Comp Dev standards focus on sites closer to existing city infrastructure, such as major corridors and parks but would also allow for reduced lot sizes, in exchange for providing outdoor space and recreational uses. Additionally, the goals of Comp Dev complement those set in NashvilleNext particularly aligning with the objectives to increase density and housing diversity; build on and near corridors; and incorporate green space into our urban fabric.
