Inside the East Bend Editing Room

The council will have to sift through a whopping 28 amendments before voting on a bill to rezone the East Bend area.

From Megan Podsiedlik

An investment group is looking for council’s approval to move forward with its plan to transform PSC Metals’ 47-acre scrapyard into a mixed-use neighborhood near the East Bank. But first, members have to sort through the 28 proposed amendments attached to the bill.

The amendments package is chock-full of ways to control the development of the East Bend, including a proposal to create an East Bank Design Review Committee, requiring height limits and design standards, and adding new reporting, environmental reviews, and transportation planning requirements tied to the buildout.

That said, some council members want to make sure that developers aren’t planning to pave paradise to put up a parking lot. Similar amendments by sponsor Jacob Kupin and Councilmember Clay Capp address how parking lots are to be hidden and how event parking is handled within the subdistrict.

Nothing to see here A proposal by Kupin would hide above-ground parking by requiring 30-foot deep wrap-around facades. This standard would be applied to parking structures that face public streets, outdoor spaces, or the riverfront (with some exceptions) and would require hiding them with something like office space or other active building uses. Capp’s amendment would also tighten up the standards but proposes a 25-foot minimum depth.

No empty, special-use lots Both council members also have amendments aiming to reduce and phase out single-use parking for special events. Kupin’s amendment limits day-of parking for events at Nissan Stadium or the Tennessee Performing Arts Center within the East Bend subdistrict by requiring a special event permit granted by the mayor's office or approval for a “special event zone." In addition, only 20 percent of the subdistrict can be developed into stand-alone parking lots, which are to be phased out by June 30, 2031.

Capp’s proposal also only allows 20 percent of the area to be used for standalone parking until 2031 but requires a year-by-year permit. It sunsets stand-alone lots on December 31, 2031.

The full amendment package will be reviewed by the council's Planning & Zoning committee tonight. The meeting is expected to be lengthy, and several amendments are likely to be voted down, giving members a clearer picture of what they’re likely to vote on during tomorrow’s Metro Council meeting.

✹ METRO COUNCIL WATCH

New Council Watch Features We've added additional features to Council Watch. In addition to who's funding your councilmember, you can now see how they vote and who they vote with most frequently. (Take a Look)

HEADLINES

• 🔌 New Interim Report shows major gaps in NES’ ability to scale and coordinate response during Winter Storm Fern. About 49 percent of NES customers experienced power outages during January’s ice storm, exposing significant weaknesses that slowed restoration.  The report highlights the utility company’s limited system scalability, lack of preparedness tools, and fragmented coordination as key drivers of its slow response. NES had no damage prediction model to pre-plan crews, experienced delayed and inconsistent Estimated Time of Restoration (ETR) communication, and suffered from inconsistent leadership within the Incident Command System that interrupted continuity. Communications also lagged because there was no integrated storm communications function tied directly to operations, leading to delayed, inconsistent messaging. (30 Day Interim Report)
• 🗳 Councilmember Jeff Preptit to withdraw Green Hills overlay after survey controversy. Preptit cites his own flawed methodology in tabulating support and an online survey manipulated by supporters for the misfire. Frustrated opponents also pursued public records requests for a fuller picture of the overlay process. Preptit plans to pursue a temporary neighborhood-led voting process overseen by a six-person steering committee to gauge support before deciding whether to reintroduce the legislation. (Scene)
• 🚗 Nashville launches 24 rideshare pickup spots downtown to ease traffic holdups. Officials say the goal is to improve safety and reduce congestion in Music City’s entertainment district. (Fox 17)
• 🎵 Don Schlitz, prolific writer of country music hits, dies at 73. Schlitz’s credits include Kenny Rogers’s “The Gambler,” Randy Travis’s “On the Other Hand”, and many other chart-topping country hits, most of them from the 1980s and ’90s. The beloved songwriter died on Thursday at a hospital in Nashville. (NYT)

DEVELOPMENT

• Plaza Artist Materials & Picture Framing's site in Germantown eyed for redevelopment (NBJ)
• Southern Land Co. breaks ground on Houston development (NBJ)
• Eakin Partners sells downtown parking garage for $41.5M (NBJ)
• Downtown high-rise eyed for exterior changes (Post)
• Hillsboro Village apartment house sells for $2M (Post)
• Chase Bank to open six Nashville-area branches (Post)

THINGS TO DO

View our calendar for the week here.

📅 Visit our On The Radar list to find upcoming events around Nashville.

🎧 On Spotify: Pamphleteer's Picks, a playlist of our favorite bands in town this week.

👨🏻‍🌾 Check out our Nashville farmer's market guide.

TONIGHT

🎸 West Texas Exiles @ The Basement, 9p, $16.19, Info

🎸 Black Pistol Fire @ The Basement East, 8p, $33.49, Info

🪕 Bluegrass Mondays with Airshow @ Dee's Lounge, 6p, $10, Info

🪕 Val Storey, Carl Jackson, Larry Cordle & New Monday @ Station Inn, 8p, $20, Info

💀 Grateful Monday @ Acme Feed & Seed, 7p, Free, Info

🕺 Motown Monday @ The 5 Spot, 9p, $5, Info

📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.

Today's newsletter is brought to you by Davis Hunt, Megan Podsiedlik, and Camelia Brennan.