Learn More About the Massive Change Proposed for Zoning in Nashville. Here is the Schedlule of Public Meetings.

by Rod Williams, Oct. 20, 2025- Big changes are being proposed for the way we do planning and zoning in Nashville. I, like many of you I am sure, have shifted my focus away from local politics in the face of the daily assault on our liberties from the Trump administration. I get it. When unidentified masked gunmen in military garb are snatching people off the streets of American cities and sending them to foreign prisons and when the President is threatening to declare America in a state of insurrection and impose martial law, who has time to care about boring stuff like zoning classifications? We only have so much bandwidth and Trump's threat to liberty is taking it all. Despite that, what happens locally still matters and matters a lot.

Before the people of Nashville is a decision about the future of what Nashville will look like. Will we make housing more affordable? Will we build more housing units? Will we protect the character of our communities? Will we curb urban sprawl? We can't do all of these things and have to choose. 

I know discussions about the difference between an "R" zoning and an "RS" zoning can make one's eyes glaze over but if you wake up one day and the single-family home next door to you has been replaced by an eight-unit apartment, don't say they slipped it in on you. 

I am not fully informed of what is specifically being proposed. I have attended some meetings and have a general knowledge. Essentially, there is a proposal to increase density in Nashville. While I oppose efforts to do it one district at a time, I think a general redoing of Nashville's planning and zoning is overdue. I have observed for decades as little by little, neighborhood at a time, vast swaths of the city that were zoned "R," which allowed duplexes, were rezoned "RS" which allowed single-family only. Back when my blog focused almost exclusively on local politics, I reported on these changes and editorialized against them and said that these downzonings would lead to increased housing costs and a housing shortage and urban sprawl. I think it has.

I tend to favor increased density. However, I am not sure we really need 90,000 units of new housing in Nashville by 2034.  I do, however, think it is too hard to build housing in Nashville, and our zoning makes housing more scarce and less affordable.  The argument against a more liberal zoning regimen is that it changes the character of one's neighborhood. I get that. Also, however, not allowing greater density changes the character of someone else's neighborhood as Nashville's urban sprawl changes the character of rural communities in middle Tennessee. So, I favor less restrictive zoning, allowing for greater density, yet the details matter a lot.

In 2024, Nashville’s Metropolitan Council passed a resolution that directed several city agencies, including the Metropolitan Planning Department, to study the possible changes Nashville can make to allow for more housing as our city continues to experience growth. That study called the Housing and Infrastructure Study has now been released. The proposals in the study will lead to Council bills which will, if passed, will lead to substantial change in the way we do planning and zoning in Nashville and what can be built and where. 

There are going to be several community meetings around town soon to learn more about what is in the study. Here is the schedule:

District 24, 25, & 34 Joint Community Meeting 
Oct 22, 2025 | 6:00 - 7:30 p.m.
Hillsboro High School auditorium  
3812 Hillsboro Pike 
Nashville, TN 37215 

District 22, 23, 34, & 35 Joint Community Meeting 
Oct 27, 2025 | 6:00 - 7:30 p.m.  
James Lawson High School auditorium 
8001 Highway 70 S 
Nashville, TN 37221 

Southeast Regional Community Meeting 
Oct 28, 2025 | 6:00 - 8:30 p.m.  
Southeast Community Center  
5260 Hickory Hollow Pkwy, Ste 202 
Nashville, TN 37013 

District 4, 26, & 27 Joint Community Meeting 
Oct 29, 2025 | 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. 
Crievewood Baptist Church
480 Hogan Rd 
Nashville, TN 37220 

District 11, 12, 13, 14, & 15 Joint Community Meeting 
Oct 30, 2025 | 6:00 - 7:30 p.m.  
Mt. Gilead Missionary Baptist Church 
4004 Lebanon Pike 
Hermitage, TN 37076 

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