Inglewood residents trying to save neighborhood from major development proposal
By Adam Snider
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Nashville keeps growing and with that comes changing neighborhoods.
Developers have their eyes on Inglewood, but some neighbors are fighting back against the proposal.
In Riverside Village, locals have their pick of a number of local businesses.
“Riverside Village is sort of a very special, unique corner of East Nashville,” explained Patrick Sansone. “It’s very well loved by the people that live here.”
Patrick has lived in Inglewood for four years and is unsure what the intersection of McGavock and Riverside Drive will look like after four more.
“It’s not that we are opposed to any kind of change, or any kind of development at all,” he said. “But it just needs to be within the character of Riverside Village.”
The proposal comes from the engineering firm, Dale and Associates.
Their plan is to use several of the existing buildings along the strip where the record shop Fond Object currently stands, to develop a new restaurant and motorcycle repair shop.
They also hope to rezone the lot behind the commercial properties, to allow a six building, 33-unit apartment complex.
“As a community center, we don’t mind a little bit of improvement,” said Matthew Bond. “But to turn three residential lots suddenly into six apartment buildings is changing the whole nature of this residential neighborhood.”
Matthew’s not alone in the sentiment. A petition in northeast Nashville is now gaining steam with close to 1700 signatures, hoping to ‘Protect Riverside Village’s Neighborhood Character’.
Many are pointing at the already busy intersection, McGavock Pike and Riverside Drive, as deterrent enough.
“To put in this kind of traffic, in this kind of density right here, is not suitable,” Matthew added.
“I just think it’s important for people int he neighborhood, and people who care about the neighborhood, to know they do have a voice in this,” said Patrick.
Metro Council member for Riverside Village, Anthony Davis, sent the following statement:
“We have a lot of work to do on this proposal, but we are in a much better place than we were last year when a project was proposed on Riverside and McGavock. The developer has a lot of rights today on the corner, it’s currently zoned mixed use. They could build a three-four story building there today. The question the neighborhood will have to decide, is do we want to keep the building and spread a little density back behind that parcel, onto a few Riverside parcels and control the development with a specific plan, SP. If we say no, we are saying yes to the 4 story building, and then they’ll build 8 houses behind. If we want to have more control and do an SP, the frontage building there on McGavock would be 1 story in perpetuity, and they have proposed 33 small micro units, spread among smaller scale buildings back behind. With control also, we can outlaw Airbnb (couldn’t do that with the large building route on McGavock), we would get extra sidewalk commitments, and several other controls in place. Right now however, we have a lot of misinformation, we have a lot of opposition, some because of misinformation, and some simply are just opposed, and that is totally understandable. My goal over the coming weeks is be sure we understand what we are saying no to, what we are saying yes to, and move forward in the best possible direction for Inglewood. If we simply have too much opposition, planning staff/commission and myself can’t possibly move forward, and the developer will (presumably) go the route of the larger structure and the 8 houses behind. It’s certainly a complex zoning discussion, and I at least want to be sure everyone understands the two choices here, before dropping the SP direction this time. We will be deferring the item on planning commission to the December mtg to allow more discussion.
There will be a public meeting over the proposal next Monday, Oct. 22, at 7 p.m. at Inglewood Elementary.