Good Morning Neighbors,
I have spent the last couple of days speaking in length with Ed Yandell with the Tennessee Housing and Development Agency (THDA) Division that oversees Tax Credit Properties and applications as well as Bob Farrar with the THDA Legal Team. In addition I have been in the offices of Planning, Codes, Stormwater, and asking questions of Traffic Engineers and the council's legal attorney regarding the plan approved in 2008 for road access to the Glencrest Townhome development now called the Nashboro Village Townhomes after the gas line blow up that stalled development with the last owner Vastland. The bottom line is that the train has left the station and is far down the track in this situation. Unfortunately, the ideal time to have reduced the number of units for this development thereby reducing the amount of density in Nashboro was to at the time the plans were submitted in 2005 to have the zoning reduced to residential low medium from Medium density which would have cut the 73 units to 46 units as the max on this parcel or to change the sub area plan policy on this parcel all together. The traffic study was approved in 2005 and was amended in 2008 when the issue came up on the blow up of the gas line with Colonial Gas Pipeline. So what this created was another road for 10 of the 73 units that will be on the hill that will run from the townhome units directly to Nashboro Blvd. These few units will not have access to the road that is there now, however the units will be within walking distance, so if there are issues around playing in the streets etc., we will have to work with them to address this should it occur as people drive along this road up to the Golf Clubhouse. The Tax Credit money does hinge on the development fully being developed as 73 units. Anything less would jeopardize the awarding of this money per THDA, however they have noted in the approved file the fact that the property was already zoned, all surrounding parcels comparable and that all traffic studies are complete and amendments approved and that there was already construction completed as of 2005 through 2008.
First Cumberland Properties and Woodbine Community Organization closed on the property on Friday February 24, 2012 per First Bank's Paul Craig at 370-2767. The plans were submitted officially to the stormwater division with Metro on yesterday 2/28/2012 around 2:58 pm and there are only minor revisions to the detention pond and meets the requirements of the survey for the change.
The options that ultimately are available to us are below
1.) Submit an application to change the policy from Medium Residential to Residential Low Medium - cost to do this is $500. It takes 6 weeks to change and we have to have 6 votes on the planning commission. (what was shared is the likelihood of this passing was zero because the commissioners would immediately come back with the question why are you trying to change the policy now when your subarea plan process to change policy is beginning in another month April 5th)
2.) Make application to planning to downzone the property by amending the PUD to specify building materials and to reduce the number of units - cost to do this is $1,400. (what was shared is the planning commission will likely not approve this as well and we would need 6 votes on planning commission and 27 on the council. Due to the surrounding parcels being the same as the PUD being challenged this would be what decisions would be based around. Downzoning to reduce the number of units would ultimately be disapproved as 24 of the 73 plats are already complete and significant construction costs although they are with the prior developer, all rights are resumed under the new developer finishing what was started. Additionally, another fact that was shared is if you tried to downzone say to single family housing this would go no where also because there are no single family homes surrounding this parcel and would be inconsistent. No building materials requirement was set or given to the previous developer Vastland for the project in 2005.)
3.) Work with the developer to try to increase the quality of the development building materials, issues around driveway access and construction with a community meeting.
Please share with me your thoughts, ideas, questions, feedback and what your preference is for how you would like for me to proceed on behalf of our community.
The problems we face with this PUD/Parcel is that the zoning runs with the land not the owner and currently 24 of the 73 plats/pads have already been laid - as a result of the approvals in 2005 and 2008, sewer lines and water lines are in place. 1/3rd of the development is already started and complete. They purchased the property with all the development rights and can resume all activities of the previous developer. The architect and engineering firm that Vastland used is the same as the one First Cumberland Properties and Woodbine are using.
Currently the review (which you can track through metro's development tracker) freezes building permits until its rendered active, which what was shared is the probability is that it will be deemed active, but the other 2 parcels along Nashboro Village possibly may not due to no activity and no prior construction.
OTHER INFORMATION:
Nashboro Village - Tract 3 PUD was approved with conditions by the Metro Planning Commission on December 8, 2005. Site Grading Permit No. SW2005-266 was issued by Metro Water Service, Stormwater Division on April 25, 2006. The original developer started site work on the project and had completed the water, sanitary and storm sewer infrastructure and approximately 75% of the grading work when a Colonial Gas Pipeline was hit and ruptured. The project was put on hold until the line was repaired and an alternate plan was approved by Colonial in 2008 when the revised PUD Plan was submitted to remove the portion of the private drive crossing the Colonial Gas Pipeline easement. This revised PUD Plan was final and approved with conditions by the Metro Planning Commission January 8, 2009 and Metro Council. By this time the original developer could not continue the project due to the downturn in the real estate market. First Bank acquired the property and said they had no developers except First Cumberland to try purchasing this parcel/land. First Cumberland Properties closed and purchased on Friday, February 25, 2012 from the bank and has stated to stormwater they are submitting plans to finish the project. The revised site construction plans prepared by First Cumberland Properties engineering firm uses a current as built survey of the site to show how the project can be completed. Only minor revisions have been made to the approved design to meet the as built site conditions, no additional units or access points are proposed for the approved traffic study and all previous approval conditions are still valid.
Karen Y. Johnson
Councilwoman
District 29
Metropolitan Government of Nashville and; Davidson County
615-977-6721
615-862-6780
www.District29Community.blogspot.com
www.Nashville.gov
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