The developers behind a dense commercial and residential district proposed for Bells Bend pushed ahead with their plans Friday, even as planners put off deciding whether to support the project.
Development consultant Tony Giar ratana and other representatives for the project, called May Town Center, filed papers Friday with the Planning Department seeking to build a city-style neighborhood on more than 1,400 acres next to the Cumberland River.
The move opens a new front in the debate over Bells Bend.
It came only hours after the city's Planning Commission decided not to vote on a new plan that would guide development in the area because of significant opposition to the project from neighbors, environmentalists and downtown advocates.
After hearing four hours of debate on the matter Thursday night, commissioners decided to put off their deliberations. The commission will hold a separate meeting within the next few weeks to discuss and vote on the plan.
But the filing raises the possibility that May Town Center's developers, the May family, could push their proposal to a Metro Council vote even if commissioners don't pass the new plan.
Until now, developers have focused on seeing that plan pass because it would change the rules to make it easier to create a dense project on the Mays' property.
But Giarratana, a prominent developer who has been hired by the Mays to represent them, said the filing was meant to complement the debate, not go around it.
"There are legitimate questions that need to be answered that will be addressed formally and as expeditiously as possible," he said. "There's no attempt to circumvent the process. This is the process."
At issue is the shape of development in Bells Bend, an agricultural district across the Cumberland River from West Nashville and Bellevue.
A large group of neighbors wants to restrict development in the area, which they say is one of the last, large green spaces near downtown Nashville. Meanwhile, the Mays and some other Bells Bend residents want to allow for more development in the area, saying Davidson County is losing out to the suburbs because it lacks places to build new offices.
Land-use plan draftedOver the last several months, the Planning Department staff has drafted a land-use plan that would steer development in Bells Bend. The plan, which was presented Thursday to the Planning Commission for approval, would tighten conservation through most of the bend while permitting the May Town Center to be built, under certain conditions.
Regardless of the outcome, the Mays would need to present their proposal to the commission a second time before construction could start.
The land-use plan and May Town Center proposal would have to be approved by the Metro Council.
Giarratana declined to say Friday whether he would withdraw the zoning petition if the new land-use plan got defeated. But in an interview earlier this week, he said he'd try to push the project to a Metro Council vote, no matter how the plan's fate turns out at the Planning Commission.
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