Planning Department releases emerging concepts for East Bank developments at public meeting

The Metro Planning Department introduced a slew of emerging concepts for the East Bank Study Area—338 acres bounded by 1-24 to the east and south, the Cumberland to the west and Jefferson Street to the north.

At a public review meeting on Tuesday night, the department showed preliminary designs for public infrastructure including: an activated riverfront, multimodal boulevards, diversity of housing types, residential streets, neighborhood parks, green streets and resilient landscapes.

Sketches show proposed ideas for a continuous bikeway, that provides an off-road trail for both cyclists and pedestrians that would connect with Nashville's Greenway plan.

Additional continuous greenway trail systems were outlined that would run throughout the East Bank, and connect to the upcoming River North neighborhood and over toward Germantown and Downtown.

"The greenway really can be used for commuting and transportation and not just for leisure activities," said Anna Grider, a planner at the Metro Planning department at Tuesday night's meeting.

Plans for the greenway include creating neighborhood parks, as neighborhoods form on the East Bank.

Another concept discussed at the meeting included improving cross-river connection points at the James Robertson Parkway and Woodland Street Bridge.

The department is exploring adding pedestrian and bike access, turning to cities like Boston and Sacramento to see whether Nashville would be best suited to build an additional lane or restripe existing lanes for non-vehicular travel, said Grider.

The first phase of the study is being done by Metro Nashville Planning Department and Perkins Eastman, a global design firm. They're working in partnership with the Mayor's Office, Nashville Department of Transportation and Metro Design and Housing Association to focus on the use of the future land, urban design, mobility, open space and the environmental resiliency of the East Bank.

As of now, a third, or 127 acres of the study area are parking lots and there are no housing units. However there are almost 13,000 people living a half-mile from the East Bank.

While the department's future steps include setting housing goals for the East Bank, the concepts indicate creating dense, mixed-use and affordable housing developments.

"We've heard questions about whether the planning department will ever support single-family uses on the East Bank. The answer's no," said Lucy Kempf, executive director of the department. "You will never see the planning department make that recommendation."

More: New $50M East Bank boulevard proposed but Metro Council raises concerns over sparse project details

Nathaniel Carter, director of workforce and employment at Stand Up Nashville, a community organizing group, asked a small panel of city planners and the area's Metro Council representatives Sean Parker and Brett Withers about their housing plans.

"I have heard the word affordable housing used a lot today," Carter said. "... Can we get a grasp on what you all define affordable housing?

The city planners did not have a precise percentage of Area Median Income that they've committed to, they said they are keeping affordable housing at the top of mind.

"We have so much housing demand in the city, that this will be an important location where we can absorb some of that," Councilmember Withers said.

Throughout the night, city planners asked for people's immediate feedback on the sketches, and often asked what was missing. Repeatedly, affordable housing came up.

Immediate next steps for city planners are to analyze tonight's and ongoing feedback, and refine drafts for open spaces and the mobility network, the East Bank's new streets, greenways and bikeways.

"In my opinion, this is one of the most critical and the foremost challenges that we have on the east bank, is the lack of a mobility network," Kempf said.

These concepts have been informed to the Metro Planning Department through their 18 public meetings and survey results from city residents.

Almost three months ago representatives from multiple Nashville labor and equity organizations requested that Metro slowed down the study and increased community engagement.

The four top concerns brought to the planning department's attention through their community outreach are safe connectivity, river front access, destinations for Nashvillians and equity and affordability

The next update on the study likely won't come until early next year, said Richel Albright, a public information officer for the planning department.

Aside from housing, further next steps the planning department has outlined for themselves include establishing flood protection and sustainability standards, exploring bridge and utility locations and reviewing development applications.

Arcelia Martin covers growth and development for the Tennessean, a part of The USA TODAY Network. Reach Arcelia at amartin1@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @arcelitamartin.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: City planners release emerging concepts for East Bank developments