Some Exciting New Housing Legislation Just Dropped in Nashville
Some Exciting New Housing Legislation Just Dropped in Nashville
New bills aim to legalize more missing middle housing in Music City.
I’ll try to do a deep dive on this later, but I wanted to share some exciting news about a push for housing reform in Nashville. From Stephen Elliot at the Nashville Scene:
Metro Councilmembers Quin Evans Segall and Rollin Horton filed a suite of bills this week, and the full council is expected to consider them on first reading next week.
"Nashville’s outdated zoning code has generated accelerating urban sprawl, endangering the rural and suburban character of some of the most beautiful parts of Davidson County, while locking our streets in suffocating car traffic and congestion to the point that we have been ranked the worst commute in America," says Horton, whose District 20 includes The Nations and Charlotte Park.
"By necessitating this urban sprawl development pattern, the city’s zoning code forces Nashvillians into car-dependent lifestyles so that it is necessary to drive to meet nearly every daily need, discouraging walkable neighborhoods. This has led to increased vehicular traffic, longer commute times and ever-increasing congestion."
Horton’s bills would accomplish four goals: allow certain residential structures of up to six stories to be served by a single stairwell, eliminate minimum lot sizes in multifamily districts, permit housing by right in commercial districts and ask Metro departments to create pre-approved pattern books for missing middle housing.
Additionally, Evans Segall, an at-large member, is sponsoring several bills. They would allow duplexes to be built wherever single-family homes are allowed countywide, allow triplex and quadplex homes to be built where single-family homes are allowed in the smaller Urban Services District and scale back certain safety standards for some smaller multifamily projects that currently have to match safety standards of large multifamily buildings.
This legislative effort would encourage “missing middle” housing, which “refers to the whole spectrum of homes in between single-family houses and large apartment buildings.” This includes housing types like “duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, small-scale apartment buildings with a handful of units, cottage courts, townhouses, and so forth.”
Like most cities in the U.S., exclusionary zoning laws in Nashville only allow single-family homes to be built in the vast majority of our metro area. The Beacon Center of Tennessee recently put out a “Zoning Atlas” showing the locations where 2 or 3+ family housing can legally be built:
Council Member Evans Segall has launched a new website that lays out the plan, titled NEST: Nashville’s Essential Structures for Togetherness. Here is a summary of all of the zoning reforms that have been proposed:
NEST allows for small scale infill housing development in ways that require consistency with design and a neighborhood feel.
NEST clarifies rules surrounding duplex homes so they are easier to administer and are built in a neighborhood-friendly manner.
NEST allows homes to be built in commercial districts countywide.
NEST allows triplex and quadplex homes that look like single family homes to be built anywhere in the Urban Services District where single family homes are allowed.
NEST allows for single stair egress and ingress for small scale apartments.
NEST provides that certain small scale residential multifamily buildings can be built to the same safety standards as duplex homes.
NEST removes offensive language from the code, adopting disability-inclusive language.
NEST removes outdated requirements surrounding bathrooms and laundry.
NEST removes barriers that needlessly take away valuable time from our Metro employees.
NEST removes minimum lot size - but not footprint or setback or density - requirements from multifamily residential districts.
In the Scene article, Elliot points out that the reform efforts might draw attention from the Republican-led state legislature, which has recently attempted to meddle in Nashville’s governing affairs on multiple occasions. But, as I and others have argued, removing single-family zoning restrictions.
“offers a plethora of societal outcomes appealing to individuals across the political spectrum. By promoting affordable housing, economic growth, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability, this reform has the potential to unite diverse perspectives, transcending partisan differences and fostering a better world for all.”
If the majority party of the state legislature truly believes in limited government, they should wholeheartedly support these reforms.
The most likely opponents will be neighborhood groups and other council members, but supporters have the facts on our side. For example, Minneapolis recently eliminated singe-family zoning and is witnessing a boom in housing affordability compared to other Midwestern cities (from the Financial Times):
Supporters can learn the facts at the NEST website. I also encourage people to check out and get involved with groups like Housing Now Nashville and Strong Towns. You can also contact the planning commission and your council member.
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