BELLEVUE HOUSE FIRE
RINNE STATUE REVEAL
MARCH 2, 2023 | VOLUME 35 | NUMBER 9
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Ongoing community meetings and input raise concerns over proposed Belle Meade Plaza development BY MATT MASTERS
PHOTO BY METRO NASHVILLE
Angie Henderson
PHOTO COURTESY OF ANGIE HENDERSON CAMPAIGN
Metro Councilmember Angie Henderson moves toward vice mayoral run BY STEPHEN ELLIOTT
Metro Councilmember Angie Henderson on Tuesday filed paperwork with local regulators allowing her to raise money for a vice mayoral campaign. Henderson has been publicly considering a campaign since last year. “I have appointed a treasurer, but I have not launched a campaign,” Henderson told the Post. “I feel strongly about the importance of the vice mayoral role for our city, especially at such a pivotal time for the Metro Council. I am still weighing several options for how best to continue serving Nashville.” Henderson has represented District 34 — including Cheekwood, Green Hills, Forest Hills and other parts of southwestern Davidson County — for two terms. Past roles have included president of the Belle Meade Highlands Neighborhood Association, founder of the Green Hills
Action Partners and board member of the Harpeth Hall Alumnae Association. During her time on the Metro Council, Henderson has chaired the parks, public works and charter revision committees and spearheaded legislation related to sidewalks and the city’s tree canopy. Henderson opted against a vice mayoral bid in 2018 because she “ran for elected office to improve policy, which I could not do as the vice mayor,” she said at the time. Vice Mayor Jim Shulman, first elected in 2019, is eligible for reelection in 2023. He told the Post he plans to run. “I love Nashville,” he said. “I still am interested in finding better ways to make this city better and improve people’s quality of life, and I’m interested in serving four more years.” Shulman led the Tennessee >> PAGE 4
The latest in a series of community meetings on the future of Belle Meade Plaza took place on Feb. 26 and 27 at Aquinas College featuring a presentation on the project related to stormwater, flooding concerns, future creek restorations, transportation, traffic, and plenty of community push-back. The presentation included representatives from Adventurous Journeys Capital Partners (AJ Capital), Hawkins Partners, KCI Technologies, Barge Civil and Associates, Metro Water Services, VCE Investigative, Davey Resource Group, and Nashville District 24 Councilwoman Kathleen Murphy. The multi-building mixed-use project has been the subject of several community meetings which have drawn hundreds of attendees and responses. The Belle Meade Plaza Shopping Center most prominently houses Kroger, which opened in 1978 and will soon relocate two miles down the road to 4301 Harding Pike. Updated plans include 101 residential condos, 287 rental apartments, 78 hotel units, 80,000 square feet of food and retail space across nine buildings ranging from one to 13 stories tall. The development would also see green space and pedestrian paths along the creek as well as a parking garage. “While the project meets the Nashville Next community plan, community input is still very important and should be reflected in the final plan,” Murphy told our sister
publication Nashville Post in January. “This has been the best proposal for this area that has been brought to me and I am very impressed with the amount of conservation proposed, restoration of the creek and reduction in the impervious surfaces.” The proposed project is still in the early stages but has already seen significant numbers of questions and push-back from citizens including an online petition that has seen more than 2,800 signatures with the goal of stopping the proposed rezoning of the property. “Other than AJ Capital, who is for this project?” one citizen asked during the Feb. 27 meeting. Murphy responded that she has heard positive feedback from some residents, but said that some of those in favor of the project “don’t feel comfortable speaking up” due to the amount of public criticism of the project. All of the public feedback during the Feb. 27 meeting was either in opposition or at least questioned the project and it’s backers, but Murphy said that she wants to hear as much feedback from citizens as the discussions and project continues to be debated and adjusted. “We know what we’re up against every day,” one longtime resident said during the traffic discussion portion of Sunday’s meeting. “This is a distressed corridor -You’re not doing anything to make it less distressed, if anything it’s going to make it more, and that’s our big concern.”
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