NashvilleNext and its impact on community/subarea plans - Subarea plans changed with no neighborhood input.

This was posted to the Nashvilleneighborhoods google group by Tish Bolian who is a neighborhood leader in the Hillwood community. I think her view represents the view of many who have been involved in the NashvilleNext process.

From Tish Bolian:

By now, I am sure that all of you are more than keenly aware of
NashvilleNext and many issues involving it and the extraordinary timeframe
for responding or seeing any changes. I have been to quite a number of the
NashvilleNext meetings, responded to surveys, gone to presentations, talked
to staff, etc. Even though I have done that, I learned quite by happenstance
through someone plodding through documents here in our neighborhood that the planning department has totally changed our Subarea Plans (now
"community Plans") and then we are to refer to 2 huge massive 4 in. binders
for answers to land use and other applicable issues regarding our
neighborhoods and areas of concern.  

If you recall, they promised us allthat when NashvilleNext was complete, they would get back to updating the remainder of all of the subarea plans. Now, they are updating them for us with no heads up and no neighborhood involvement into that process and basically making NashvilleNext (the vision of Nashville for the next 25 years) include NashvilleNow (our subarea plans they now call Community Plans).

I am more than a bit concerned about the impact to all of us and our
neighborhoods, hears at planning, BZA, the council, etc. I just wanted all
to be sure they were aware of this. Time for input was just at 1 month
though they will accept comment into this week. The community had 4 weeks to respond what they worked on for 3 years (with several deadline extensions for their process). I am so very concerned re this and just wanted to be sure all were aware.  
 
Trish (Hillwood)

We are having NashvilleNext crammed down out throats with no opportunity for input! And, without knowing what is in it. The planners will claim x thousand people participated in the process and it was three years in the making. The truth is, after the plan was written they gave people one month to understand the plan and how it effects their community and to comment.  One would have to read all 1,700 boring technical pages of it and be well-versed in the jargon to have a clean understanding of the plan. The plan will be approved by the Planning Commission; it does not have to go to the Council for approval.  The usual community organizers are not raising a stink about this process because they probably like what is in the plan. The professional or semi-professional community organizers do not necessarily have the same interest as regular neighborhood leaders despite the often times successful tactic of coopting neighborhood leaders.

I myself am primarily concerned about other metro issues and not planning and zoning, so I have not read the full 1,700 pages and studied it, but I hope neighborhood leaders rise up and call their councilmen and ask their councilman to stop the planning commission from adopting this NashvilleNext as the city's planning document until there has been a systematic opportunity for neighborhood input, very similar to the sub-area planning process. This does not pass the smell test.

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