Update. What's on the Council agenda for May 3rd: Saving Tennessee State Prison, banning smoking at Ascend,

The Metro Council meets Tuesday night May 3rd  at 6:30PM.  Council meetings are televised live on Comcast Channel 3 or the next day one can catch it on the Metro YouTube channel and I report the meetings here. I will summarize the meetings and give a time stamp notation pointing out the good parts, if there are any good parts. Usually there is no good debate or grandstanding or tension or clever parliamentary maneuvering. Most Council meeting are real boring but I watch then so you don't have to. If you want to know more about the operation of city government, most of the important decision are made at the Budget and Finance Committee meetings and you learn more from watching a meeting of B&F than you do the Council meeting itself.

It you want to know what will be before the Council, you need a copy of the agenda and the agenda analysis.  If you are going to watch the council meeting without a copy of the agenda, you won't know what the Council is voting on and you will be wasting your time.  Here is a link to the agenda and the staff analysis.

I am only listing those items that I think are significant or are important to me.  I may miss something, so if you really care, you may want to read the agenda for yourself.  There are 16 bills on public hearing, most of them zoning bills and, for the most part, those bore me and I don't even attempt to gain an understanding of the pros and cons of every zoning bill.  I do not generally watch meetings of the Planning Commission either, so I am not the most informed person in Metro regarding zoning issues. Most zoning bills impact only nearby residence, so while a particular zoning issue may be very important to a few people, I am only going to point out those that I know to have created a lot of controversy or have an impact beyond one small neighborhood.

Bills on Public Hearing

BILL NO. BL2016-199   in council member Sharon Hurt's district  applies a Contextual Overlay District to 232 acres. The provision for a  Contextual Overlay was established in August 2014 as a zoning tool that can be applied to residential neighborhoods. The Contextual Overlay applies design standards necessary to maintain and reinforce established form or character of residential development in a particular area. A Contextual Overlay must apply throughout the residential portion of a complete block face. A Contextual Overlay does not affect the base zoning of a property. In essence this mean you cannot build something too far outside of the norm of what is already there. The specifics are not attached and I am not sure how the public would know the specifics of what they were getting with the Contextual Overlay.

The Castle, Tennessee State Prison

BILL NO. BL2016-201   would apply a Neighborhood Landmark Overlay District to property located at 6404 and 6410 Centennial Boulevard.  This is the old State prison.  This legislative act is one step in a process to try and find a way to save the old building.   

None of the resolutions appear controversial. 

There are 13 bills on First Reading, but I don't read them until they get to second reading. First Reading is a formality to get them on the agenda.

Bill on Second reading:

BILL NO. BL2016-205 would prohibit smoking at the outdoor Ascent amphitheater.
BILL NO. BL2016-206  would authorize by permits private snow plow services. This applies to public property. Those providing this service on private drives or parking lots would not have to have a permit.  An example of where this might apply is if an Homeowners Association wanted to contract with some one for snow removal. 

None of the bills on Third reading appear controversial.

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