Council to decide fate of fairground at September 4th meeting.

The Tuesday September 4th Council meeting will most likely seal the fate of the future of the

fairground. At issues is the final approval of the MLS soccer deal which includes essentially giving ten acres of fairground property to the stadium developer.  There are several pieces of legislature on the agenda related to the soccer deal.  The bill which has the best chance of killing the ten acre giveaway and saving the fairground is Bill BL2018-1289.

Bill BL2018-1289 approves the demolition of certain buildings and structures necessary for the construction of a new Major League Soccer Stadium at the Fairgrounds Nashville, and amending Title 5 of the Metropolitan Code to impose a privilege tax on the sale of tickets to events at the new Major League Soccer stadium. It passed on Second Reading by a vote of 24 to 7 with 8 abstentions and one not voting. To pass on third reading, the bill must get 27 votes. All of the other pieces of legislation can pass by a simple majority.

Other pieces of legislation concerning the MLS stadium and the fairgrounds are these:

Resolution RS2018-1373 calls for a county-wide referendum election to ascertain the will of the people regarding the issuance of general obligation bonds by Metro for the construction of a new Major League Soccer Stadium at the Fairgrounds. I doubt this can get a majority based on the way the voting has gone on other bills related to the fairgrounds. However, the Council has been under a lot of pressure to vote for or against the MLS fairground giveaway deal, so passing the buck to the voters may appear attractive to some. You may recall that the decision to build the Titans stadium was subject to public referendum.  

 Bill BL2018-1291 on Third Reading declares the ten acres to be given away as surplus property and approves a ground lease for the property. The fair board has already declared this property as surplus. This passed second reading by a vote of 24 in favor, 9 opposed and 6 abstentions.

Bill BL2018-1293 approves a privilege tax on the sale of tickets to events at the new Major League Soccer stadium. This was deferred at the request of the sponsor last council meeting and will likely be withdrawn or deferred again and allowed to die. Bill 1289 above also imposes the privilege tax. To impose such a tax requires 27 votes.

An additional blog post will address other legislation on the September 4th Council agenda.

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