Joey Garrison

USA Today Network - Tennessee

Call it a win for sidewalks and Nashvillians who want more of them.

The Metro Council took action Tuesday that will significantly increase the number of developers in Nashville — particularly homebuilders — who are required to provide sidewalks during new construction projects.

By a unanimous voice vote, the council gave final approval to legislation that gets rid of a loophole in Davidson County that has allowed builders of new single-family homes and duplexes in neighborhoods throughout Nashville to not provide sidewalks. These standards currently only apply to residential subdivisions.

The ordinance doesn't mandate new sidewalks be provided for all single-family homes and duplexes built in Nashville, but the policy will stretch across much of Davidson County including secondary streets in suburban neighborhoods that have historically lacked sidewalks.

On the council floor, Green Hills-area Councilwoman Angie Henderson, the bill sponsor, thanked a long list of advocates and supporters of the sidewalks cause. She said she's learned over the years that the only way to make Nashville truly more walkable is to change the city's policies.

"Every person is a pedestrian, and the ability to walk where you need to go is a fundamental civic right," Henderson said.

Rather than building sidewalks, under the new policy developers could choose to instead pay an in-lieu contribution fee to the city that would go toward a citywide fund to build sidewalks in Nashville. But that option will no longer be available if there is an existing sidewalk on the property, on the block or an abutting property — therefore sharply limiting the use of the fee.

The Homebuilders Association of Tennessee has opposed the legislation. Because the ordinance affects just one property at a time, some developers have labeled the ordinance “sidewalks to nowhere." Henderson has rejected that characterization, calling the roads affected in her proposal “strategic and intentional.”

Read related stories:

Nashville considers new sidewalk requirements for developers

Nashville's upcoming sidewalk, bikeway needs top $800M

New sidewalk requirements for Nashville builders advance in Metro Council

The new sidewalk requirements picked up recent endorsements from Mayor Megan Barry and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. The latter called an expanded and improved sidewalks network “part of the solution to Davidson County’s transportation challenges.”

Early on the in the debate over the bill, the chamber had expressed some concerns. But in a letter of support to the council on Monday, Jennifer Carlat, the chamber’s vice president of Metropolitan policy, credited Henderson with making changes to the bill pushed by the chamber and for being willing to monitor its implementation.

Greater Nashville Realtors Inc. had also shown some hesitance, but the group’s board President Scott Troxel said they support the effort to increase sidewalks in Nashville. In a letter to the council Tuesday, Troxel nevertheless outlined some “cautions” for Nashville to consider with the new policy.

They include claims of new delays on the closing on homes because of design and codes considerations for sidewalks; a potential negative impact on affordable housing and low-income owners because of the cost of in-lieu fees; and what GNR calls disproportionately high in-lieu fees for properties that are on corner lots.

“We ask that Metro Council members would study the issues raised here and be open to discussion as any unintended consequences play out as the bill is implemented,” Troxel’s letter reads.

The new law will go into effect July 1.

It will require that sidewalks be provided in front of all new single-family home or duplex construction on any street in the Urban Zoning Overlay, which includes downtown and surrounding neighborhoods.

The same requirement will also extend to all newly built single-family home or duplexes built on “major and collector streets” in the Urban Services District, which includes neighborhoods in the county’s inner core, and secondary streets that are a quarter mile from neighborhood “centers” as defined by the city’s NashvilleNext planning guide. This latter mandate would affect many of Nashville’s suburban neighborhoods.

For larger multifamily and commercial development, the bill would require that sidewalks be provide on all “major and collector streets,” streets within the USD or secondary streets that are one-quarter mile away from neighborhood “centers.”

Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236 and on Twitter @joeygarrison.