Nashville council kills latest downtown flood wall and protection system proposal

For the fourth consecutive year, the Metro Council voted late Tuesday night to kill a controversial proposal to build a $125 million downtown flood protection system anchored by a flood wall.

This time, it might have sidelined the proposal for the foreseeable future.

By a voice vote, the council voted to eliminate the flood wall from city's capital improvements budget put forward by Mayor David Briley. As vice mayor last fall, Briley had pushed for an up-or-down vote to settle the long-debated issue.

The latest rejection came despite a refocused effort by the Metro Water Services department to reframe the project by shedding light on millions of dollars in flood mitigation efforts Metro has made in neighborhoods across the county while downtown has gone neglected.

It didn't work, as council members raised the same concerns they posed in the past.

"Countywide, this is wildly unpopular," said At-large Councilman Bob Mendes. "I don't have a poll to back it up, but my sense over the last six months in talking to people in all parts of the county is that this is less popular than transit was, and that went down 2-to-1."

Mendes said he doesn't "quibble with the science behind what the water department is proposing" or that it would benefit downtown landowners. Instead, he said the project represents a further "breach in the social compact" where citizens are seeing too much money being spent downtown.

"This flood wall, to many of the citizens of Davidson County, has not been about the science," he said. "It's about whether the spending of nine figures downtown figures is worth it."

The project would involve a flood wall between the Cumberland River and First Avenue, consisting of a 2,100 foot-long removable wall on one stretch that would take eight hours to erect, and 900 feet of permanent wall. The most expensive component would be a $65 million pumping station.

Although Tuesday's defeat in the council wasn't unexpected, the vote to kill the flood wall came one week earlier than anticipated.

►More: Why Nashville's latest push for a downtown flood wall might be the last for a long time

Councilwoman Karen Johnson — following a three-hour public hearing on the city's ongoing budget issues — unexpectedly made a motion to take up an amendment sponsored by Mendes to remove the flood wall from the city's capital improvements budget, which works as a six-year wish list of capital projects.

Mendes had originally planned to push his amendment next week, when the capital improvements budget will be considered on a final of three votes.

The downtown flood protection system and flood wall was inspired by Nashville's devastating May 2010 flood.

After it was first unveiled by former Mayor Karl Dean in 2015, critics have said more should be devoted to prevent flooding in other parts of Davidson County rather than an expensive flood wall downtown.

But Metro Water Services Director Scott Potter sought to re-frame the debate over the past year, holding a series of community meetings to reintroduce the project and characterizing downtown as a neighborhood just like others — one he's said is his need of attention.

►More: Amid budget shortfall, are Nashville's financial incentives still worth the cost?

Potter has said downtown has received none of the $143.2 million in local, state and federal funding that has gone toward new projects across Davidson County to protect against flooding since 2002. More than $46 million has gone to purchase and demolition homes in flood-prone neighborhoods, a process that isn't an option downtown.

But Potter had few allies in the council on Tuesday.

"This flood wall has yet to be vetted out the proper way that we had requested," said Councilwoman Jacobia Dowell of Antioch. "What they did not do is explain to the people out in the community how they're going to protect their properties from being flooded."

Funding would have come from the water department's bonding for capital projects, which is backed by water department ratepayers. About $1.90 to $2 per each bill would have been allocated to the downtown flood protection system.

The defeat of the flood wall comes as the council is grappling with a revenue shortfall that could prevent cost-of-living pay increases to Metro workers and the ability to fully fund the school board's request for education funding.

However, the money previously earmarked for the flood wall can only be used for water department purposes.

That fact wasn't lost on supporters of the project.

"I don't want anyone to get disillusioned that if we vote this down that all of a sudden there's going to be more money for schools or for pay raises or something like that," Councilman Jeremy Elrod said. "This is only money that can come from Metro Water Services."

Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236, jgarrison@tennessean.com and on Twitter @joeygarrison.