We’ve got a great breakdown of last month’s Planning Commission minutes for you.

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The October 23 meeting set the stage for Nashville’s next wave of small scale housing reform. Two major text amendments related to the Housing and Infrastructure initiative moved forward. Several large multifamily rezonings were pushed to November 13. Two community plan amendments were approved that will open future mixed use nodes in Bordeaux and Hermitage. A significant SP in District 3 received approval. And an infill project in Germantown was deferred indefinitely (this one will really hurt this deal).

This report will outline some key decisions, trends, and finish with a summary table of all planning commission decisions at the end of the report.

Case: 2025Z-010TX-001
Status: Deferred to November 13
Impact: High

This text amendment resets height rules in R and RS districts and allows more two family development by right. It is one of the most important parts of the H and I package. The final vote lands in the next meeting. If you haven’t been following, the biggest change will bringing down height slightly but allowing 2 units by right in any minimum sized lot in the R districts. Previously, if you hadn’t been subdivided before 1980, you could only do duplexes on 25% of the lots. R districts are about to get much more dense.

Case: 2025Z-011TX-001
Status: Substitute approved
Impact: High

A more flexible and predictable DADU ordinance. Still includes owner-occupancy and form controls. A core gentle density tool for existing neighborhoods. This is going to be huge for approving DADUs through the whole USD! Nashville is joining its peers in allowing them in significantly more places.

Case: 2016SP-014-003
District 2
Approved with Conditions

A 34.7 acre SP with over 200k square feet of spec industrial for Brennan Investment Group. We covered this on last week’s newsletter!

Case: 2025SP-036-001
District 3
Approved With Conditions

Huge increase here in density. The Bell Road/Antioch neighborhood of Nashville keeps getting more units.

We have a really cool developer here that is a big signal of what’s coming to the area and is likely to be a great financing opportunity. If you do a little sleuthing in the app, you may be able to figure out who they are. If not, you’ll have to wait for next week’s newsletter!

Cases: 2025Z-016PR-001 and 2025Z-076PR-001

More than 14 acres of RM9 and RM15 zoning were pushed to November 13. These votes will determine how much multifamily gets through in Q4.

Staff leaned heavily on the Housing and Infrastructure framework. Their message was consistent. Nashville needs more small scale housing types, but it also needs clearer form standards to avoid bulk conflicts in R and RS districts.

There was also a strong focus on corridor activation. Both approved plan amendments cite sidewalks, transit and incremental commercial activity as reasons for the change. Here are the total outcomes from the meeting

4. District Activity Snapshot

District 2
New neighborhood center policy on West Trinity. MetroCenter mixed use zoning approved.

District 3
Large SP on Old Hickory approved.

District 9
63 unit SP deferred. Madison Station concept plan approved.

District 11
Small community center policy amendment approved.

District 16
RM15 rezoning deferred.

District 19
21 unit SP deferred indefinitely.

District 33
6.3 acres of RM9 deferred.

Across all districts, the real headline is the countywide legislation that will reshape how small scale development works citywide.

A long list of multifamily and SP cases was pushed to November 13. This includes:

This creates a compressed window where many unrelated cases will compete for attention at the next meeting.

CityScout will flag any applicant changes, conditions or district-level signals between now and then. Make sure you follow these cases in the app so you do not miss updates between newsletters.

This meeting was light on live public testimony due to the two step review process. Most public comment occurred at the September meeting.

The one item with clear feedback was the West Trinity plan amendment. Residents generally supported it and wanted more walkable commercial uses.

A few groups stood out based on their presence in the agenda:

These names show up frequently in rezoning and SP filings. They should stay on your professional radar.

If you want to track these firms across every project they touch, follow them in the CityScout app. Soon, each applicant, architect and owner gets their own profile so you can see who is working where.

This newsletter gives you the high level story.
The app gives you the live data.

Inside CityScout you can:

We monitor this data every day.
This newsletter will drop twice a month as a curated summary, but everything in it evolves between meetings.

If you want to know what is actually happening in Nashville development right now, check the CityScout app.

Questions, leads, or feedback? We want to hear from you.
Email the City Scout team at [email protected]

P.S.

Want to learn more about Nashville? Check out our latest zoning report at https://www.trycityscout.com/nashville-scouting-report/