The Council Debates Part II

Council Lady Tucker should be quoted again:

“We either need to be real with the people and say we’re either going to follow the plan or we’re not gonna follow the plan and there’s no need for you to come to the process.”

Then Councilman Jamie Isabel called for “previous question”. This means that no one else can make comments about this issue unless it is a point of order.

Then, they vote on “previous question”. In this instance AYE 19, No 15. You must have 2/3 vote to pass. So “previous question” failed. Thankfully!

So more discussion…
Mr. Coleman asks if the citizens had a chance to weigh in on this issue at the planning commission meeting.

The answer from Rick Bernhart (head of planning commission) was "yes".

At 4:00pm when most of us are at work.

Mr. Coleman then asked Loring if a community meeting was held, and Loring said, “White did hold community meetings.”


Hmm… that implies that more than one was held. We later found out that to serve as the "communtiy meeting" Mr. White and the developers rented a tent and put it beside the bait shop. The only notification was in “The News Herald”. The News Herald is a free paper that covers, Donelson, Hermitage and Old Hickory. It is not delivered to Hermitage Meadows, where I live, along with 115 other homeowners. The notification of the meeting was in the paper on the day of the meeting. Pastor David Taft told us that “The News Herald” was delivered to his church at 4:30pm the day of the meeting. The meeting was at 6:30pm. Too bad he didn’t have a chance to read it that day. Maybe he could have canceled his plans and attended the "community meeting."


Then, Coleman asked if Loring would consider to pass on 2nd (reading) and defer the 3rd reading to get some issues resolved.
Then, Loring tries to convince Colman that now is the time to pass this bill. He says that he’s been to the location of this proposed building many, many times and,

"it’s not a location that’s pedestrian friendly in the first place. It’s all business and doctor’s buildings and the hospital.”

Well, now I must STRONGLY disagree. The medical building will be in the back yard of these houses.

This picture speaks for itself.

Coleman suggests again to approve on 2nd and defer the 3rd reading. He explains that Loring and White could get with the community so that it wouldn’t seem like there was some unfairness.

Loring goes on again….

“I want to pass this on 2nd reading. There has been ample public hearings."

Coleman makes a motion to defer. It was seconded.

Then more discussion. Councilman Alexander asked if Loring had attended any of these community meetings.

“Only one...” Loring replied.

Alexander said,

“…I wish Councilman White would actually bring a bill up here that is not controversial in nature. I think it would disregard everything that they (us, the communtiy members) have mentioned if we move for approval."

Then Loring moved to table the motion of deferal and says,

“There’s a lot of work that has gone into this project. It’s not new and my understanding is that councilman White has had community meetings. And like I
said the planning commission approved this project. It’s located right in the heart of a medical district.” He goes on to say that “there’s no homes that I know of from Lebanon Road all the way to the interstate except for apartment houses…”

1. He's never had a community meeting where he properly alerted the community.

2. It is not located in the heart a fucking medical district!!!!! (I am getter madder each time I read these lies.

3. What about my home? What about Bobbie Forrest's home? What about the home with the swingset in the back yard? What about these homes, Mr. Loring? You've been here "many, many times" and you didn't see the rock house that Jane Garner lives in that's DIRECTLY Across the street from this lot?

Coleman comes back again and reiterates that in fairness let’s defer it.

“If it’s good now then it will be good at the next meeting.”

They voted. And it was defered.

Whew…. For my first council meeting that was a doozy!!

The Council Debates Part I

Mr. Loring was very adamant that the council should approve that night!!

Mr. Loring started out telling the council that:

“This location is a, in my opinion, a suitable location for this building, for this medical building. It is diagonally across the street from the Summit Medical Hospital….”

This is like saying that Nashville’s Hard Rock Café is diagonally across the street from the GEC (Nashville Arena). Then he goes on to tell about the other buildings around the area:

“…right directly across the street, almost directly, is a grocery store. Right next door is another commercial building. Diagonally across the other corner is the community center, the library and the police station. So this is all a commercial area. Going toward the Summit Hospital of course you have many buildings that house the orthopedic surgeons, the doctors, medical doctors, the eye clinics.”

First of all the grocery store has been there for something like 45 years. It is not a three story medical building.

Next door to Benson's is a small one story CPA firm.

The community center, police station and library are down the road--another analogy--this would be like saying that Tooties is "diagonally across" from the Big River Grill.

And, I can assure you that traveling from this property towards the Summit that there ar NO doctor's buildings in between.



Council Lady Tucker speaks and wants her vote of NO to be known:

"It really bothers me that over and over again we are seeing community plans made, developed by constituent participation and we look at them and say ‘Oh, but we’re going to disregard it in this instance because such and such needs to happen.’ If a community plan is developed and the people take their time to come out and develop it then we ought to honor it. It ought to be honored or it ought to not happen because it’s a farce and it’s almost like an old bait and switch game from what happens. If you are going to get something approved on one end and it meets the characteristics and qualifications for that approval and then we go on the other end as soon as it’s approved and change the format of it we’ve not really been completely truthful with the constituents…”

Tucker makes another great statement:

“We either need to be real with the people and say we’re either going to
follow the plan or we’re not gonna follow the plan and there’s no need for
you to come to the process.”

Amen!

Our side

Those that spoke against the three story building:

Bobbie Forrest
Hermitage Meadows
(across the street from the Church)

Me:
Cindy Endsley
Hermitage Meadows

David Taft
Minister for First Baptist Church
(right beside the proposed building)

Rick Arnold
His family owns a condo on Wistera Lane
(Directly across from the proposed building)

We all reiterated that the community plan was of value to us and that it should not be disregarded. Rick also spoke about the traffic situation that could become a major problem. It is already backed up during rush hours.

After both sides spoke the council debated.

Mr. Loring was very adamant that the council should approve that night!! I'll tell you all about it next.

On to the metro council

So now onto the metro council…. Here is an interesting fact: had it been disapproved at planning the council would have needed a larger vote (2/3, I believe), but since it was approved they only needed a majority.

Several community members including Bobbie Forrest, Minister David Taft (First Baptist Church of Hermitage—right beside the proposed building), and myself headed down to the courthouse for the second reading. The public may comment at the second reading. We had our notes outlined and were ready for a fight.

You can watch the metro council meeting here. For our section go to March 6, Part 10 and fast forward to 4:01.

It was my first council meeting. In fact, it was my first time in the courthouse. Had I not been so feisty, I may have enjoyed my new experience. It was quite interesting to see the process live. They move through bills quite quickly, however, we still waited some 2.5 hours to get to ours.

Our councilman, Harold White, wasn’t there. He was out for knee surgery. J.B. Loring was the co-sponsor of this bill. Just watch!! Loring keeps going on and on pleading for the council members to approve this bill. He was unrelenting. To me it looked like a last shot—like we can’t let the community get any kind of leg up. Like the community could totally screw it up for the developers. Like why do we have to listen to anything they say.

Oh just wait for the fun stories Loring tells!!! I’ll point them out soon!

The people in favor of the bill get to speak first. Those that spoke in favor:

Tom White
Representing the Applicant
Tune, Entrekin, & White, P.C.

Pauline Gilson
She lives in Hermitage, but not in our area.
I think she works for one of the interested parties.

Travis Pardue
The doctor who wants to build the three story building.

Russell Pitzer
Civil Engineer for the project

They all spoke on behalf of approving the additional sq. footage so that they could have a three story building.

Travis Pardue said:
“We have designed this medical office building with the patient in mind, trying to be more patient friendly.”

Yeah, but what about the neighborhood that you are disrupting? How about being neighborhood friendly?

Travis Pardue said:
“Presently, we have actually a greater demand for medical office space than we are able to even supply with this building.”

According to a letter we received from the COO of Summit Hospital, there is 66,000 sq. ft. of rental space available at the hospital. Hmmmmmm. That sounds like a contradiction to me.

Let me say that I am not against development. However, there are proper (and courteous) ways of moving into a neighborhood—especially if it’s not your own. The developers, along with the councilman, should speak to the neighborhood FIRST—not try to sneak it under their noses.

As a community we feel like we are being disregarded. Why does it always have to be about money and profit? What about the greater good? What about making it work for all parties?

The area in question

The area in question is 2.56 acres of undeveloped property. The land is between a one story church and a one story bait store. Directly across the street is a rock house with a historic overlay, which means it can’t be touched. Around the area are houses, condos, apartments and small commercial establishments. The property buyers (Dr. Travis Pardue and his posse) want to put a three story medical building on the said land. I will have pictures soon. You won’t believe your eyes! A three story building will look totally out of place in this area, not to mention traffic is already problem on this two lane road.

Okay, I’m jumping ahead…. I just get frustrated….

In 2005, the owner of the property, Merry Land Holdings, LLC, requested an amendment to replace the 11,700 square feet of office, with 31,920 Sq. Ft. of office and retail space. The request was approved, and the property was also rezoned from RM15 (Mult-Family Residential) to MUL (Mixed Use Limited). The approved plan at that time met the Community Plan Policy (Hermitage Neighborhood Design Plan) and proposed a small professional building with retail on the first floor and office on the second floor. The building was to be situated close to Central Pike to help create the pedestrian oriented center that the Community Plan envisioned.

I am extremely mad at myself because this is when we should have begun the fight.

On January 25, 2007 the property owner requested an additional 3,280 sq. ft. and proposed for the development of a 35,200 Sq. Ft. medical office building. A Metro Planning Commission staff member researched the request, history of the land, and the Community Plan Policy. At the Planning Commission Meeting the staff reviewer recommended disapproval of the additional square footage on the basis that it did not meet the Hermitage Detailed Neighborhood Design Plan. The staff reviewer cautioned that the new plan “proposes a car oriented building that is separated from the public spaces by a parking lot and surrounded by parking lots on all sides.”

After debate at the planning commission meeting—even though staff recommendation was to disapprove—the Metro Planning Commission approved the additional Sq. ft. (6-4).

A very good place to start

So I'll start from the very beginning, which (according to Fraulein Maria) is a very good place to start.

Back in 2004, over 300 residents, business owners and the like came together to update the Donelson-Hermitage Community Plan. The metro planning commission adopted the plan in October of 2004. According to the metro planning website:

Community plans establish a clear vision of the kind of place
the community wants to be in the future balanced with sound
planning principles to accommodate growth.


Inside the Donelson-Hermitage Community Plan they created the Hermitage Detailed Neighborhood Design Plan, which is “for smaller neighborhoods in the community that members believe need more study.”

Over the last three years, the Donelson-Hermitage Community Plan, according to my sources in the community, has been continually overlooked. Meaning, the plan that over 300 residents spent some five months creating has been ignored.

WHY? Now, I am a sensible person, and I know that things happen and plans get changed, but continually?

The battle

We (our neighborhood) have been battling the construction of a three-story medical building. It will be located on the corner of Dodson Chapel and Central Pike in Hermitage. The battle has been on for several months and believe me it is very frustrating.

It doesn't make sense to me why our mostly residential neighborhood must be infiltrated by large commercial establishments. Especially a medical building--when there is a large hospital down the road with plenty of adequate space. And, why does it have to be so big????

Stay tuned for the full story!!!