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City leaders discuss future of Nashville's East Bank in preliminary planning meeting

Nashville leaders plan for the future of the city's East Bank
Posted at 10:24 PM, Feb 04, 2021
and last updated 2021-02-04 23:32:24-05

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — It’s the first step down a long road of redeveloping Nashville's East Bank. In a virtual meeting, city leaders discussed the future of the East Bank's public spaces, infrastructure, and mobility.

“We’ve got sort of an opportunity here to build essentially a new grid for the area to connect existing roadways to provide good vehicular connection as well as bike paths and good sidewalks,” said District 5 council member, Sean Parker.

Part of the plan includes developing a multi-modal transportation system and reevaluating current roadways. Council members say expanding housing and job opportunities is also crucial. "We’re starting to see a lot of interest in development over there. It is absolutely the right time to look at this and to come up with a comprehensive plan for street networks, for connectivity, for infrastructure investments,” said Parker.

A center-point of the community is of course Nissan stadium - the home of the Tennessee Titans. “Our vision would be to really create something that’s transformative around our stadium and that means something with mixed uses, something that is a 365-day vibrant community,” said the team's Senior Vice President of Business Affairs & Chief Legal Officer, Adolpho Birch.

But transforming the area will come with challenges.

“This site has so many constraints on it from the river, from floodways, railroads, oil pipelines, roads, highways- it has so many constraints on it,” said District 5 council member, Brett Withers.

Although the virtual planning meeting was the first for the project, it will be one of many future opportunities for the public to give input.

“I really hope that it just looks like a community because right now it’s, at best, a huge parking lot with some medium-size trees in it and I’m hoping it’s a place that people live, work, go for entertainment,” said Withers.

According to the city's website, the next steps include a kickoff meeting, a week-long design workshop, and a draft open house event.