October 2026 edition
What changed for builders in September
Fifteen items from Metro and the counties around it. A few lines on what each means for your project, and a link to the record.
New state stormwater permit for construction sites
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If you're filing a new NOI for a site that disturbs an acre or more, or a smaller lot inside a larger subdivision plan, you file under the 2026 permit, which runs through September 2031.
If you already have coverage under the 2021 permit, TDEC's page does not yet say how it carries over. Ask your civil engineer before your next submittal.
Read the TDEC construction stormwater permit →
Gallatin replaced its zoning code and map
If you own or are buying land in Gallatin, a new zoning ordinance and map took effect on adoption. Check the new map before you lay out lots or size a house.
If you had a zoning application accepted as complete but not yet adopted, it converts to the matching new district when Council adopts it, under the ordinance's conversion table (Exhibit D).
Read the Gallatin Council packet, Sept 15 →
Four Nashville corridors lose their transit-growth designation
If you're planning a density rezoning or SP on Woodmont Blvd, parts of Harding Pl, Sidco Dr and Powell Ave, or two stretches of Old Hickory Blvd, you lose the transit-corridor policy argument. Most transition areas along them, about 800 feet wide, become neighborhood policy.
If you already have zoning there, nothing changes. Metro says no zoning or entitlement moves.
Read the Sept 24 Planning Commission staff report →
File by Dec 16 for the first 2027 Planning Commission hearing
If you want a rezoning or SP heard on January 28, 2027, the filing deadline is noon on December 16, and your documents must be in the portal 24 hours before that.
If you're aiming for this year, the remaining 2026 meetings are October 22, November 12 and December 10.
Read the 2027 Planning Commission schedule →
East Bank: street grid set for 72-acre Wasioto Bend
If you're looking at land between Korean Veterans Blvd, Shelby Ave, I-24 and the river, Metro has now set the street grid, street classifications and rights-of-way there. Site plans will be measured against them.
If you're hoping it adds development rights, it does not. The staff report says the plan creates no entitlements.
Read the Sept 24 Planning Commission staff report →
Planning Commission overrules staff on three infill cases
If you're facing a staff disapproval on an infill lot or two-family rezoning, the hearing still counts. The Commission approved a Bowling Ave resubdivision with compatibility exceptions and recommended Southview Dr and Haynes St rezonings, all against staff.
If you read this as a policy shift, it is one meeting, and the two rezonings still go to Council.
Read the Sept 24 action agenda →
Council bill would track the combined traffic impact of development
If you're planning a rezoning or a larger project in Davidson County, BL2026-1526 directs NDOT to build a tool that tracks the cumulative traffic effects of developments and rezonings, to program regional fixes and capital projects.
If it passes, watch how the tool is defined. It could shape the traffic studies and off-site improvements asked of individual projects.
Read the Oct 6 Council agenda →
Rivergate: infrastructure paid for by special assessments
If you control a large site outright, this is a live example of a state-law tool: an infrastructure development district that pays for public infrastructure through special assessments on the district's own parcels.
If you're weighing the same approach, read the terms of RS2026-2294. The owner of every parcel, Rivergate MP Holdings LLC, petitioned for it.
Read the RS2026-2294 in Legistar →
Three large residential rezonings go to Council
If you're tracking new supply, the three are 1065 Barnes Rd (109 multifamily units and 78 lots on 55.6 acres), 300 McCann St (311 units) and 5683 Cane Ridge Rd (68 units). All were recommended 7-0 with conditions.
If your SP sets exterior material standards, note that each of these three carries a separate bill authorizing its material restrictions.
Read the Oct 6 Council agenda →
Room-by-room rentals would count as boarding houses
If you're planning by-the-room leases in a single-family or two-family zone, BL2026-1520 would close that path. Rooms rented on separate leases would count as a boarding house, which those zones do not allow.
If you're in a zone that allows boarding houses, Metro's staff report says they fall under the commercial building code (IBC), not the residential code (IRC). Price that in.
Read the Sept 24 Planning Commission staff report →
Child care zoning rewrite
If your mixed-use or neighborhood-center project plans a child care tenant, BL2026-1433 would replace "day care" uses with "child care" and "adult day services" and change the related conditions.
If you're committing a site plan to that use, confirm the final conditions after the vote.
Read the Oct 6 Council agenda →
Williamson County: new Arrington Village zoning district
If you own or are buying land around Arrington, read the proposed Arrington Village (AV) standards. The same hearing would apply the new district on the zoning map (case 6-2026-603).
If you want to speak, sign up between 5:00 and 5:30 p.m. before the meeting.
Battle Road: 112-lot subdivision deferred again
If you're tracking large single-family subdivisions in Southeast Nashville, Courtyards at Battle Grove (82 acres at 1002 and 1010 Battle Rd, AR2a to SP, 112 lots) has now been deferred six times without a public hearing. Next date: October 22.
Read the Sept 10 Planning Commission minutes (draft) →
Metro: urban-core zoning no longer matches the market
If you build Downtown, in Midtown, on Music Row or on the East Bank, Metro's report says SPs and height modifications have become standard because by-right zoning is out of step with the market and adopted plans.
If your projects rely on those tools, follow the next phase. Its scenarios could change districts, standards, approvals and the transfer-of-development-rights program. Nothing changes yet.
Read the Metro Planning release →
Countywide ecological strategy under way
If you build on wooded or stream-side land in Davidson County, watch this one. It is Metro's first countywide ecological planning effort since the 2011 Open Space Plan, and it is set to produce conservation priorities and policy recommendations by fall 2027.
If you're permitting now, nothing changes today.
Read the Metro Planning announcement →
| Oct 6 | Metro Council: BL2026-1526, RS2026-2294, three rezonings, BL2026-1520, BL2026-1433 |
| Oct 8 | Williamson County Regional Planning Commission: Arrington Village |
| Oct 22 | Metro Planning Commission: Battle Road and others |
| Nov 12 | Metro Planning Commission |
| Dec 10 | Metro Planning Commission |
| Dec 16 | Noon filing deadline for the January 28, 2027 Planning Commission |
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