Last week's first meeting was more or less a lecture on the tenents of sustainable development which is the foundation of the Planning department's Community Character Manual.
Before the meeting began, State Senator Douglas Henry voiced his appeal for changing the name of the community plan. The Senator went on to explain that the area encompassed in the community update inaccurately represents West Nashville. West Nashville at one time was its own city before it was annexed by the city of Nashville back at the turn of the 20th century. Senator Henry believes that name should be reserved for the area that actually IS West Nashville and should not include surrounding communities such as West Meade, Hillwood and Belle Meade. The Planning department granted the Senator's wish by asking those who attended the meeting to provide suggestions on a name change for the community in their feedback surveys.
Most of the meeting was focused on Executive Director of Planning, Rick Bernhardt's lecture on sustainable development. The information was a great precursor to the rest of the meetings because they give the community some insight into what Planning's overall goals are for Nashville. These goals will not only serve the needs of the present generation, but for generations to come.
For those of you that attended the first round of meetings that focused on the Charlotte Avenue/Richland Park DCDP, this next meeting will be very similar to the initial meeting for that process. Attendees will be split up into groups and sit around tables to discuss what they do and don't like about their particular community.
This meeting, more than any other, is where people from the community have the most input in driving what goes into the community plan update. Please make an effort to attend.
