What is a Special Exception?

Last night we had a community meeting on a Special Exception Permit application by the West Nashville Heights Church of Christ. The post above will provide you with information about this meeting. Here, I am going to try and explain what a Special Exception is.

Many years ago, the Metro Council delegated some of its land use decision making to the Board of Zoning Appeals. The council essentially said that if certain land uses - churches, schools, day care centers, recreation centers, cultural centers - were able to meet a set of conditions then the Board of Zoning Appeals can allow these uses in residential areas. The decision making on whether one of these uses can locate in a neighborhood moved from being a political decision of Council to a legal one of the BZA.

When to Board of Zoning Appeals hears one of these cases, it is the burden of the applicant to establish whether or not they have met all the conditions set out in the Metro Code. An applicant has no right to this permit unless the BZA is satisfied that they meet the conditions. There are two types of conditions for a Special Exception Permit - general and use specific. The general conditions can be found at 17.16.150 of the Metro Code and include things like Design and Architectural Compatibility, Historic Preservation, Traffic Impact and Integrity of Adjacent Areas. Conditions specific to a particular land use like church, cultural center, day care, etc can be found in the Metro Code beginning at 17.16.160. Relevant to this discussion are the conditions imposed on a religious institution and those can be found on 17.16.170 E.

At a BZA hearing, the Board will begin by opening the public hearing. The applicant will present their plan and an explanation as to how they meet the necessary criteria. The Board then allots time for any opponents to the application. These hearings can get a bit tense. Often times, residents of a neighborhood were unaware that their residential zoning allowed Special Exception uses until the little red signs showed up on their street. Some neighborhood residents think that if they appeal to their Council person, a Special Exception can be blocked similar to an undesirable re-zoning proposal. This is not the case. While the BZA is respectful of our opinions it is not the only factor they consider as they weigh the merits of an application.

Special Exceptions for religious institutions can be especially thorny because constitutional concerns may develop should the religious institution be unreasonably hindered from land use approval. Nonetheless, a neighbor or a neighborhood adjacent to a Special Exception proposal can and should object when the proposal does not fit comfortably within the community. If that is the case, the opponents should come armed with their own data including but not limited to traffic impact studies and/or property appraisals.

One of the nicer things about this process is the BZA's broad authority to set conditions on the Special Exception. These conditions can include limitations on hours of operation, extraordinary setbacks, permit expiration dates, periodic compliance review, limitations on accessory uses, limitations on activities in certain areas of the property, etc. The purpose of these conditions is to mitigate or remove concerns from the codes and zoning departments, the traffic and parking departments, the BZA and concerned neighbors.

In the end, the BZA will weigh the evidence, establish conditions and make a decision much like a panel of judges do. A decision by the BZA can be appealed on a writ of certiori to Chancery Court.

Crime, traffic and Captain Mickey Miller

I had a very nice meeting with the West Precinct Captain, Mickey Miller yesterday. Joining us was Keith Newcomb of the Hillwood neighborhood. Recently, we have had a spate of larcenies - mostly the theft of yard equipment and loose change from automobiles. We also have a number of drivers, especially those who captain dump and cement trucks, who like to drive like bats out of hell down Davidson Road.

West Precinct is one of the best in Nashville but it is HUGE. It has the second largest land area and the largest population. It takes in the land area from the county line to the inner loop and includes neighborhoods like West Meade, Hillwood, Sylvan Park, Richland, Central, Whitland, Belmont Hillsboro, Oak Hill, Forest Hills, Green Hills, and Berry Hill. The West Precinct is broken into zones. The 23rd District has part of two zones; 27 and 35.

Each zone has but one patrol. That is one patrol car to cover the area from White Bridge to Old Hickory and from Charlotte to Harding Road/Highway 100. So District 23 is sort of like the well behaved sibling of distruptive child. When there is a serious problem that needs attending, the patrol will be diverted from the assigned zone. This diversion is probably not as much of an issue here as it might be in other understaffed areas. We have a low crime rate and when one occurs it is rarely serious. Plus, the low density residential, the large lawns and deep setbacks make patrols a little less effective than they are other places like Belmont Hillsboro and Hillsboro West End.

Don't misunderstand me. Like the rest of Metro PD, the West Precinct is short patrol and traffic officers. We need more feet on the street. I plan to support Chief Serpas efforts to make that happen.

That's the background so back to the problem at hand. We need two neighborhood watch groups; one for Hillwood and Hillwood Estates, and one for West Meade, particularly the area between Brook Hollow and Davidson. There is simply no replacement for people living in houses keeping their eyes peeled for suspicious or abnormal behavior. Until we can establish these neighborhood watch groups, we need people to report all actual and criminal activity. If the police don't know they won't allocate the necessary recources.

On the Davidson Road traffic issue. Captain Miller will assign enforcement to encourage slower driving. As a result of this enforcement action, speeding will likely get better and Captain Miller will reassign those officers. He will need to know when it becomes a problem again so they can go back to enforcement. I am going to ask Traffic and Parking to look at lowering the speed limit for trucks only. I'll let you know how that goes.

Does Anyone Else Remember "Read My Lips?"

Yesterday, I received a direct mail piece from Bob Clement promising me that he would not raise my property taxes. He went on to imply that Karl Dean, having made no such promise, would not be so nice. For the record, Karl Dean, has pretty much made the same promise.

I suddenly had flashbacks to the late 1980's. Remember George Bush the First? "Read My Lips, No New Taxes?" As soon as he was elected and peered into the morass known as the Federal Budget, he realized he had done a really stupid thing. Faced with just two options, raise taxes or cut the budget, he chose the former. The rest, they say, is history. George Bush I was the only one term president in many years.

So, what is going on here? Are we going to see a careful parsing of words in a couple years? "I said that I would not raise property taxes but I didn't say I would not ask the Council to raise them." Or, are we going to see major cuts? There is no question that if you wrestle some of the more difficult budget problems to the ground like the $50 million dollar subsidy for the Hospital Authority you can avoid asking for additional revenue....for a while. There is also no question that you can avoid asking for addtional revenue by cutting all non-essential government services: Parks, Arts Commission, Human Relations Commission, Library, subsidies to the Mary Parrish Center, Adventure Science Center and the Symphony and fund only police, fire, health and schools.

But, if Clement thinks people leave Davidson County because of higher taxes, (They don't. They move to Williamson County for the (perceived) better schools and the wall to wall soccer fields) wait til he starts cutting the middle class perqs like Parks and Library.

Perhaps these two gentlemen are the first in years who just want to be mayor for 4 years.

Better Late than Not At All

My sister has been bugging me about starting a blog for over a year now. She's one of those blogging pioneers in California that the mainstream press first complained about and now tries to imitate. See http://www.spot-on.com/.

Well, it took a while but now we are up and running. This blog will try to keep residents of District 23 apprised of activities and events in the community. For you local government geeks, it will also include information about Council legislation and activities or antics, depending on your perspective.

So, we are off to the races.