The Nashville Board of Zoning Appeals is currently considering a request for a street variance (Case 2026-140) at 2616 Tiffany Drive to convert a single-family home into a commercial Montessori school serving up to 137 children. This proposed variance seeks to waive Metro’s minor-street infrastructure requirements, which could have significant repercussions for our community, and it is important that we make our voices heard to prevent any negative impacts.

We urge the Board of Zoning Appeals to DENY this variance based on the following critical infrastructure, safety, and legal impacts:

• Inadequate Infrastructure: Our quiet residential street was never designed to function as commercial school drop-off and pickup corridors. If this street does not meet Metro's baseline minor-street safety rules for a school, those rules should not be waived. A 137-student operation introduces massive traffic surges and gridlock that will overflow directly onto Eastland and Rosebank Avenue, blocking neighborhood driveways at critical times of the day.
• Critical Pedestrian Danger: Tiffany Drive also lacks sidewalks and serves as a primary, heavily-used pedestrian and bicycle corridor into Shelby Park and Shelby Bottoms. Forcing intense school traffic onto a narrow roadway shared daily by walking families, runners, and cyclists creates an immediate, severe safety crisis.
• No Hardship Justification: The property was built as a residence in 2017 and remains fully functional and highly livable as one. Metro's variance standard strictly requires a legal hardship arising from an exceptional physical condition of the land itself—not one that is self-imposed. A buyer's business model or commercial preference for a particular residential site does not meet this legal threshold.
• Environmental & Flooding Hazards: This property has known floodplain constraints. Introducing massive impervious surfaces and intense traffic threatens local stormwater management, drainage capacity, and the delicate ecosystem bordering Shelby Park that neighborhood wildlife depends on.
  We urge the Nashville Board of Zoning Appeals to thoroughly review these severe negative impacts at the upcoming September 17, 2026 hearing. Decisions must reflect the long-term safety, health, and infrastructure standards of our community rather than an applicant's desire to bypass existing protective codes.

 TO OUR COMMUNITY — IMPORTANT NEXT STEPS TO WIN THIS FIGHT:

1. Sign this petition!
2. Send Your Own Email: Signing this petition alone may not be enough. Please send your own personal letter of opposition directly to BZA@nashville.gov by Thursday, September 10th. Be sure to explicitly cite Case 2026-140 in the subject line. Note - Its very important to keep our fight about the street variance and not the school. The street variance is what this is all about and if that gets denied there can be no school.
3. Pack the Room on September 17th: If you are able, please attend the public hearing in person on Thursday, September 17, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. It will be held in the Sonny West Conference Center at the Howard Office Building (700 President Ronald Reagan Way). A strong physical presence in the courtroom shows the Board that our neighborhood means business!