The Fontanel Hotel Expansion Bill (BL2016-282) passed the Davidson County Metro Council. The bill needed 27 votes and the final count was 28 For, 8 Against, and 1 Abstention. The vote was required to be a roll call vote where each council member's vote is made public.

http://www.nashville.gov/mc/pdfs/roll_call_votes/bl2016_282.pdf

Please thank the council members who took the courageous stance to vote against commercial development in a rural, historic, and residential area.

Stay vigilant as the bill included requirements for an archaeological survey, the findings of which may change the course of the development.

1. Contact the Metro Nashville City Council and Mayor Barry. Tell them you opposed the Fontanel SP Expansion, Bill No. BL2016-282.  Click here to email your district councilperson. You may also choose “Entire Council” from the drop down menu.  Click here for a roster of contact info to call them directly. For Mayor Barry's office, contact Metro Council Liaison Joseph Woodson and Director Mayor's Office of Neighborhoods and Community Engagement Lonnell Matthews.
2. Sign this petition.
3. Forward it to your friends, family and share it on social media. We have 900 signatures. Let's get over a thousand!
4. Visit SaveWhitesCreek.com to get involved by joining our mailing list.

In 2015, Historic Nashville Inc. named the Whites Creek Rural Historic District one of the “Nashville 9 Most Endangered Properties”.

An ordinance to allow a 136 room hotel, 300 person convention center, and 150 space parking lot at the heart of the rural Whites Creek Historic District passed Nashville’s Metro Council on August 2, 2016. Metro Nashville Planning Department recommended disapproval of the proposal, calling it a tipping point for our community, inappropriate in its use and scale, out of character in its appearance and operations, and a negative precedent. The Metro Council Planning, Zoning, and Historical Committee voted to recommend disapproval, 5 for, 6 against.

Please help our community continue to fight off the large hotel development within Middle Tennessee’s ONLY National Register of Historic Places - Rural District. This idyllic 26 acre grassland meadow is in the heart of Whites Creek and is historically significant not only to Nashville, but includes a 5,000-6,000 year old Native burial mound. From Zachariah White farming corn here in 1779, predating the founding of Nashville, to the renowned hospitality of his widow, Lucinda “Granny” White, to The Trail of Tears, to tangling with the Jesse James Gang, this place anchors the little historic community of Whites Creek and this place matters. 

Why oppose this bill?

The Nashville Planning Commission and Planning Department have already unanimously recommended disapproval of the proposed Special Plan expansion for the hotel and convention center. On May 26, 2016 the Planning Commission also voted to limit the land use policy to no more than 5 residential lots on the bulk of this parcel and adopted T2 Rural guidelines for the remainder. Instead of relief for the community,  Metro Council and Mayor Barry overrode the decision of the Planning Commission as well as subverted the explicit design of NashvilleNext for the area.

Whites Creek was the most involved community during NashvilleNext process. With almost double the participation of the next most involved area, Whites Creek community members were unanimous (over 95%) in Preserving our Rural Character. Despite the consensus and deep commitment to preservation, Whites Creek was delayed out of NashvilleNext while the concerns of a handful of property owners were answered by the extensive cooperative development of original rural guidelines. These guidelines are being ignored and subverted by this proposed hotel and convention center.

This historic parcel is essential to the integrity of the rural character of downtown Whites Creek. The 26 acre grassland meadow is in the heart of Whites Creek. It defines and borders the little downtown, adjacent to historic homes like the Earthman House, an 1882 Eastlake cottage and original contributing structure to the Historic District. The Planning Department and Commission cited the hotel and convention center as a “negative precedent” and a “tipping point” for the fragile rural community. The proposed expansion is characterized as massive and “the loss of another rural property to development that is out of character and does not promote the rural community”,… as “expanding a business that caters mainly to tourists” and as inappropriate in use, scale, appearance, and operations. The Planning Department also noted the community resistance to being irretrievably, and perhaps tragically, bound to the fate of an inappropriate hotel and convention center imposed upon its center.

This is one of the MOST historic sites in Nashville. It is on the 2015 Nashville Nine, a list of the most endangered historic sites compiled by Historic Nashville, Inc. The land was known to the Jesse James Gang as members hid out here, posing as local farmers. Notorious Tom Hill was arrested at the Earthman Grocery, a building that still stands. The site is along the Trail of Tears and includes a verified Native American burial mound which is 5,000-6,000 years old. This land is sited entirely within the only Rural Historic District in Middle Tennessee on the National Register of Historic Places. The construction of the proposed hotel and convention center will be detrimental to the character of Whites Creek and endanger the integrity of the Historic District.

Our Past is our Future: We believe an appropriate, sustainable, and community-focused option would be a preservation use such as a park and/or library. A use in line with the NashvilleNext policy and the Whites Creek Historic District would be one that strengthens community, honors our unique significance in history, aligns with both the built and natural environment, and reflects the rural context. Whites Creek includes some of Davidson County’s most underperforming schools. A park and library with Greenway access would demonstrably improve the environment for the whole community, especially its children. 

Thank you for your time, your action, and for sharing this with others!

Please click here to visit Save Whites Creek and provide your name and email address for future updates.