Nashville · Davidson County

Still time.

Building and land plans near an address, sorted by how much time is left to speak up. The ones you can still affect come first.

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    Two meetings decide almost everything, and at both of them anyone can speak. Here is where and when.

    1. The Planning Commission

    • When: the second and fourth Thursday of most months, 4:00pm. One meeting only in December.
    • Where: Sonny West Conference Center, ground floor of the Howard Office Building, 700 President Ronald Reagan Way.
    • To speak: just turn up. Anyone gets two minutes. No sign-up.
    • Can't make it? Email them instead. Emails count until 3:00pm on the Tuesday before.

    Staff explains the case, then the applicant, then the public. Then the Commission votes.

    On most cases that vote is advice, not a decision. The case goes on to the Council whether the Commission is for it or against it. But a vote against is a real setback, and it is the moment when opposing something is easiest.

    2. The Metro Council

    • Three votes, at three separate meetings, weeks apart.
    • First reading is a formality. No debate, nobody speaks.
    • Second reading is the public hearing. This is the last meeting where neighbors can speak.
    • Third reading is the final vote. No speaking, but emails still land.

    The Council can overrule the Planning Commission. On a rezoning, the council member for that district usually carries the most weight, so emailing them is often worth more than anything else here.

    Which body has the last word

    • Final site plans and subdivisions end at the Planning Commission.
    • Everything else, including rezonings, Specific Plans and overlays, goes on to the Council.

    Dates, deadlines and what neighbors have already said

    Dates move. Cases get put off to later meetings all the time, so check before you go.

    What the words mean
    The four you will meet most
    The number in a zoning code
    Two different systems, which is where most people come unstuck.
    RS and R codes give the smallest lot allowed, in thousands of square feet. RS5 means every house needs at least 5,000 square feet of land. R40 means 40,000, close to a full acre. Smaller number, houses closer together.
    RM and OR codes give homes per acre. RM15 means up to about fifteen homes on an acre. RM60 means up to sixty. Bigger number, more homes.
    So RS5 is dense and RM2 is not, even though five is bigger than two.
    The letters after a code
    -A changes where the building sits on the lot to make the street more walkable. Metro says outright that the number of homes allowed stays exactly the same. -NS means short-term rentals are not allowed.
    Specific Plan, or SP
    A rulebook written for one site alone rather than one of the standard districts. An SP amendment changes an SP that already exists, so nothing looks like a rezoning while what can be built changes a great deal.
    Overlay
    An extra layer of rules on top of the ordinary zoning, usually about design, history, or an institution like a school or hospital. Overlays can be created, changed, or cancelled.
    At the meeting
    Staff report
    The Planning Department's written analysis and recommendation, posted the Friday afternoon before the meeting. The most useful document on any case.
    Consent agenda
    Cases expected to pass without discussion, voted through in one block. Staff reads the list aloud at the start to check whether anyone objects. Speaking up takes an item off it.
    Deferral
    Putting a case off to a later meeting. Common, often asked for by the applicant. It keeps its number and comes back.
    Public comment record
    Every email and letter sent about a case is a public record, and Metro posts them in a shared folder by meeting date. Anyone can read them. Yours will sit there too.
    Other words you may see
    Rezoning
    A request to swap the whole set of rules on a piece of land.
    Mandatory referral
    Metro itself buying, selling, leasing or building something.
    Community plan
    The long-range vision for one part of the county. Staff measure applications against it, and "not consistent with the community plan" is a real argument at a hearing.
    Historic zoning and the Board of Zoning Appeals
    Two separate tracks this page does not cover. Historic overlays need a preservation permit; the Board of Zoning Appeals handles requests for an exception to the rules rather than a change to them.
    Where all this comes from

    New districts arrive faster than Metro's list of them. RN1, RN2, RL1, RL2 and RL3 were created by ordinance BL2025-1005 in December 2025 and are already being applied, but Metro's published Zoning Classifications page has not been updated to describe them. Where this page says it has no plain description for a code, that is usually why.

    Plain-language summaries drawn from Metro's published rules and agendas. Not legal definitions, and not reviewed by a planner. If any of these pages change, they are right and this one is out of date.

    Enter an address to start.

    Everything below, on a map

    Numbers match the list below. Each pin sits at the middle of a site, so a large site can reach much closer to you than its pin suggests.

    Can still speak up Closing within a week Decided or no speaking left Your address

    This page shows Planning Commission cases only. It does not show the Board of Zoning Appeals, the Historic Zoning Commission, or building permits, which are issued by Codes. Finding nothing here does not mean nothing is happening.

    Historic zoning permit tracker · Metro's Development Tracker · Get agendas by email · Read comments neighbors already sent

    This one carries the address you searched, so it is for your own notes or for someone you would give it to anyway. To send a neighbor a single plan, use the button on that card instead.