Commission to consider rezoning requests tonight
By SUSAN LEATHERS
Brentwood Home Page
Under Brentwood’s traditional one house, one acre zoning option, it would take close to 400 acres to hold the 393 homes that could be coming to an expanded Town Center district if a rezoning proposal that will first be heard tonight is ultimately approved.

Instead, hundreds of one- to three-bedroom, high-end condominium units would be located on just over seven acres in the city’s first mixed-used residential project built under the city’s C-4, Town Center zoning restrictions.

If this property, located just north of the Brentwood Place shopping center is rezoned, it could be home to a 393-unit condominium development.

The rezoning request is one of two coming before the Brentwood City Commission tonight at its regular monthly meeting. The meeting was delayed a night so commissioners and city staff could participate in the annual Tennessee Municipal League meeting in Murfreesboro. (Click here to read BHP’s Monday story on the second rezoning proposal.)

The Bristol Development Group LLC and property owner Brent Campbell seek to have the 7.03 acres located just north and adjacent to Brentwood Place shopping center that is bounded by the CSX railroad tracks to the east and Centerview Drive to the west from C-2 (Commercial-Retail) to C-4 (Commercial-Town Center).

Bristol Development Group has an option to purchase the property and has submitted plans to the city for a proposed development that would include not only 393 residential units but 8,948-square-feet of retail space on the ground level of the building closest to the existing shopping center. Attached parking garages at the rear of each building would separate the units from the railroad tracks.

While the mixed use development is the ultimate goal of the rezoning request, the action sought now is only to rezone the property. If the proposal is passed tonight on first reading, the Planning Commission will review the request and make its recommendations on July 5. A community meeting would be held June 29 at the city’s Municipal Building with a formal public hearing scheduled for July 11. A second and final reading would take place on July 25.

The city’s decision last year to revise the C-4 zoning requirements and open up the district to future expansion “showed they really want to take Town Center to the next level,” said David Hanchrow of Bristol Development Group, who said the only missing link in the district now is residential. “Once people are living there, everything else will flow from there.”

“If Brentwood is really serious about having a vibrant Town Center, this is just what the doctor ordered.”

As conceived, the Bristol group would own and lease all of the units in Bristol Centerview, which would range in size from 569 to 1549 square feet. The multi-story project would include interior courtyards, a swimming pool and a fitness facility.

“We think there is a real opportunity to serve several markets that haven’t been served before,” Hanchrow said.

Specifically, he mentioned empty nesters who may have a lake house or beach house and want to keep a home in Brentwood but want the luxury of lock-and-go living. Another targeted segment would be young professionals who work in Maryland Farms or the Synergy Center and want to have a place they can afford to live in Brentwood that’s within walking distance to work, shopping and restaurants.

The retail component could include a coffee shop, a restaurant or similar enterprise, Hanchrow added. It would face the existing commercial at Brentwood Place though the two would remain completely independent developments.

“We make it very clear that our discussion will be at the meeting,” Mayor Paul Webb said late last week when asked if he planned to support the proposal. He did note, however, that the project has several things the city looks for when talking with developers. First, the Bristol group “has a good reputation.” It has developed several successful projects in Nashville, including the mixed-use, high-rise Icon in the Gulch, the Bristol West End near Vanderbilt and several other residential projects both in Nashville and other states. The project also has sound financial backing.

“I know what I’m going to be asking for,” Webb said of tonight’s meeting when the proposal comes up during the New Business section of the agenda. And he said he will be listening carefully. “As we go through the process, my mind might change.”  

Asked if he’s concerned about dealing with two rezoning requests at the same time, Webb said no, that he welcomed them.

“Golly, coming out of the recession, we’re happy to have anything to discuss. If we had three, four or five at the same time, I’d be happy to see them. I really want to see something happen in Town Center.”

Webb said that if the Bristol Centerview  and/or Brentwood Morning Pointe assisted living facility which would be the ultimate result of the two rezoning requests that commissioners will consider tonight are successful and meet all of the city’s requirements, the results would have an “immediate economic impact” on the entire city.

Tonight’s meeting also includes public hearings on the city’s new fiscal year budget and Capital Improvements Plan.

It begins at 7 p.m. in the second-floor board room of the city’s Municipal Center, 5211 Maryland Way.

To see the complete agenda and supporting materials, click here.