Issues Confronting Nashville's Growth & General Discussion

[Bos2Nash]

5 hours ago, smeagolsfree said:

Now there are certain things they can do such as slow the STR in certain parts of those areas as those seem to be at the root cause of some of the problems.

STRs are a symptom of a larger problem. People don't want to pay the prices of a downtown hotel, or they want to be able to fit more folks into a single space, or they want to comforts of a home rather than a hotel room with bad reproduction art on the wall (if there is any). All of these factors along with the technology developments created the STR market. 

5 hours ago, smeagolsfree said:

When and if we ever get a VIABLE mass transit system, the closer you are to the main lines the higher the property values will be. It does not matter if it is SFH or what. It is a simple matter of supply and demand. SO when and if the routes of a new system are laid out those properties are going to be in high demand and the same will happen again regardless of where they are.

This is where zoning and mass transit will have to be working together to make housing options more affordable and plentiful.

For sure. Mass Transit will help spread the burden of the desirable neighborhoods and help level the playing field because it will mean you don't have to be so closely adjacent to the actual core to have that level of access. That is why I have been saying that the Transit Referendum should've been marketed as a transportation equalizer because it allows for someone to make the choice between having a home where they want it, or having a home and a car. Currently you need both if you live outside the downtown (some would argue we need cars even within the downtown). Urban Sprawl is definitely still a concern within this spectrum, because that means additional infrastructure (think water lines, electric grid, sewer, etc.) needs to reach these areas as well as the transit infrastructure. 

 

Basically it all boils down to the fact that while Nashville is booming, we are also behind the 8 ball (not the magic one) on a great deal of things. I consider myself very fortunate to be educated and qualified to be in a field that has a say in how we can work through those challenges and am very glad to have a forum that can discuss them.

[smeagolsfree]

Unfortunately the racial divide in Nashville neighborhoods is there, but I know there is some movements in north Nashville neighborhoods to help people repair homes and stay in their home which I am 100% with. I know there are some unscrupulous developers trying to weasel their way into those areas trying finagle folks out of their homes.

These areas need to IMO, keep their identities if at all possible. There is too much local black history there to let it disappear.

[Mr_Bond]

4 hours ago, smeagolsfree said:

The tax issue is also compounded by the fact that the property value in the area they are living in has skyrocketed because of the location. For instance a lot alone in Lockland Springs from what I heard from a friend that lives there went for 300k. They could not afford to rebuild after the the tornado because insurance would not give them what they needed so they had to leave the area. Now the accessed property value is because of the property value around it, not because Metro rose the property values. 

They did get a fair price for the lot , but did have to leave the area because they could not rebuild, probably because they were underinsured.

This topic came up with a friend recently when discussing the Jefferson Street area.  Rising property values caused underinsurance.  When the tornado hit, many were forced to sell because they could not afford to rebuild.  Some type of zoning overlay would have been agreed to by the property owners in years past but didn't happen.  Call it a lack of forethought and leadership.  That overlay would have helped some of them to rebuild.

[Bos2Nash]

1 hour ago, Mr_Bond said:

This topic came up with a friend recently when discussing the Jefferson Street area.  Rising property values caused underinsurance.  When the tornado hit, many were forced to sell because they could not afford to rebuild.  Some type of zoning overlay would have been agreed to by the property owners in years past but didn't happen.  Call it a lack of forethought and leadership.  That overlay would have helped some of them to rebuild.

I heard many stories of folks that their "total replacement" clause (not sure if that is the right name or not) was not enough to rebuild due to the current costs of construction (and remember that was even before the pandemic, so those costs skyrocketed even more). I don't know if a zoning overlay would've been able to help with that type of cost change honestly.