July 19, 2025 update for our neighbors in The Nations (revised 7/20/25)
A Top-Down Transformation for The Nations?
It appears this belief is widely shared by those in support of the UDO, one of whom expressed strong confidence that the community fully understands the UDO and the UDO would not alter lot sizes from their existing state. Council Member Horton also shared feedback suggesting that stacked flats would not exceed five units. Unfortunately, we question whether this is properly constrained in the proposed UDO text. The basis for that concern is outlined below.
The following summary simplifies the relevant provisions, focusing on interior R6 lots:
SONN would like to update you on an important issue that affects the future of the Nations neighborhood. A new zoning proposal, designated as Urban Design Overlay (UDO) 2025Z-047PR-001 / 2025UD-002-001, is scheduled for a public hearing this Thursday, the 24th, before the Planning Commission. This is a public hearing. However, many neighbors still do not know what it is or what it would allow.
Over the past few weeks, we have attempted to understand the UDO and spoken with residents. What we are finding is deeply concerning:
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Some believe the community helped shape this plan through the Nations Neighborhood Association (NNA).
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Others express a complete lack of awareness or believe it only applies to industrial zones. (Those zones are not included in the UDO.) The number of people expressing the latter view far exceeds those who believe the community was well-informed.
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NNA was kind enough to share their slideshow from the meeting. We compared it to the actual legal UDO document and found significant differences between the technical language and resident expectations. This misalignment suggests that the document may be either misunderstood, poorly written, or both.
The vision shown in the NNA slideshow is technically allowed by the UDO. However, the written UDO document also permits significantly larger and denser development, including stacked flats. Developers will almost certainly choose to build the most profitable solution, usually the largest option, once the new rules are in place and the real estate principle of “highest and best use” takes effect.
Supporters state that the UDO would result in a maximum of two-story buildings, as suggested in the NNA slideshow:
UDO Slide 15: Development Standards for Interior R6 Lots
Development Standards for Interior R6 Lots
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Maximum Street Frontage: Up to 100 feet for a single development
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Maximum Height:
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Single, Multifamily, and townhomes: 35 feet
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Stacked flats (apartments or condos): 35 feet
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Stacked flats with height bonus: 50 feet (35 + 15 bonus feet)
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UDO Slide 16: Structure Standards
These standards aim to improve compatibility with adjacent buildings. Architects are highly skilled at meeting these requirements. The issue, however, is that neighborhood-scale compatibility is not guaranteed. Once the first building with more than five units is approved and built, the pattern will repeat—block by block.
These buildings—35 to 50 feet tall and likely exceeding two floors with facades approximately 30 feet from the street—will appear out of scale with the neighborhood character depicted in the NNA slideshow.
While other aspects deserve scrutiny, this is the core issue: approving larger buildings without clear scale controls sets off a wave of redevelopment. Developers in a submarket expected to deliver luxury housing (at or above 200% AMI, based on market studies) will steadily replace even relatively new homes in The Nations.
One UDO proponent passionately argued that the overlay would create abundant affordability. While we sympathize with this intent, the promised outcome is based on Missing Middle Housing (MMH) studies that rely on intrinsic-cost pro formas. These models fail to recognize how real estate markets work: developers build for profit.
In other words, the value of completed housing is not based on how much it costs to build, but on what the market will pay. In The Nations, tenants are highly unlikely to benefit from the cost savings. Instead, that value gap becomes developer equity or profit and a strong incentive to scale up every project.
Furthermore, the UDO offers bonuses to developers for building larger units, but includes no requirement to make any units affordable based on affordability. There is no obligation to serve low- or moderate-income residents. The only incentive is to build bigger and more profitable.
Why do we raise this concern? Zoning reform advocates in Nashville frequently cite Portland, Oregon, as a success story. But Portland is structurally very different.
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Portland spent years developing its upzoning reforms.
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The city ensured its infrastructure was prepared before the upzoning.
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Portland is already far more compact and dense than Nashville.
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Its mature transit network was in place before encouraging density.
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Portland allowed a bonus only when tied to results.
Most importantly, Portland tied its developer bonuses to a “deeper affordability” requirement and including deed-restricted affordable units. Developers had to give something back to get the bonus.
In some cases, those projects were built on public land, making it possible to share the equity or create long-term affordability. That model stands in stark contrast to Nashville’s rushed MMH add density strategy, which channels all added value to developers without a public return or even a clear strategy for whom and where.
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Who benefits from the UDO—and why is it being rushed forward without an impact study or affordability guarantees to fulfill “the promise” given this the most espoused goal of the advocates sharing their understanding of outcomes?
So we return to the central question:
At this point, it is clear that the people who live in The Nations do not have a shared, community-wide understanding of what is being proposed.
Our recommendation
We are asking the Planning Commission, city planners, and especially our elected officials to pause this process and take time to truly engage with the neighborhood in a clear, large-scale, and inclusive manner. When a maximum stacked apartment option is on the table, the size and scale of that option deserve serious community input.
This decision will reshape The Nations and its surrounding communities. Every resident deserves the chance to understand what is happening—and to help shape what comes next.
Resources:
The Nations UDO, Prepared by The Metropolitan Council Office:
The Nations Neighborhood Association slide deck: https://www.canva.com/design/DAGpg-IXNaA/cuKpTninIvOcdGi-H6MG1Q/edit
