New Voices Join May Town Corner

Thursday night’s public hearing for May Town Center brought out new supporters for the massive development planned for the now-rural Bells Bend.

The Metro Planning Commission deferred a decision on the project last August.

Since then, developers have won the hearts of the Councilman who represents the area – Lonnell Matthews, and Tennessee State University president Melvin Johnson – along with long time Bell’s Bend resident, Joe Collier. Collier says his resistance disappeared after developers took him on a trip to see what May Town could be.

“I was invited to go with the group to Winston Salem to visit the Piedmont Triad Research Center and to Reston, Virginia, to actually see it. And I got to tell you, seeing is believing.”

Developers say the project will bring jobs. Opponents say it will bring unwanted traffic, destroy the character of the rural area and steal future improvements from downtown Nashville.

The public hearing resumes June 25th after an economic impact study is released.

Opponents like attorney and former Councilman David Briley say planners are rushing the process.

“The only thing I can see is that our staff, the Planning Commission staff, has changed from objective assessors of this to advocates for it, and I don’t know why.”

The Planning Department staff has not yet made a formal recommendation on the project.