Kenner Manor Association

Notes on Neighborhood Issues - Will Johnston

Aug 19, 2005

For those of you who may not have attended the last neighborhood meeting at Philip and Janie Clark?’s house, I have agreed to take over the lead role in the neighborhood association from Philip. My wife Irish and our two kids, Jake and Harper have lived on the street for only three years, but have become extremely fond of it in that time. As you know, there are many changes taking place in the surrounding area that are affecting and will continue to affect our neighborhood. Having a collective voice as a neighborhood association is critical to ensure that our opinions are heard and hopefully help to shape the decisions that are made. Philip has done an excellent job of shouldering the burden of navigating these changes over the past few years, from the traffic calming initiative, to the design of the Harding Town Center Overlay, to various zoning board hearings, and on and on. He has agreed to continue dedicating time to the neighborhood, as the relationships he has developed with key members of the local political community as well as people here in our neighborhood are incredibly valuable.

The purpose of this email is to introduce myself, as well as to provide a quick update on some of the ongoing issues here in the neighborhood:

The proposed condo development on the Wilson Manning properties at the end of Kenner Ave./Woodmont Blvd ?– After hearing the concerns expressed by the neighborhood at the meeting mentioned above, primarily that the proposed building was too large, Richard Rhea (the developer) went back to Wilson Manning (the property owner) to re-negotiate the deal so that he might have some flexibility on the size of the development. Apparently, Wilson Manning agreed to re-negotiate and we have a meeting set up with the Developers and the Planning Commission on Monday to discuss ways that the project may be altered to gain our approval. The issues raised in our meeting that we will take to them include: building height, style, setback from Kenner Properties, view from Kenner Properties, separation method from Kenner (wall, landscaping, etc.) how the PUD will be set up to protect the Kenner Properties as single-family residences safe from any future mass development, whether the two adjoining Woodmont properties will be bought and converted to green space in order to provide a buffer along Woodmont, and blasting requirements. If you have any to add, please email them to me before Monday. I will update the website: www.neighborhoodlink.com/nashville/kennermanor/ with notes from our meeting early next week.

Traffic Calming ?– the metro traffic engineers are still moving forward with an additional implementation of mini bumps at the transition areas. We should have something in 2-3 weeks. This is the next step in the sequence of initiatives that they want to put in place for us to test the effectives of the current plan. Also, Philip has been in contact with the Ensworth parents association and they have agreed to make a series of announcements about respecting the neighborhood by honoring the speed limit.

The Triangle at Kenner Ave./Woodmont Circle ?– Metro has given us the go ahead to beautify the triangle. We will have to fund it ourselves and whatever we do cannot restrict visibility, however we can landscape it as we see fit, and even put in benches or a sign announcing the neighborhood if we would like. Anyone who would like to volunteer time and/or money to help out, please respond to this email. Hopefully we can identify a few days to work on it here in the next month or so as the temperatures drop a little.

Social Gathering ?– I?’d also like to get some volunteers to head up a social committee that would plan block-party type events. Halloween is not too far off and I?’d like to see if there is enough interest in getting Kenner Ave. blocked off like we have a few times in the past so that the neighborhood kids can safely walk up and down the street.

Neighborhood Zoning change ?– John Summers has indicated that he would support us in the council if, as a group, we want to try and downzone the neighborhood to single-family. This would essentially grandfather in any existing duplexes but would change the zoning to disallow any new duplex development. I?’d like to get an initial read on whether there is consensus for this or not. I will begin a discussion on the website www.neighborhoodlink.com/nashville/kennermanor/ for people to log their opinions.

Neighborhood Charter ?– I also want to try and dig up any documentation about the neighborhood association and fill in the gaps where items are needed, such as a charter to institutionalize the boundaries, some sort of framework for meetings (every 6 months?), positions, and a timeline for regularly held elections (every two years?). Let me know if you have any comments.

I plan to use the website as a place where I can try to keep everyone updated on new developments and where we can communicate as a neighborhood without having to wait for meetings to be held. Feel free to use the website to start your own discussions, post your own events, etc. And don?’t hesitate to let me know if you have any comments or concerns.

Thanks

-Will

Will Johnston
187 Kenner Ave.
H. 279-9054
C. 293-7032