[TN-Bird] Bell's Bend development----most likely not good for birds

     
Hi Birders,
 
In case you do not receive it from my copy and paste  maneuver, I think the 
link below will take you to the NASHVILLE CITY  PAPER article about Bell's Bend 
from this morning's  paper  I also recommend that everyone who can attend any 
meeting  that Amy Potter, President of Nashville TOS, suggests regarding  
this matter.  Unfortunately, it is a little too far for me to drive  at night.  
I'll just keep after the Mayor and City Council from  my computer. Go to this 
link for a photo which probably won't go  through on TN-Birds.
 
 _http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/news.php?viewStory=58857_ 
(http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/news.php?viewStory=58857) 
 
My home is located on about the fifth street to the  right of where the 
bridge is scheduled to cross.  I am,near  the  Interstate which runs across the 
bottom of the photo and about a half mile  or less from the river.  Since I am 
near the top of a little  hill, I can actually spot birds flying down the 
Cumberland and over the  western edge of Bell's Bend from my elevated deck.  
The 
whooping  crane site is toward the top of the photo toward the upper left 
quarter 
 and kind of around the two pools of water you can see  there..  This project 
is most distressing.  Sure hope  they'll leave some of that good wetland area 
for our birds.. It's  PRIME!
Dee Thompson
Nashville, TN
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
Bell sounds for Bells Bend fight
By Richard Lawson,  rlawson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  

The proposed May Town Center would  include 453 acres of May family 
controlled property in Bells  Bend. Courtesy of RTKL  
Ding! The  announcement of a $4 billion development at Bells Bend has sounded 
the  bell for yet another round of neighborhoods fighting a developer.  

The May Town Center has reignited the passions of nearby  neighborhoods that 
fought previous plans for residential development and,  earlier, a landfill. 
And they will hash it out at the Scottsboro  neighborhood meeting tomorrow 
night.

On the surface, it has the  typical markings of debating construction versus 
destruction. Developers  pitch progress while neighborhoods pitch status quo 
and preservation of  some sort.

But this fight has the potential for becoming  extraordinarily interesting 
because of the different twists and turns the  debate could take as issues and 
objections are raised. The Mays are  pitching new urbanism and the opponents 
are asking about new  ruralism.

Developer Tony Giarratana, who is working with May family  for a fee, has 
made the pitch that this project next to the Scottsboro  community eventually 
could throw off more than $50 million in tax revenue.  That sounds attractive 
when Metro is talking about budget shortfalls that  could mean scrapping a few 
capital expenditures. 

So this pits  whatâ??s good for the cityâ??s welfare as a whole against the 
concerns of  opponents in neighborhoods who may be a vocal minority claiming to 
 
represent a majority. It could be a majority. Itâ??s difficult to determine  
sometimes when a few are so vocal.

Sumter Camp is one of the voices  leading the charge against the project. For 
those who donâ??t know who he  is, Camp is a federal public defender. His list 
of clients includes that  stellar former Nashville citizen Perry March, 
although a state-court  conviction spared Camp of having to defend March in 
federal 
court.  

â??The Scottsboro community has worked for the last two and a half  years to 
try to see to it that the community remain as rural as possible,  and that any 
development be consistent with the rural character of the  community,â?? Camp, 
who owns 40 acres preserved through the Land Trust of  Tennessee, wrote in an 
e-mail. 

That means no dense commercial and  residential development on property and 
no new bridge across the  Cumberland River and Interstate 40 interchange. 
Members of the community  previously opposed a 1,450-home suburban home 
development. 

They  want rural-estate development that means one home per five acres. Camp  
said they group has made suggestions to the Mays and even considered  
figuring a way to buy the property before the Mays. With a price of up to  $22 
million, Camp said that wasnâ??t doable.

Thereâ??s also the  environmental issue. The area is one of the last remaining 
rural areas in  the county.

â??In an age when food security, sustainability and  availability are all 
issues of the moment and concern, trashing the last  bit of farmable land in 
the 
county would seem to be as backward thinking  as making a few more dollars off 
of anything hydrocarbon-producing while  we burn up the planet,â?? Camp wrote.

Camp wrote further that members  of the community suggest to the Mays that a 
better legacy for them would  be the first ever â??Institute of Organic 
Farming.â??
 

â??Apparently,  that suggestion was not looked on favorably,â?? he wrote. 
â??The 
plan of the  residents of Scottsboro for our community is much more 
interesting,  forward-thinking and exciting than anything that mentioned by Mr. 
 
Giarratana, though perhaps not as glamorous.â??

Proponents point out  that apparently the community isnâ??t pleased with 3,000 
acres dedicated for  park and open space. The concept is to concentrate the 
density in one  location and surrounded with green space. Brentwood allowed a 
similar and  much smaller version there with residential development. 

An issue  likely to arise is development scaring off the rare whooping cranes 
 calling Bells Bend home. Those birds are a lot more obvious than the last  
minute discovery of some rare crawfish to stop development.

The  Charlotte Park and Beacon Square Neighborhoods likely will oppose the  
bridge and interchange because it will cut through them or pass over them.  

A recreational pilot offhandedly asked what the Federal Aviation  
Administration might do with respect to the project. 

Pardon?  

John C. Tune Airport is readying itself to handle some of the  largest 
private jets on the market. The pilot said on calm days, jets take  off over 
Bells 
Bend. Noise and parts falling off the planes or the planes  themselves falling 
might be something to consider.

Giarratana has  some experience with the FAA so perhaps thatâ??s not an 
insurmountable  issue. 

The biggest hurdle of all, however, may be the Mays. Local  real estate folks 
have pointed out that the family has limited experience  in real estate 
beyond owning property. 

Not to have Chapstick  moment, but Giarratana has the stomach and smoothness 
to face the  opposition and attempt to work out something. The big question is 
whether  the Mays have the stomach for it.

The Chatter Class appears  Mondays in The City Paper. Comments may be sent to 
 rlawson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

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**************Ideas to please picky eaters. Watch video on AOL Living.      
(http://living.aol.com/video/how-to-please-your-picky-eater/rachel-campos-duffy/
2050827?NCID=aolcmp00300000002598)

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