Appeals court shoots down part of Nashville transit plan on housing, parks but upholds most
The Tennessee Court of Appeals on April 15 nixed a small part of Nashville's transit improvement plan while upholding the vast majority of it.
A three-judge panel ruled Metro Nashville cannot acquire land for affordable housing and parks with funds raised through the transit plan's tax surcharge. According to the judges, those projects accounted for about 1% of the plan's total surcharge revenue.
Metro Law Director Wally Dietz said the impacted parts of the plan can be financed from "non-transit funds." Dietz called the court's opinion "an overwhelming victory for Metro."
"I'm pleased that once again a court has sided with the people of Nashville who overwhelmingly approved Choose How You Move," Mayor Freddie O'Connell said in a statement. "The court's ruling today, once again, stands with the will of Nashvillians and allows us to implement all elements of the plan as outlined in the transit improvement program, which references the purchase of land explicitly for the construction of transit centers and related infrastructure."
The ruling is the most favorable yet to the plaintiffs, former Metro Nashville Council member Emily Evans and her Committee to Stop an Unfair Tax. Evans indicated she is not done, either. She said she plans to ask the Tennessee Supreme Court to hear the case next.
While Evans said she thought the court agreed with her side on what she believed was "the most important argument," she hopes the state's highest court would disagree with the appeals court and invalidate the rest of the plan.
"That is that the state legislature did not allow Metro to create essentially an all-purpose fund to solve all of its problems," Evans said. "If part of this plan doesn't work ... does the rest of the plan stand?"
Nashville's transit plan has to comply with a 2017 state law called the IMPROVE Act that allows cities to levy a sales tax increase to directly fund a "transit improvement program." The judges said they "fail to see how the purchase of property for housing development and parks is consistent" with the law's definition of a transit improvement program.
"Metro's goal is laudable, but the IMPROVE Act does not provide the means," Judge Andy Bennett wrote in the opinion. "Metro will have to find other funds to accomplish this goal."
The other challenges made by Evans and her committee through attorney Kirk Clements were unsuccessful. The rest of the plan was upheld.
Have questions about the justice system? Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for The Tennessean. Contact him with questions, tips or story ideas at emealins@tennessean.com.
Come meet me and the rest of The Tennessean's Metro team at Crieve Hall Bagel Co. on April 16 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Appeals court shoots down small portion of Nashville's transit plan
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