Tennessee State Senator Mark Pody (R-Lebanon) said the East Bank development in Nashville should be a “private act” that does not fall on the backs of Tennessee taxpayers.
Pody, on Monday’s episode of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, said the question surrounding the East Bank’s 536 acres of land is who would be in control of planning the development of the area.
“The question is going to be this: Should there be a comprehensive plan of developing that and who would be in control of that plan? Now, should we have the city council and the mayor? That’s who’s in control right now and that would change then by every administration – they’re going to have different visions and so forth. Or should it be a little bit of a longer term plan and set up an entity that’s going to be saying, ‘Hey, what’s this going to look like in 10 years, 15 years and 20 years?’ We feel it’s going to take almost 20 to 25 years to get it developed, maybe even longer,” Pody explained.
Pody noted how plans for development are already in motion, including the recent groundbreaking for the new Tennessee Titans stadium.
“We know we’re putting the Titans stadium there and that’s being rebuilt. TPAC is going there. Oracle is going there. There are some questions on who should be in charge of what that development would be looking like. This is going to be billions of dollars. How is it going to be financed? Who’s going to be responsible? How is that money going to be raised and so forth? There’s about 130 acres owned by Metro, and that they’ve got control of, and the rest of it’s going to be private,” Pody explained.
“It’s there. This ship has sailed. For example, the Titans stadium groundbreaking is already done. It’s already moving forward,” Pody added. “So who should be in charge of this? Should we let Davidson County, the Metro Council, and the current mayor be in charge? Or should we set up some sort of authority that’s going to say we’re going to be looking at a longer term and it’s done by professionals and hire people that are used to doing this.”
Pody said he would rather a “professional management team” be put together to coordinate development of the area structured in a way that is not going to “fall on Tennessee taxpayers.”
“I would rather have us in Tennessee be protected for the good or the bad of what’s going on in Davidson County,” Pody said. “It’s a private act.”
“I want to make sure I have a wall that protects Tennesseans from what may or may not happen in a private act and I don’t want to give that hook to Tennesseans,” Pody added.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Mark Pody” by Mark Pody.
