WKRN, Nashville, Tennessee News, Weather, and Sports |Flood prompts landowner to make unusual rezoning request

Flood prompts landowner to make unusual rezoning request

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A Bellevue landowner once imagined his land would be covered by homes, but the May flood washed those plans away.

Greg Jones said, "We're just too close to the river and when the river gets angry, you'll know it here for sure."

He and his wife Tricia discovered that in early May when the Harpeth River overflowed and flooded their Newsom Station property.

"The current was just so strong. It was unbelievable," Greg Jones told News 2.

Jones had plans to build townhomes and duplexes on the 36-acres, which had been in his family for decades, but suddenly, he had a change of heart.

Right now, the land is zoned for residential use. Jones could sell it to a developer and easily make hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

Instead, he's asking the Metro Planning Department to rezone the property for agricultural use, and it's all because of the May flood.

"It's just the right thing to do," Jones told News 2.

It's a request that doesn't happen often.

"We hardly ever get one of these of this nature, maybe two or three times a year," said Craig Owensby with the Metro Planning Department.

But it's a move Jones believes is necessary for peace of mind.

He said if the homes had already been built, they would have been swept away by flood water.

"I can't imagine anybody wanting to come here," he said, "even if it's zoned and you have the permits to do it.  How could you build a house and walk away and feel like you've done the right thing, because you have not."

That's not to say Jones won't build anything on the land.

"My wife and I are going to build on the only dry ground. We had about four acres that stayed dry on a hill," he said.

He'll leave the rest of the land alone, so that one day, his children and grandchildren can decide what to do with it.

On August 26, the Commission will make a recommendation to the Metro Council on the proposal.