Nashville officials have a dream for a new downtown neighborhood. Now they’re testing out what’s possible.

In downtown Nashville, along the east side of the Cumberland River, the city is refining its dream for a new downtown neighborhood.

This month, the Metro Planning Commission voted to change the rules so developers can build a place for people to walk, bike and shop in the area. The commission had to change the character of how the land can be used to do this, which sets a standard for future rezoning requests.

The Imagine East Bank plan started out with a vague outline of what’s possible. The drawings the public has seen are the dream, and now that the city has community feedback, it can see what the dream might look like in reality.

“I think they’ve been creative in going beyond the traditional thought process,” Nashville native Ben Passino says. “I would just ask that they expand upon the vision of complete streets, especially through the lens of equity as it relates to other forms of transportation.” He says he understands the boundary limitations because of the interstate, but he wants a carless street.

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Richel Albright is the spokesperson for the planning department, which is leading the effort with other city agencies like the Nashville Department of Transportation.

“And what will happen then is NDOT will test that and continue to get feedback from the community as they’re going through the testing,” Albright says. “And I think that will happen as the phases of this multi-decade project will go on.”

Metro Council has already set aside money for right-of-ways with the goal of multiple transportation options.

“This area has never developed in the way that has those basic building blocks,” says Lucy Alden Kempf, the planning department’s director. “To accomplish that, we will need to acquire the right-of-ways.”

Alden Kempf says the process to do that includes working with Metro Council and the finance department.

“I hope this brings comfort to the property owners who are in that area who have zoning and they want to move forward,” she says.

The commission also discussed how design standards will be decided. The first phase will focus on Metro-owned land, and the department will set a detailed standard later. It also was discussed how affordability should be mentioned in the same breath since building costs could impact rents.

The city is still working on a new contract with the Titans for a stadium. Whether Nashville keeps the current one or builds something else a short distance away, the new vision of the East Bank and addition of the Oracle tech hub will further transform the area.