Racing or housing? Fairgrounds debate reaches Metro’s charter commission

The effort to eliminate auto racing at the Nashville Fairgrounds is back at the Metro Charter Revision Commission this week, trying to clear one of the hurdles necessary for the proposal to get on a ballot.

This question of what happens at the fairgrounds is one version of a tension across the city: old Nashville versus new Nashville, and what belongs.

Currently, auto racing at the fairgrounds is enshrined in the Metro Charter. But a community-led effort is trying to change that. The group is pursuing a charter amendment that would remove auto racing as a protected activity and instead call for affordable housing at the site.

It’s the second attempt at such a change. A similar endeavor was pursued in 2024, before hitting a legal challenge and stalling out.

The latest effort remains in the early stages. The proposal went before the Charter Revision Commission earlier this month, where commissioners rejected the proposal due to a legal issue with the definition of “affordable housing.” The commission asked the group to tweak the ballot language and come back for reconsideration Thursday.

It’s not easy to change the Metro charter, as changes must be approved by voters. One way to initiate the process is through the Metro Council. The other approach is via petition, which requires collecting signatures from at least 10% of all Davidson County voters — and that’s just to get the change on the ballot.

Before proponents can pursue signatures, the Charter Revision Commission must greenlight the proposal.

Even as this idea remains nascent, Nashvillians have varied opinions on the future of the Fairgrounds.

Middle Tennessee native Stephanie Barrera visited the Fairgrounds during the Nashville Fair. She remembers watching races at the speedway as a child.

“I think it should stay for the racing because that’s entertainment for this area — we don’t have anything else to do,” Barrera said. “If they were to renovate the speedway and put more housing in, I just don’t see the need for it. We need more entertainment here for the locals.”

On the other side of the spectrum sit friends Abby and Leila. Abby, a musician, has lived in Tennessee her whole life, while Leila is newer to the area.

“I’d be interested to hear the argument for the speedway,” Leila said. “But I think that more housing is a good thing, considering housing is hard to find and expensive.”

But almost anyone can acknowledge how much the city has changed.

“It’s definitely not the same city it was, like, even five years ago,” Abby said. “The way I describe it to my friends is it’s like a caricature of itself.”

Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell has often reflected on the fairgrounds’ ties to old Nashville.

“The fairgrounds is a unique part of Nashville,” O’Connell told This Is Nashville earlier this month. “That’s something that multiple generations of Nashvillians have enjoyed. I don’t generally think that removing public assets and amenities, you know, just based on — well, there are multiple points of community preference — so I’m looking at it.”

If the ballot measure passes the commission, it still could face an uphill battle, as a legal challenge from racetrack supporters is likely.

The battle lines have already begun to be drawn. In December, the proposal was publicly backed by Nashville Soccer Club’s primary owner, John Ingram. And, earlier this month, local labor union LiUNA Local 386 — a group of nearly 1,000 construction and service workers, often aligned with the city’s progressive political contingent — entered the discussion. First reported by the Nashville Banner, the group sought guarantees for the proposed racetrack renovation, requesting that it uses local labor and ensures employees are paid well.

Chatter about a speedway renovation has been percolating, although no plan has been officially announced. The group that owns Bristol Motor Speedway struck a deal in 2021 with then-Mayor John Cooper, but it hasn’t come to fruition. At the time, O’Connell — a district council member that that time — opposed the deal. But, when he took office in 2023, he re-upped negotiations, though no agreement has been finalized. The mayor’s office is set to brief the Metro Council on the site next week.

“We do, right now today, have a chartered obligation to maintain the speedway,” O’Connell said. “And we’re looking for the best possible option to do that. If something changes, that’d be fine.”