The Cumberland River is degraded. Can Nashville’s 300-acre redevelopment plan help restore it?

Across from downtown Nashville, an industrial area houses asphalt, the Titans stadium and unused space for potentially billions of dollars worth of developments.

That area is the “East Bank,” and city officials announced plans this week to redevelop it with special attention to the Cumberland River.

The long-term vision, presented in an 80-page document, could take decades to be realized. It does not include rezoning, and the renderings do not represent actual design plans, according to city planner Anna Grider.

“A vision plan is not detailed engineering,” Grider said during a public feedback session on Thursday. “It’s the aspiration for the next 20 to 30 years for the East Bank.”

A core component of this vision is safeguarding the Cumberland River through flood management and restoration of the riparian zone, which has been stripped and covered with impermeable surface in Nashville.

In a healthy river, the riparian zone is the area of natural vegetation along the riverbank that helps support biologically diverse communities. It influences water quality and flooding and provides habitat for migratory birds, according to Mekayle Houghton, the director of the Cumberland River Compact.

“Reconnecting the river to the floodplain should definitely happen now,” Houghton said.

The first challenge will be to remove some of the existing unnatural materials. Officials estimated that one-third of the roughly 300-acre East Bank is asphalt.

Then the city can add green infrastructure, like a bioswale, and trees, a re-greening process that can take decades.

But this is just the concept. The city is starting to see more pressure for commercial development, and the plan allows for some development in the 100-year floodplain with raised elevations, which Houghton said is a “bad investment.”

Courtesy Metro Nashville Planning Department

Nashville officials said some construction will be allowed in the 100-year floodplain.

“We understand there is a tradeoff,” Houghton said, but “we should have the fortitude to resist those pressures to put our resources in harm’s way.”

The city will be accepting feedback on the vision plan and hosting public events during the next few weeks.

Houghton advised that people weigh in on the environmental aspects.

“It doesn’t generate a lot of revenue to have a park or a natural streambank, so it’s important, if people want it,” Houghton said. “It’s important for people to voice that desire.”