To usher in major citywide zoning changes, leaders typically build as much consensus as possible to achieve success and overwhelm the opposition.

In a bid to develop and build more than 91,000 housing units over the next decade, leaders from among Nashville's business and civic communities recently took a major step forward by forming the "Unified Housing Leadership Council."

The city is in the throes of pushing through major zoning reform that would bring "missing middle" housing throughout Nashville, drawing increasing opposition that questions the number of housing units needed. It's an effort similar to those playing out across the country as cities and states address housing shortages and affordability.

Every Nashvillian needs a safe, affordable place to call home," Mayor Freddie O’Connell, a steering committee co-chair for the leadership council, said in a statement. "We have a tremendous opportunity in front of us, and this council unites the people we need to remove barriers and build solutions that keep Nashville a city for everyone."

The battles have grown contentious. Tensions rose to the point of angry, profanity-laced words between council members during an August Nashville city council meeting that approved rezoning 300 acres in The Nations, one of the city's largest and fastest-growing urban neighborhoods.

Despite opposition, the council approved allowing 40 housing units per acre, overcoming objections from a handful of residents in the neighborhood who strenuously opposed many of the legislation's changes.

With that done, the city has proposed two new zoning categories: residential neighborhood and residential limited. Those passed a major hurdle in late September when the city's planning commission approved them.

These new zones are intended to permit a wider variety of housing types, such as duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, townhomes, and cottage courts, in areas where they are not currently allowed. The goal is to encourage "gentle density" in neighborhoods that already have access to infrastructure and public transit.

Currently, we don't have standards for townhomes or house courts or three- or four-plex housing options," said council member Jennifer Gamble, who sponsored the ordinance, during the planning commission meeting. "This brings clarity for residents (and) developers."

During the meeting, residents spoke in favor of the change, saying these diverse housing types were necessary for teachers, service workers, nurses, and first responders.

However, the opposition ventured down a familiar path, echoing criticisms heard in similar meetings across the country, with the most common being higher density and its potential impact on property values and neighborhood character.

It feels like something is being taken away from us if we are suddenly living by nine people in a four-story building," one resident said.

According to Gamble, the bill would not immediately rezone any property. Instead, it would add these new categories as options for future rezoning applications, which would still require public hearings and Metro Council approval.

The ordinance will go through a public hearing process in November. Meanwhile, opposition is growing stronger and more vocal from the suburban areas of Nashville, notably an area known as West Meade.

Chris Remke, a long-time Nashville architect specializing in design-build commercial projects, challenges the assumptions behind the 91,000 housing units the new leadership council is using.

Remke argued on his Substack that the council has the promise of a data-driven correction to the city's strategy because the number is based on a questionable population projection that is more than double the state’s official forecast.

This suggests the group's primary function isn't to question the plan, but to lend credibility to it and 'remove barriers' to its implementation," he wrote. "It risks becoming a public relations vehicle designed to create the appearance of consensus around a predetermined, developer-friendly outcome."