Nashville

Metro Planning Overrules Staff 7-0 on Woodlawn & Saratoga Lot-Line Shift Near Bowling Avenue (2026S-151-001)

Metro Planning staff recommended disapproving a final plat that would move lot lines among three home sites on Woodlawn Drive and Saratoga Drive east of Bowling Avenue. On Sept. 24, the Planning Commission voted 7-0 to go against that recommendation and approve the plat with exceptions to the infill

Tracy King

08 Oct 2026 • 5 min read

Final plat 2026S-151-001 covers 3106 Woodlawn Drive and 3615 and 3617 Saratoga Drive in Nashville. Illustrative photo.

Metro Nashville Planning staff recommended disapproving a final plat for three home sites on Woodlawn Drive and Saratoga Drive, about 704 feet east of Bowling Avenue. On Sept. 24, 2026, the Planning Commission went the other way. Its action agenda records “Disapproval of staff’s recommendation and approval of the item with exceptions to compatibility requirements,” by a 7-0 vote.

The case, 2026S-151-001, is called the Woodlawn & Saratoga Resubdivision. It was item 5 on the agenda and sits in Council District 24. It had been deferred at the Sept. 10 meeting, where no public hearing was held.

What the plat does

The request covers 3106 Woodlawn Drive and 3615 and 3617 Saratoga Drive, about 1.26 acres in all, or roughly 54,781 square feet. The land is zoned RS7.5 and RS20, and part of it is inside the Bellwood Urban Design Overlay (UDO). The plat would shift lot lines and create one new lot of record.

All three parcels already have single-family homes, and the plat shows them staying. In practice, the change moves land from the back of the larger Woodlawn Drive parcel to the back of one Saratoga Drive lot.

The parcels have a long history. Two of them were platted in 1927 as lots in The Plan of Bellwood. The Woodlawn parcel has been zoned RS20 since 2003. The Saratoga parcels have been zoned RS7.5 since 2006 and have been in the Bellwood UDO since 2015.

Proposed lot	Size	Compatibility minimum	Meets lot-size test?
Lot 1 (Saratoga Dr)	0.19 ac (8,398 sq ft)	0.22 ac (9,563.51 sq ft)	No
Lot 2 (Saratoga Dr)	0.42 ac (18,132 sq ft)	0.22 ac (9,563.51 sq ft)	Yes
Lot 3 (Woodlawn Dr)	0.65 ac (28,250 sq ft)	0.87 ac (38,118 sq ft)	No

Frontage was not the issue. Lots 1 and 2 each have 60 feet on Saratoga Drive against a 59.15-foot minimum. Lot 3 has 111.80 feet on Woodlawn Drive against a 111.52-foot minimum.

Why staff said no

Metro’s subdivision rules include a compatibility test for infill lots on existing streets. In Neighborhood Maintenance areas, each new lot is compared with the surrounding parcels. Lots 1 and 3 fell short on size, so the plat needed exceptions.

How the lot-size test works

The rule is written as a simple comparison. A new lot must be at least 70% of the average size of the surrounding parcels, or at least as large as the smallest surrounding lot, whichever is greater. Frontage is measured the same way. Staff measured the Saratoga Drive lots against surrounding parcels on Saratoga Drive and the Woodlawn Drive lot against parcels on Woodlawn Drive, which is why they were held to very different minimums.

If a plat meets every other test but fails on lot size or frontage, the Commission can hold a public hearing and decide whether the subdivision still provides for harmonious development. It must look at the development pattern of the area and any unique geographic or environmental factors.

Staff was fine with Lot 1. It grows by about 600 square feet, and staff did not find it out of line with its Saratoga Drive neighbors. Lot 3 was the sticking point. Staff gave three reasons:

A lower bar for the next split. Making Lot 3 smaller would cut about 10,000 square feet from the minimum lot size used for the Woodlawn Drive block face. That lowers the threshold for any future subdivision along that block.
An irregular pattern. The extra 10,000 square feet added to the back of Lot 2 could let new building reach farther back than on other Saratoga Drive lots.
Split zoning. Two of the three lots would carry both RS7.5 and RS20 zoning. Lot 2 would be legally nonconforming because it is under 20,000 square feet, and only its front portion would be in the Bellwood UDO.

Staff also pointed to the property’s T3 Suburban Neighborhood Maintenance policy, which aims to keep the general character of established suburban neighborhoods. Staff found the new layout inconsistent with that goal.

The Commission’s room to decide

The staff report laid out the Commission’s options. It cited a recent appeals court decision, Hudson et al v. Metro, which upheld a ruling that the Commission can decide whether a subdivision complies with NashvilleNext. The report said that if the Commission found the plat met the intent of the T3 NM policy, it could give that weight and approve the plat with the requested exceptions. That is what the Commission did.

Every other reviewing agency had already signed off. The Fire Marshal, Stormwater, NDOT Roads and Water Services recommended approval, and NDOT Traffic and Parking recommended approval with conditions. No sidewalks were required. The report notes that, per a recent court case, the zoning code section requiring sidewalks along existing streets has been voided.

What it means for Green Hills and Bellwood homeowners

This case is a reminder that lot size on your own street can change what your land is worth. Nashville’s infill compatibility test compares a new lot with its neighbors. When one lot on a block face gets smaller, the minimum for the next split can drop with it.

For owners near Bowling Avenue, a few takeaways:

Know your block face. The minimum lot size along Woodlawn Drive was 0.87 acres in this review, while Saratoga Drive was 0.22 acres. Neighboring streets can have very different rules.
Split zoning shapes buyers. A lot that is part RS7.5 and part RS20, or part inside a UDO, can face different standards on different parts of the same parcel.
The Commission can overrule staff. A disapproval recommendation is not the final word, as this 7-0 vote shows.

Infill decisions like this one and Metro Planning Overrules Staff on Two North Nashville Duplex Rezonings came out of the same Sept. 24 meeting. If you own a large lot in an older Nashville neighborhood and want to know what it could sell for, start with a free home valuation. If you would rather skip showings, you can request a cash offer.

Nashville dates to watch

Sept. 10, 2026 — 2026S-151-001 deferred; no public hearing held.
Sept. 24, 2026, 4 p.m. — Metro Planning Commission approves the plat with compatibility exceptions, 7-0, at the Howard Office Building, 700 President Ronald Reagan Way.
Oct. 22, 2026 — Next Metro Planning Commission meeting, to which several Sept. 24 items were deferred.

What is Metro Nashville case 2026S-151-001?

It is the Woodlawn & Saratoga Resubdivision, a final plat to shift lot lines and create one new lot at 3106 Woodlawn Drive and 3615 and 3617 Saratoga Drive, about 704 feet east of Bowling Avenue, on 1.26 acres zoned RS7.5 and RS20.

Staff recommended disapproval. It found the proposed Lot 3 inconsistent with the surrounding development pattern and did not support an exception to the lot-size compatibility rule for that lot.

How did the Planning Commission vote on 2026S-151-001?

On Sept. 24, 2026, the Commission voted 7-0 for disapproval of staff’s recommendation and approval of the plat with exceptions to compatibility requirements.

What are the proposed lot sizes on Woodlawn and Saratoga Drive?

Lot 1 is about 0.19 acres (8,398 square feet), Lot 2 about 0.42 acres (18,132 square feet), and Lot 3 about 0.65 acres (28,250 square feet). The compatibility minimums were 0.22 acres on Saratoga Drive and 0.87 acres on Woodlawn Drive.

Why does split zoning matter on this plat?

Two lots would carry both RS7.5 and RS20 zoning. Staff said Lot 2 would be legally nonconforming because it is under 20,000 square feet, and only its front portion would be inside the Bellwood UDO.