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Airport’s BNA Central Ramp expansion approved after airport buys upstream mitigation credits
Summary
The commission approved a stream encapsulation for the BNA Central Ramp expansion after the airport purchased credits from the Cedar Forest Mitigation Bank and obtained required state and federal permits; commissioners urged exploring Metro‑owned mitigation opportunities for future projects.
The Metro Stormwater Management Commission approved an application April 21 from the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority to encapsulate roughly 1,400 linear feet of Sims Branch as part of the BNA Central Ramp expansion and accepted a compensatory mitigation package the applicant presented.
Airport vice president Tracy Holton and contractor representatives described the project as an apron expansion to provide aircraft overnight parking and de‑icing positions to support increased flight schedules. The project will place approximately 1,200,000 cubic yards of fill across roughly 22.5 acres of apron area and will encapsulate a portion of Sims Branch in the apron footprint.
Contractor Kiewit and the airport team said they purchased 786.2 credits from the Cedar Forest Mitigation Bank to meet regulatory compensatory requirements and explained the bank lies in the Stones River watershed; the project’s quantified requirement was about 496.6 functional credits under the stream‑quantification approach used by regulatory agencies. Project representatives said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and TDEC have issued permits (applicant reported receiving the TDEC ARAP and Corps permit in March) and the FAA issued a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the federal review.
Proponents explained the mitigation bank restores and monitors stream and buffer on a watershed scale and that mitigation banks are a regulatory preference because they provide advance, monitored restoration with long‑term easements. Commissioners and staff discussed watershed benefits and asked the airport to consider opportunities for mitigation within Metro properties or to pursue public‑to‑public mitigation partnerships in the future; commissioners noted the airport’s purchase secures credits for current and anticipated future projects.
The commission voted in favor of the encapsulation and mitigation package. Commissioners said they supported the project’s regulatory approvals and mitigation approach, while urging the airport to continue seeking local on‑land opportunities where possible to ensure downstream benefits are visible in Davidson County.
Why it matters: The project supports airport operations and regional air service capacity, while the mitigation bank purchase and federal/state permits aim to address water quality and stream function losses resulting from the encapsulation.
