Developers, designers urge Nolensville to amend form‑based zoning code after stakeholder workshop

NOLENSVILLE, Tenn. — Developers, landscape architects and builders urged the Town of Nolensville on April 17 to revise aspects of the town's recently adopted form‑based zoning ordinance, pressing for clearer definitions, more flexible building types and scaled buffer and tree rules that they said are limiting viable development.

At a joint Board of Commissioners and Planning Commission workshop, outside consultants and local developers described specific obstacles they have encountered using the new code passed in March 2023 and offered examples of edits that could expand feasible housing and commercial options without abandoning the town's design goals.

The speakers said the ordinance contains several rigid measurements and use‑type mismatches that block commonly desired projects. "Your zoning ordinance is a living, breathing document," said Greg Gamble, a landscape architect with Gamble Design Collaborative, who reviewed how other Middle Tennessee municipalities have revised their form‑based codes. Gamble pointed to numerical limits such as one‑acre caps for certain lot/building site areas, a 150‑foot maximum width and a half‑acre maximum in CD3 as rules that can conflict with parks, schools and hilltop preservation.

Why it matters: Town officials and staff said the workshop was an opportunity to…