The legal battle between Cheekwood Estate and Gardens and a group of Belle Meade Highlands neighbors continues to twist and turn, days before a Davidson County judge is set to rule on whether to dismiss a lawsuit filed by those neighbors against the city.
The group, called Neighbors for Safety, has been locked in a clash with Cheekwood over concerns about neighborhood traffic and a purported expansion at the botanical gardens, while Cheekwood is working to build a new parking facility that officials argue is not meant to add visitor capacity but rather to comply with a mandate to transition overflow parking off city-owned property by the end of 2027.
The lawsuit as originally filed listed only the city as a defendant. But on Sept. 14, Neighbors
for Safety filed an amended complaint in Davidson County Chancery Court that adds Cheekwood as a defendant.
In a news release accompanying the filing, the group’s counsel noted that this was prompted by the city’s motion to dismiss the case, arguing that Cheekwood was an indispensable party and that the court couldn’t proceed without it.
Notably, the amended complaint also no longer asks for a stop-work order “for any further use” of the Cheekwood property. Instead, the lawsuit now asks the court to “temporarily, preliminarily and permanently enjoin Cheekwood” from engaging in uses the group claims are prohibited in its current zoning district “unless and until Cheekwood obtains the land-use authority required by law.”
“These neighbors have spent years trying to resolve these issues cooperatively,” said Chanelle Acheson, the group’s counsel, in a news release. “They are not asking to shut down Cheekwood. They are asking to be able to live safely and peacefully in their homes, for Cheekwood to follow the law and for Metro to enforce it.”
Cheekwood has described the neighborhood group's actions as an "unprecedented and radical existential threat."
The hearing regarding the city’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit is set for 9 a.m. Sept. 18 before Chancellor Patricia Moskal.
Austin Hornbostel is the Metro reporter for The Tennessean. Have a question about local government you want an answer to? Reach him with questions, tips and story ideas at ahornbostel@tennessean.com.
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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Neighbors add Cheekwood as defendant in lawsuit over gardens' operations
