Nashville, TN Tree Protection: Protected Tree Species (2026)
Key Facts
- Section
- Metropolitan Code § 17.28.060
- Standard
- Reasonable effort to preserve, no numeric minimum
- Applies to
- Residential subdivisions and multifamily development
- Review body
- Metro Planning Commission
- Tool
- Conservation development option under Title 17
Summary
Metro requires residential subdivisions and multifamily projects on land with a designated Cedar Glade environment to make reasonable efforts to preserve it, using the conservation development option in Title 17.
A residential subdivision or multifamily development proposed on land containing a designated Cedar Glade environment shall make all reasonable effort to preserve that environment through the use of conservation development afforded by this title.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 53 | Charter: Republication 9).
Full Breakdown
Metro's zoning code protects Cedar Glade plant communities, the limestone glade habitat distinctive to the Nashville Basin, when they fall within a proposed residential subdivision or multifamily development site. Section 17.28.060 requires the developer to make all reasonable effort to preserve the designated Cedar Glade environment, using the conservation development provisions of Title 17 to cluster lots away from the glade rather than grading through it. The Metro Planning Commission reviews compliance at final site plan approval; the section sets no fixed acreage or numeric preservation minimum, leaving the reasonable-effort standard to case-by-case review.
Violations & Fines
No fixed fine is set in this section; noncompliance blocks final site plan approval by the Metro Planning Commission, which can require redesign using conservation development to preserve the glade before signing off.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Nashville require developers to protect Cedar Glades?
What is a Cedar Glade under Metro's code?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Nashville
Compare Nashville to another location·View the Tennessee tree protection overview
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