Waddey Acheson clients "Friends of Belle Meade Boulevard" and the descendants of the late Luke Lea are featured today in a Nashville Scene article about proposed changes that has growing opposition.

Last month, Waddey Acheson attorney Chanelle Acheson filed a Davidson County Chancery Court lawsuit against the City of Belle Meade over proposed walkways down the median of Belle Meade Boulevard.

The grassroots group "alleges Belle Meade violated its own 2018 law requiring written approval from all residents on the affected street before a new sidewalk can be put in."

According to the Scene, "legal documents also claim the city failed to give proper notice and did not follow certain environmental procedures. Finally, plaintiffs say sidewalks may constitute a public nuisance."

“The City’s plan to construct sidewalks in a predominantly residential roadway threatens increased pedestrian-vehicle conflicts and noise, unreasonably interfering with public safety and enjoyment," wrote Scene reporter Eli Motycka. 

The case is currently pending in Chancery Court after Chancellor Patricia Head Moskal recused herself from the case.

A few blocks away, descendants of the late Luke Lea are questioning a Metro Nashville Planning Commission study about building a road through Percy Warner Park to connect Highway 100 and Cheekwood.

Lea, a former U.S. senator and publisher of The Tennessean,  donated 868 acres to the city in 1927 for the land to be used as a park in perpetuity. The Percy Warner Park opened later that year.

In January, the Planning Commission released a study with various options of relieving neighborhood congestion and parking issues for Cheekwood. One of the options is a road from  Highway 100 through the park to Cheekwood, which immediately drew complaints and sparked a "Protect the Park" petition that has some 4,000 signatures on it. 

The Lea descendants believe that violating the long-standing covenant of the land could void the agreement, which would revert the land back to Lea's family members. The family has considered legal action to support their claim.