Six Cities, Six Zoning Authorities
When the Metropolitan Charter was passed on 28 June 1962, six incorporated communities were allowed to retain their charters: Belle Meade, Berry Hill, Forest Hills, Oak Hill, Goodlettsville and Ridgetop. A seventh, Lakewood, dissolved its charter after a referendum on 15 March 2011.
They remain part of Metro Nashville and Davidson County for county-level purposes, and they kept their own police forces and their own zoning regulations. Since the short term rental scheme is built on zoning districts, that last point is the one that matters here.
So Do Metro's Permit Rules Apply Inside Them?
The Tax Position Differs Too
Properties in the satellite cities sit inside the General Services District and pay that rate, plus the satellite city's own rate where it levies one. Some do and at least one does not.
Tennessee assesses residential property at twenty-five per cent of appraised value, and Davidson County reappraises on a four-year cycle. After each reappraisal the certified tax rate mechanism adjusts the rate, and the Council may hold a public hearing and raise it, which has happened five times.
Why Does the Tax Position Matter After a Fire?
We publish no zoning rules, permit positions or tax rates for the individual satellite cities. Each sets its own and each will answer for your address, and the differences between them are real.
What Is Still Metro
Worth being precise about, because owners get this backwards in both directions. Metro remains the authority for county-level functions across the whole county, including property records, courts and the sheriff, and it serves as both the municipal and county-level authority for everywhere outside the six.
What the satellite cities hold is their own charters, their own elected officials, certain local ordinance authority, their own police and their own zoning. Everything else runs through Metro as it does elsewhere.
Housing Varies Enormously Across the Six
These are not a single kind of place. They range from among the wealthiest housing in Tennessee to small commercial and mixed districts, and a general statement about construction, values or buyer interest across all six would be worthless.
What holds across them is the process point: establish which authority governs your address before commissioning anything, because a design approved against the wrong rulebook is time and money spent twice.
The Satellite Cities in Context
Where later suburban housing sits in the General Services District under Metro zoning, see our page about Antioch, Donelson and southeast Davidson. Where zoning varies most sharply under Metro itself, see our page for South Nashville and Wedgewood-Houston.
The Dates and Numbers Behind the Six
The Metropolitan Charter passed on 28 June 1962. Six communities retained their charters and a seventh dissolved its own following a referendum on 15 March 2011.
Residential property is assessed at 25 per cent of appraised value, Davidson County reappraises on a four-year cycle with reappraisals in 2009, 2013 and 2017, and the Council has raised the rate above the certified figure five times. Permit requirements sit at section 6.28.030 with zoning treatment at sections 17.16.250 and 17.16.070.
Satellite City Questions
Which Authority Permits My Rebuild?
Ask the city if you are inside one of the six. Zoning is theirs and the Metro position is a guide rather than an answer.
Am I Even in One of Them?
The Assessor's record names the tax district and any satellite city, free. Addresses alone do not settle it.
Will You Buy Inside a Satellite City?
Yes, across all six and the surrounding county. The authority affects the process and therefore the figure, and it does not stop us buying.