Devin Schultz briefly turned the Metro Stormwater Commission’s sleepy midday meeting into a courtroom drama. Snark, rhetorical questions, allegations, pleas and tears marked the public hearing on a stormwater variance sought by Cypressbrook, a real estate developer behind the 417-unit Ariza complex in Bellevue.
The city has struggled to complete its piecemeal greenway system across the city. Private property rights, legal hurdles, easements, project planning, and funding have left many segments in purgatory.
Lawfare, including a recent federal suit filed by Schultz, has prevented Cypressbrook from breaking ground on Ariza, a large real estate project approved by the Metro Council in 2023 and situated in a bend of the Harpeth River. Metro previously conditioned its multifamily project on extending the Harpeth River Greenway Trail.
A potential overstep by the city is the latest lawsuit in a Bellevue battle against the 417-unit Ariza complex
The stormwater commission previously granted Cypressbrook’s variance, which expired as the builder faced complications. Advocates repeatedly refer to the extension as a “missing link” in the greenway system. The body again approved the variance on Thursday over neighbors’ concerns and looming litigation.
Schultz wears two useful hats — a professional torts and contract attorney, he is also the president of the Harpeth Crest Homeowners’ Association with a property claim to the proposed greenway site. Destructive flooding in 2010 swelled the Harpeth River, and neighbors fear further development — specifically the proposed greenway extension — will make flooding worse. Neighbors remember the disaster and still suffer its consequences.
“I had anticipated that I would pay my home off before I retired,” said Anne Gwin, who lives near the Ariza site, during the stormwater commission’s public hearing Thursday. “I have been retired for 11 years. My home will never be paid off in my lifetime because of all the loans I had to take when the flood happened.”
These fears, combined with legal arguments formulated by Schultz, have fueled neighborhood resistance to the Ariza plan for at least five years. Schultz began his comments by distributing printed exhibits to the commissioners, a lawyerly flourish.
“The HOA owns the 12.2-acre parcel where they’re extending the greenway,” Schultz reiterated to stormwater commissioners. “We own that property. They’ve never asserted an ownership claim to that property. They have no ownership claim to that property.”
Schultz, as well as Vanderbilt law professor Jim Rossi, emphasized the applicable legal standard to the stormwater commission: no rise. The applicant, Cypressbrook, must show no increased flood risk. Schultz’s most recent suit was dismissed in June but can be revived now that the stormwater commission has issued a ruling.
Metropolitik: For more than 20 years, the greenway system has struggled to evolve from recreational to functional in a car-focused city
“The gentleman who just spoke filed four lawsuits against my client and the Metro government,” added an attorney for Cypressbrook. “That’s part of the reason we’ve been delayed getting back in front of you. They will not stop. They will likely sue after this hearing.”
While Schultz drives opposition, other neighbors see the greenway as an enormous public benefit for all residents.
“It’s time to stop delaying and start building,” stated Eric Wyse, who lives next to the proposed Ariza site. “Bellevue needs this project. We need more housing, better infrastructure and greenway connectivity that improves quality of life for everyone in this community.”
Cypressbrook’s variance took up more than two hours of the Thursday meeting. Another variance, sought by a new coffee shop along Richland Creek, would allow the area’s popular greenway loop to extend across Charlotte Pike. Today, the site is an empty parking lot next to Japanese restaurant Ichiban.
“Properties on greenways are highly valuable because of that location and that asset — especially things like a coffee shop, I would imagine,” said Nathan Oliver, a commissioner and landscaping architect. “I think there’s an opportunity both ways to really have something that’s a benefit to the community.”
The greenway's specific location and dimensions, and its position relative to the floodway, are not yet final. Commissioners sent the coffee shop proposal back to the developer pending more discussion with Metro.
