Image: Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art, Nashville
Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art in Nashville is facing a legal challenge that could affect public access to the institution, with the Metro Board of Zoning Appeals scheduled to hear an appeal on August 20. According to a petition circulating in support of Cheekwood, the neighborhood opposition group Neighbors for Safety has filed a formal appeal demanding a Stop Work Order and has also sued the city of Nashville in Davidson County Chancery Court.
The dispute centers on whether Cheekwood may continue its current operations while parking and access issues are resolved. The petition says the group is seeking to halt all public use of Cheekwood’s property and to stop what it describes as further work connected to the site. Cheekwood’s supporters say the outcome could affect public programming and visitation, including school trips and seasonal events such as Holiday Lights and Cheekwood in Bloom, though those claims appear in the petition and not in a separate legal filing provided here.
Cheekwood, based in Nashville, is a museum and botanical garden whose public identity depends on both its gardens and its art programming. The petition says the institution has operated in its current form for 66 years and describes it as a cultural and historical landmark for the city. In the material provided, Cheekwood says it is complying with a legal agreement and supporting the creation of a shared access road.
The petition also presents Cheekwood’s side of the parking dispute. It says a Memorandum of Understanding with Metro Nashville requires the institution to remove parking from Metro Parks property by the end of December 2027 and build on-site parking instead. It further states that Cheekwood’s parking facility was legally permitted in May and that the new project will reduce overall visitor parking spaces from 810 to 750. Those assertions come from the petition text and were not independently detailed in the source material provided.
Another point of disagreement concerns a possible shared-use access drive from Highway 100. The petition says Cheekwood supports such a road and that a study commissioned by the Metro Planning Commission recommended further study of a shared access road serving both the parks and Cheekwood. It also says final decisions on location have not yet been made by Metro and that the Nashville Department of Transportation is responsible for determining where roads go and for building them. No additional municipal documents were provided here to verify those procedural claims.
Community supporters have responded with an online petition titled ‘SAVE CHEEKWOOD: Help protect our history and culture,’ which says the institution is an essential public resource. The petition describes Cheekwood as a place used by families, students and visitors and argues that the legal challenge threatens its ability to remain open. The Metro Board of Zoning Appeals hearing is set for August 20 in Nashville.
