ATLANTA — The Metro Council in Nashville rejected a contentious $100 million flood-protection proposal Tuesday night that had been criticized for focusing on the downtown area at the expense of other, lower-profile neighborhoods in the Tennessee capital. The proposal had been heavily promoted by Mayor Karl Dean.  The council voted, 19 to 18, to remove the funding for the flood control system, which included a flood wall and a pumping system, from the capital improvement budget of the combined city-county government. It was a notable defeat for Mr. Dean, who will leave office in September after two terms in office, in accordance with term limits.  Mr. Dean had promoted the system as one of many ways the city could protect Nashville from future flooding of the Cumberland River and other waterways after a deluge and flood in May 2010 killed 10 people in Davidson County, which encompasses the city, and damaged or destroyed 11,000 properties. But the system became the subject of a debate over spending priorities that many other communities are grappling with as they face the possibility of more intense flooding because of climate change.  In Nashville, some critics said the downtown flood protection proposal would have protected only a few high-profile assets, like the symphony hall and a new convention center. They argued that the money would be better spent buying and demolishing homes in flood-prone areas.  The council also rejected financing on Tuesday for two other proposals the mayor supported: a jail consolidation plan and a new police headquarters on the north side of the city. Tim Garrett, a member of the Metro Council, said that more time and information was needed to adequately consider the plans.  “I haven’t seen anything about the flood wall, any type of engineering report, and neither did anybody else for that matter,” Mr. Garrett said Wednesday morning.  Michael Cass, a spokesman in the mayor’s office, said that Mr. Garrett and other council members had “multiple opportunities to learn about the proposal,’’ including a May 4 special committee meeting in which council members were briefed by the city’s water services director.  In a statement, Mr. Dean noted that the city had had two major floods in his eight years in office.  “Moving forward with the flood protection system would have been the responsible thing to do as we work to protect all of Nashville from future floods,” he said.
The Metro Council voted to drop the plan, despite backing by the mayor and years after a devastating and deadly flood in Tennessee’s capital in 2010.