Chattanooga: Disputed building feature approved

Planning officials on Monday approved a modification to a four-story North Shore building to bring the structure into zoning compliance.

The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission approved a slight modification to a 12-foot screen surrounding the cooling system on the roof of The Terrace at Frazier. The building, which was built by Jimmy Hudson, is at the corner of Frazier Avenue and Tremont Street.

“The guidelines do not address the height of mechanical equipment,” said Bill Wilkerson, a spokesman for Mr. Hudson and an architect with Derthick, Henley & Wilkerson Architects.

Sid Huntley, chairman of the North Shore Review Committee, said that while the group does not have control over mechanical equipment, it does have control over issues like screening.

The review committee in 2005 approved a 12-foot-high screen on top of the building after reviewing Mr. Hudson’s building proposal, planning commission documents show.

The modification will allow developers to add a cosmetic feature called a cornice to the stucco screen, meaning it will be more attractive, Mr. Wilkerson said. The cornice will be the same height as the screen, but will extend the length and width by about a foot. The cornice will be added sometime in the next two months, before the developers apply for a certificate of occupancy, he said.

The screening became an issue in March after a North Shore resident complained to city officials that the air-conditioner chiller extended above the 12-foot screen, according to planning commission documents. The review committee notified Mr. Hudson he needed approval for the screening and on June 26 denied two options he presented for screen modifications.

Mr. Wilkerson, a former review committee member, said that in 2005 the developers thought a 12-foot-high screen would be adequate.

Mr. Huntley said that any changes to the building’s plans should have been submitted to the committee before construction.

Wil Womack, who until recently was a member of the design committee, said that North Shore residents think the building is too high and that developers should have to stick to their initial building plans.

Mr. Womack’s wife, Pam, said that the review committee has been stripped of its authority over time.

“There’s always some technicality,” she said.

Mr. Hudson, however, said that the building review process works.