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Lana Sutton
Chattanooga planners on Monday approved changes to plans for a 316-unit apartment complex on East Brainerd Road that has drawn fire from area residents.
Jack Vincent, an opponent who lives nearby, said the apartments would create a bottleneck on Panorama Drive.
Some residents have said they believe the apartments will pave the way for further commercial development of that stretch of East Brainerd Road, which is a mixture of commercial and residential.
The plan approved on Monday was created to reduce the impact of the construction process on the neighbors, said Mike Price, of MAP Engineers, who represented the developers.
The previous plan called for 100,000 cubic yards of earth to be removed from the site, creating 10,000 truckloads, he said. Now, all the soil will remain on site, reducing construction traffic, Mr. Price said.
The complex would be built at the corner of East Brainerd Road at Panorama Drive by Flournoy Development Co.
The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission approved a new site plan for the Amberleigh Ridge complex, replacing a site plan that had been approved in October.
Residents had mixed opinions about the project. Former Hamilton County Sheriff John Cupp, who lives nearby, said that he does not like the development plans but believes that the apartments would be better than other possible uses.
But Lana Sutton said the apartments will destroy property values and are not compatible with the surrounding houses.
She said the project had been pushed through without full neighborhood input last fall when the planning commission approved the original apartment zoning plan. Some residents had been informed before the meeting the case had been dropped from the agenda and did not know the case had been added back to the agenda at the last minute, she said.
“It will change the character of our neighborhood,” said Ms. Sutton.
The apartment plan calls for a 75 yard-deep section fronting the road that cannot be developed commercially, Mr. Price said.
Bryan Foster, with Flournoy Development, said the apartments would be upscale, similar to the company’s Haven at Commons Park near Gunbarrel Road. Flournoy has a contract to buy the property, he said.
In response to questions from commissioners, Mr. Foster said Flournoy is awaiting financing for the project.
The Chattanooga City Council will consider the case in April.
It would be important to note that this project did not pass unanimously. Meeting minutes will show that planners lamented that the rezoning puts high density apartments squarely in an established neighborhood. Thank you for pointing out that this rezoning originally passed after opponents were told by their City Councilman/Planning Commissioner Jack Benson that the rezoning had been withdrawn, even as he invited approving neighbors to attend. East Brainerd Neighbors will be protesting the City Council not to approve such a detraction to our property values at the next City Council meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, April 14 at 6 p.m., 1000 Lindsey Street. This cheap, high-density, 25-acre threat to our property values will tower over East Brainerd Road from high atop Panorama Ridge at Panorama Road. The amendments that keep the developer from having to grade the ridge to lower the apartments profile, will forever change the skyline and cheapen the character of East Brainerd. They keep the rezoning from reverting back to R-1 zoning, even if the developer fails to get financing. All along, Benson has only met with certain neighbors, some of whom have sold their property to another planning commissioner. It is alarming about the state of rezonings here that Benson was a high-visibility broker for this land deal on behalf of the developer, not his constituents, whose property value will decline as this 3-story monstrosity starts to shadow our ridge. Now we have 316 units of apartments moving in our backyards, in no small part because Planning Commissioner/County Commissioner Bill Hullander failed to recuse himself from voting for this project despite owning Hullco on the block next door. I've been told this is how business is done in Chattanooga. Does Hullander's advertisements in all the local press have something to do with the lack of coverage on this? He and his son also have interest in several other properties fronting East Brainerd Road right next door to the rezoning. I asked the Planning Commission to adopt an ethics code to keep Hullander and other commissioners from making such self-serving votes. I also asked the commission to investigate Benson's misrepresenting this project to opponents, while using fear tactics to get other neighbors to approve of it. He misinformed my neighbors that our current R-1 zoning, which protected us from cheap apartments on the $2.4 million, 25 acre parcel, would permit high-density construction. That flim flam is how he got them to fall for the R-3 zoning that really will allow such high density. Now we've lost the R-1 protection, and more rezonings will surely follow. This rezoning should be reversed. Benson's telling neighbors it was withdrawn nullifies the public notification system, which was flawed because of the lack of visible rezoning signage for the first rezoning approval in October, and the cryptic ad in the legal organ. Lana Sutton http://www.myspace.com/chattanooganative
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