Annex plan faces another lawsuit

Those adamantly opposed to Chattanooga's plans for annexing land across Hamilton County said they are receiving more support from people who understand how the annexation process might not be in their best interests.

Bill Reesor, a board member of Hamilton County Residents Against Annexation, said the group's third round of lawsuits to stop the annexations, filed Thursday and backed by those who own commercial property, is the best example yet of the growing support for their cause against the city of Chattanooga.

"We're having more response than we ever expected initially," Mr. Reesor said Thursday. "The commercial folks are realizing more and more how these annexations could affect them."

The lawsuits filed Thursday seek to stop the annexations of two commercial properties along the southern end of Old Lee Highway in the Summit area.

The group's fight has been bolstered in recent weeks by their new attorney David Buuck, a Knoxville lawyer who has a reputation across Tennessee for taking on annexation fights on behalf of residents.

Mr. Buuck said Thursday that "I've filed these lawsuits because they're good lawsuits."

While records show that he has lost but also won many such lawsuits, Mr. Buuck said the cases have not been brought to stop the city from doing its business. He declined to talk further about the merits of the cases.

Mr. Buuck made his statements in response to recent comments by Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield's office that the group of lawsuits seeking to block the city's annexation process simply is a stalling tactic that "delays the inevitable."

Mr. Littlefield's office reiterated the same sentiment Thursday.

The lawsuits filed Thursday follow two recent companion rounds of lawsuits filed in Hamilton County Chancery Court that seek to stop the annexations of the Ramsgate community and an area off Big Ridge Road, as well as a residential area east of Morris Hill Road in East Brainerd and a mainly commercial area along Hunter Road in Ooltewah.

All six lawsuits claim the city never has established how the annexations would benefit the "health, welfare and safety" of the residents affected. According to state law, municipalities must meet that burden, Mr. Buuck said, and cannot annex land solely for the purpose of increased revenue.

Those opposed to the annexations claim the city's driving motivation is money to offset the effects of a bad economy.

The mayor defended the annexations, saying Chattanooga is a "textbook case of why and how a city should grow through annexation," especially considering all the urban growth expected in the near future with the arrival of Volkswagen.

He said all those annexed will receive better fire and police services and the protection of a city government that has the power to enforce codes and ordinances.

Mr. Reesor said he remains "amused" that the city continues to blow off the lawsuits.

"Mayor Littlefield thinks we're like a gadfly on the wall," he said. "Well, we're not going away. He thinks this will all be over by April, but it will take much longer than that to litigate, and the law will decide."