Representatives of a nonprofit health and lifestyle center told the Chattanooga City Council Tuesday night they are seeking to be de-annexed from the city.
The Institute of Health and Healing, which operates the Wildwood Lifestyle Center, was added to the city by ordinance in 1995, according to Phil Noblett, deputy city attorney. The property includes about 600 acres, 390 of which are in Tennessee, with the remainder in Georgia. The only entrance to the property is through Georgia.
The Wildwood Lifestyle Center is a ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. It provides educational, health, business and evangelistic services to its local and worldwide communities, according to its website.
The institute's reason for requesting to remove itself is based on its inability to build staff housing on its 390 acres on the Tennessee side due to zoning restrictions. The city denied a petition to rezone the property from R1 to R3 in 2006 that would have allowed multiple houses to be built on the property.
"They're turning away staff that they need because they cannot build anymore on their Tennessee side," the institute's attorney, Cynthia Tolbert, said during Tuesday night's public hearing.
Tolbert said the institute never requested annexation into the city, and it is paying the city for services it does not receive, including garbage pick-up, water and sewer systems, and animal control.
"It's detrimentally affecting their ability to provide a service," Tolbert said. "This is not a corporation that is making money off of people."
City Councilwoman Carol Berz said she thought there was an issue of miscommunication, because the attorney's argument did not agree with what the council's current process is to address issues of rezoning. Additionally, she said two things gave her pause.
Berz said she wanted to understand why the city denied the petition in 2006 and why the institute pays taxes despite it being a nonprofit organization.
Noblett said he thinks the institute officials should discuss its options concerning taxes with the county assessor's office.
"Clearly, if it's for a church purpose for a church building, there would be no taxation associated with that," he said. "There was also some discussion about whether there is a school building on the property for school usage, and that church school would also be exempt from taxation."
Noblett said he thinks some of the issues the institute brought up could be resolved without deannexation.
Regional Planning Agency Executive Director John Bridger said he would get more information from the institute about what type of buildings it is trying to develop. He also apologized if there was miscommunication about what the center's options are.
"We'll figure out what happened," he said.
In addition to the public hearing about the institute's de-annexation, the annexation of the Lookout Mountain Conservancy was set to be discussed, but was postponed until it can pass through the planning commission.
The discussion about the stormwater runoff ordinance, which considers lowering the retention requirement from the current 1.6 inches of rain to only 1 inch, was postponed until next week. That is when the department of public works will hold a presentation to educate the council on what effects the ordinance might have.
Contact staff writer Rosana Hughes at rhughes@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6327. Follow her on Twitter @HughesRosana.