WHAT’S NEXT
The developer of a proposed South Broad Street Publix supermarket was given up to 60 days to work with planners and neighbors to address concerns.
A proposal for a new Publix off South Broad Street ran into a roadblock Monday as planners and neighbors pressed a developer for a more urban look and feel to the supermarket.
"This plan is very far away from the millions of dollars in investment put into the area," said Blythe Bailey, a Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission member, at a meeting. "It behooves the development team to really work hard to get something acceptable."
What many people indicated they want is for the developer to move at least some of the store up against South Broad rather than putting the building at the rear of the 4-acre lot with parking in front. Such a shift close to the street would meet much of the existing zoning demands of the site and ultimately bolster property values in the neighborhood, they said.
"We don't need big-box shopping," said Lindsey Willke, who lives in the area. "We'll be interested in what they come back with."
The Planning Commission gave Alliance Realty Services up to 60 days to come back with changes for the proposed 32,000-square-foot store.
Derek Blackwood of MAP Engineers, which is teaming with the developer, said he's willing to return to the drawing board and talk with planners. They'll see if they can make the store work on the site with current urban general commercial zoning instead of C-2 commercial, which was requested by the developer.
Earlier, however, Blackwood had told planners about the problems of moving the store to the road, saying the triangular tract that formerly held the Mt. Vernon restaurant at South Broad and St. Elmo Avenue made it difficult to put the supermarket against the street.
Such a layout, he said, wouldn't promote easy access to the tract. Also, Blackwood said, placing the store against the road would chop up the parking lot. He said it's not feasible to build a parking garage on the property.
Last week, a MAP Engineers official said at a community meeting that the grocer would walk away from the project if C-2 zoning couldn't be secured.
Blackwood said Monday there's a need for the store, and he believed there is "a lot of support for this."
Ann Weeks, president emeritus of the South Broad Redevelopment Group, said most people in that part of the city want such a store.
But she noted the investment put into the South Broad area and St. Elmo in recent years. Weeks sought a 30-day deferral of the rezoning proposal as the developer worked with planners and neighbors to find a solution to "keep the integrity" of urban general commercial zoning.
At least nine people at the meeting expressed concerns about the developer's plan for the store.
Lauren Dunn of Tennessee Avenue said people like the UGC zoning that puts buildings on the street and promotes a more dense development along with a more creative design.
"We don't want empty big-box stores," she said. "What's this going to look like in 25 years?"
Jim Johnson of Chattanoogans for Responsible Development said he likes Publix and, in fact, shops at the grocer's North Shore store.
He said the South Broad Publix needs to "follow an urban, mixed-use model." Johnson said the approval of the developer's zoning request "opens up a Pandora's box of poor development options.
He said online petitions for and against the proposed store have drawn nearly 2,000 responses. He said 939 people didn't want the developer's vision of the store, though that didn't mean they were anti-Publix.
Bert Kuykendall said a change was made on the North Shore Publix when people protested about that store, and one side was put up against the street.
Such urban design creates places where people want to walk, he said, citing plans for a leg of the Tennessee Riverwalk to be built near the South Broad store.
Helen Burns Sharp, a former planner, recalled that people in an Oregon community put up opposition to a planned Costco and the chain came up with a plan reflecting a more urban design.
Bailey, the planning commission member, suggested that the developer work with the Chattanooga Design Studio, which recently oversaw a recently completed South Broad District plan.
"It will be a great resource," he said.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.