More Info
Advisory Committee Member — ProfessionRick Roberts — Habitat for HumanityKristy Smedley — Environmental ScienceAlan Reimann — Electronics/SalesDavid Barto — Architect/Community FoundationDuane Horton — DeveloperScottie Neal — Finance/BankingSterling Jetton — Pastor/Friends of East BrainerdShaleigh Cronan — Realtor/ContractorAndy Hodes — RealtorDeWarren Washington — EngineerBob Kincaid — Engineer/Pilot/VeteranMike Steele — Payroll ServicesJay Bell — DeveloperRC Hoff — Planner/Educator (retired)Dean Moorehouse — Health Care (retired)Barry Payne — Developer/Regional Planning CommissionKelly Martin — City PlannerBobby Adamson — DeveloperCharles Adamson — DeveloperTom Lamb — Hamilton County ParksConnie Vaughan — McKee FoodsJake Stone — McKee Foods
Officials representing the East Hamilton area have formed an advisory committee that will work with the Regional Planning Agency to redo the area's comprehensive growth plan.
The 22-member panel, consisting of local developers, Realtors, engineers and other planning specialists, will meet each month for the next six to eight months. Serving as a focus group, the members will provide feedback and insight as the RPA constructs a plan to balance the incoming growth with needed services, such as road infrastructure, utilities, school and other resources.
"It's very hard for us to get down to details in these larger meetings with several hundred people," said Pam Glaser, RPA principal planner and advisory committee lead. "[With the committee,] we can talk to locals one on one in a much closer environment."
The committee will have a chance to weigh in on what growth in the area will look like, but residents will also get a chance to have their say.
The RPA plans to host a handful of public input meetings starting next month to take a look at the bigger picture in regards to growth. For the first meeting, residents will be asked to help determine a community vision for the future.
"To bring these areas together in a common vision is really the focus," Glaser said. "I hope the advisory committee will be cheerleaders for us [and] help us get people to the meetings."
The first meeting will be held on March 30 and again on April 1, though no location had been selected as of press time.
In the meantime, representatives from the RPA will be doing site visits of key locations in the East Hamilton area and calling on advisory members to meet them at each location in order to provide insider knowledge. The team will focus on preserving and building community character, Glaser explained, addressing the needs for each area while collaborating with locals to reimagine public spaces as centers that will draw visitors and make residents want to stay.
"We want to learn more about the community, and that's what we'll be doing in February," Glaser said.
She will also be working to put out an online survey for resident input, and is hoping to collect photos from locals of features they like in their community and things they think need improvement.
The need for a new comprehensive growth plan for the East Hamilton area, which encompasses East Brainerd, Collegedale, Ooltewah, Apison and Summit, is not new. With the exception of Collegedale, which updated its growth plan last year, most of the plans set for the area are outdated. For instance, the East Brainerd Corridor Community Plan was adopted in 2003.
Despite the lack of planning, East Hamilton, labeled "Area 12" during the RPA's recent 12-part segmentation of the region, has been confirmed as the fastest-growing sector in the county.
It will make up 32 percent of the coming housing demand, the latest market studies have shown, which is a larger share than any other sector - even the Hixson/Red Bank area, which comes in second with a projected market share of 15 percent.
"That's like a third of the pie," Glaser said in regards to the East Hamilton area, explaining that another 13,000 households will be needed there by 2026.
Combined with Hamilton Place, the area is also expected to draw 18 percent of the coming commercial growth - a figure rivaled only by downtown Chattanooga, which will draw 40 percent.
"This is our first area plan out of the gate," said RPA Executive Director John Bridger. "You all are the first ones out of the box for good reason: You have a high growth area and there's no plan. That's not good."
While East Hamilton is being touted as a place everyone wants to live, with new businesses, park investments and greenway potential listed among some of the many draws, advisory committee members say they hope the formation of the panel will help make the planning for that coming growth proactive instead of reactive.
"Problem seems to be there is no plan until after the fact," said advisory committee member Bob Kincaid. "That's kind of not the way we ought to do things. Hopefully this will change that."
Email Myron Madden at mmadden@timesfreepress.com.