White Oak area planners ask for more resident input

Planning officials are calling on residents of the White Oak Mountain Area to once again provide input as they rework the district's comprehensive growth plan for the next 10 years.

After kicking off the process with input sessions in March, the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Agency started its second round of public meetings this Monday with residents in the Ooltewah area, and will host two similar meetings for residents in nearby sub-areas over the next week.

The first, on July 27, will focus on the community vision for residents in the Apison, East Brainerd, Ooltewah-Ringgold, and Parker's Gap area. The second, on Aug. 3, will focus on the vision for the Summit, Apison Pike, Ooltewah-Ringgold and Standifer Gap areas.

Attendees at last week's Ooltweah meeting were divided into groups and given maps of their sub-area, which includes Ooltewah-Georgetown Road, Lee Highway and "Old" Ooltewah. They were then asked to mark areas where they'd like to see different developmental features, like single-family residential, commercial centers or greenway connections. They also had the option to mark areas they thought should be priorities or should be left untouched.

White Oak Mountain Area residents will have a chance to provide feedback to area planners by marking on RPA maps like these during upcoming public input meetings. (Contributed photo)

"That feedback and hearing from the community very much shapes the [comprehensive growth] plan recommendation and that future vision for the area," said RPA principal planner Pam Glaser. "Their participation is just crucial."

The previous community meetings were meant to gather information about the unique features and overall qualities important to members of the White Oak Mountain Area community, Glaser explained. The current meetings will help planners take the next step toward forming a concrete community vision by obtaining residents' opinions on potential ideas for land use and having them share their desires.

"It's about taking what's already there and then thinking about what they'd like to see in the future," Glaser said.

The meetings will be followed up with a second, more focused online survey for residents of each sub-area in early August, she added.

In the meantime, she recommends residents keep up to date on the process by subscribing for White Oak Area Plan updates at chcrpa.org.