The Pavilion on Panorama may get a small restaurant despite zoning restrictions that originally prohibited an eatery in the mixed-use development located at the corner of East Brainerd Road and Panorama Drive.
"When I first got the property rezoned a year and a half ago, I tried my best to bend over backwards to meet the needs of the neighbors who were complaining," said Pavilion on Panorama developer Matt Hullander, who also owns nearby Hullco Exteriors. "I removed the possibility of having restaurants but I didn't understand the city has several different definitions for restaurants."
He said he didn't realize that restriction meant he couldn't even open a coffee shop, tea room or sandwich place in the development, which is something he would like to bring in to complement other nearby businesses.
To make that a reality, Hullander recently applied to have the restriction lifted. The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Agency approved removing the restriction with the conditions that the restaurant remains small, closes by 11 p.m. and does not have any outdoor speakers. This decision is scheduled to go before the Chattanooga City Council at its regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday, Dec. 10 beginning at 6 p.m.
"My intention was never to have a full-blown, sit-down restaurant with a bar," said Hullander. "We've always tried our best to make [the development] a nice property, and we only see an eatery as improving the community and an advantage for people traveling up and down East Brainerd Road."
Some opposition to the restaurant has arisen from people in the community, most of whom opposed the property's original rezoning, he said. A group recently held a community meeting about the restaurant, which Hullander said he invited himself to so he could explain his intentions for the development.
"I understand their frustrations with all the problems they've have before I came along," he said, referencing developers in the past. "I'm really aggravated because I feel like there are very few neighbors voicing their opinions and I'm being treated unfairly."