At the latest meeting of the Hixson Community Review Committee, city officials, committee members and developer Duane Horton discussed issues such as traffic, stormwater and grading in relation to the proposed Chattanooga Village development at Highway 153 and Boy Scout Road.
Louis Higgins, a resident of the neighboring King's Ridge subdivision who was sitting in for committee member Charles Elliott, also a resident of King's Ridge, said at the meeting he became aware of a few new facts that make him more comfortable with the development.
"I was not aware that the most he [Horton] can develop at one time is 50 acres, which I find fairly comforting," Higgins said, adding that his main concerns about the development involve traffic and stormwater runoff. "I'm still a little hesitant about traffic, and I think there will be a runoff problem."
Higgins said he is not comfortable that the developer's plans for stormwater runoff are capable of handling the quantity of stormwater at the site.
"I'm concerned with what winds up in the creek now," he said. "They gave us about the best answer that they could, but they didn't really have an answer."
Most committee members seem satisfied with the information supplied to them during meetings of the committee, which was formed by Chattanooga City Council members Chip Henderson, Ken Smith and Jerry Mitchell, who represent the area.
"I truly appreciate the City Council for setting up this committee meeting," said Higgins. "I think it's the appropriate thing to do."
"I've been impressed with the amount of information the developers have brought to us," said Geoff Holden, committee member and president of the Hixson Kiwanis Club. "I feel a lot better about the project than when it first came up a couple of months ago."
Committee member Ellie Wallis, a resident of the neighboring Sunset Pointe subdivision, said she feels the process has been successful in answering her own questions and those of other committee members, but she still feels the public is not receiving enough information about the project.
"I like the transparency it's offered, but I do wish the public was a little more involved," she said. "I can't contact everyone in Hixson. I can post on Facebook until I'm blue in the face, but it's hard to reach everyone as an individual with a normal nine-to-five job."
Wallis suggested that live streams of the meetings made available to the public could help alleviate the problem.