Rezoning Fairmount Avenue Apartments will kill the Chattanooga Housing Authority's plan to demolish and rebuild the complex, but if that happens, CHA officials say they'll simply renovate current buildings and bring in new public housing residents.
"The community will have people of low income living there," said Betsy McCright, CHA's executive director.
Using a $4.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, CHA wants to build greener, more energy-efficient buildings at the complex, located in North Chattanooga. The authority also planned to use strict guidelines for deciding who can live there, including proof that residents have jobs and no criminal records, Ms. McCright said.
"Now you can see the question," she said. "Is it better to have a green site, brand-new apartments with a tenant selection plan ... or is it better for us just to renovate apartments that were targeted for demolition?"
Mayor Ron Littlefield, who adamantly opposes the project, said CHA is making "a thinly veiled threat."
"If you don't let us do what we want to do, we're going to do something worse," he said. "They think that's a way to get their way."
Pete Lapina, spokesperson for the North Chattanooga Friends of Fairmount neighborhood group, said that even if CHA renovates and fills the current complex with low-income people, Fairmount Avenue homeowners appreciate knowing that, whenever the complex is demolished, it will be zoned for fewer people.
"We won't reap the benefits, but the rezoning will protect the neighborhood down the road," he said.
The complex currently is zoned for a high-density apartment complex and the City Council is examining whether it can be rezoned to a townhome-type zoning that limits the number of units to eight to 10.
If it is rezoned, Ms. McCright said, CHA must return the $4.2 million to HUD and use money it has on hand to renovate the units.
"If eight to 10 townhomes are allowed, the grant is dead," she said.
PDF: Fairmount Traffic Study VolkertIf you go* CHA will host its monthly board meeting at 801 N. Holtzclaw Ave. at 12:30 p.m. today* CHA officials will meet with City Council in the Council meeting room at 2:30 p.m. today* The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Agency will discuss the results of its zoning study concerning Fairmount Avenue on the fourth floor of the county courthouse at 1 p.m. on Feb. 8.THE STORY SO FARThe Chattanooga Housing Authority has proposed to demolish and rebuild its Fairmount Avenue Apartments, creating a complex with 36 units with 56 bedrooms. Using a $4.2 million HUD grant, the housing authority has said the new complex would be energy-efficient and green.Neighbors and Mayor Ron Littlefield complained about the plan, saying the proposed complex is too large with too many people on a narrow street.The City Council approved a resolution to place a 120-day moratorium on building permits on Fairmount Avenue. The council also approved a study to be conducted on rezoning the complex from apartments to townhomes, which would only have eight to 10 units.
The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Agency is expected to present the results of the rezoning study at its monthly board meeting on Feb. 8.
City zoning laws state that if a building is rezoned it must be vacant for 100 days before the new zoning kicks in. Ms. McCright said CHA has no intention of simply giving up the property by letting it go vacant. By renovating the units and bringing in new tenants, she said, the authority can keep the complex as long as it's used for public housing.
Mr. Littlefield argued that the housing authority can always reapply for the HUD grant. He also said that whether CHA can renovate the buildings and put more people in after being rezoned would be subject to interpretation of zoning laws.
"That's debatable," he said. "A large part of those buildings have been vacant."
Currently the complex, built in 1977 with 48 units, only has a handful of people living in it. Ms. McCright said that since 2005, whenever someone leaves Fairmount Avenue Apartments the CHA has not filled the empty unit because the authority has been planning to demolish and rebuild it.
Fairmount Avenue Apartments is the only CHA-managed complex north of the Tennessee River.
Bonita Johnson, one of the few residents who still live in Fairmount, said she wouldn't be able to live in North Chattanooga without the complex.
"If you don't have the money you, won't be able to live here," she said.