Collegedale officials say their low property tax rate combined with their recently adopted new design standards will entice quality developers to build in the area.
Ethan White, the newest Collegedale City Commission member elected last week, said he hopes the new regulations will help the development process run more smoothly throughout the city.
“I think they’ve made some changes that will make things a little bit more fluid and keep property values up. … We have a standard of what we’re looking for and I think these will help us achieve them while still allowing us to make exceptions,” he said.
White also said he hopes the new standards will help Collegedale seem appealing to homebuyers who are looking for a community with planned growth and quality assurance.
“We don’t want to look poorly planned,” he said. “We want to grow effectively and intentionally.”
Collegedale Strategic Planner Kelly Martin said the now-streamlined development process, combined with a tax rate nearly half of Chattanooga’s ($1.34 per $100 of assessed value versus $2.31 per $100), will help ensure Collegedale remains attractive to the right developers.
“I think it will be easier now for architects and developers – an architect will be allowed to be an architect and not forced into a smaller box,” he said.
While the new design standards will correct problems city commissioners faced with the previous standards, such as building-material limitations which left little room for creativity, they will also provide the commission more power to allow exceptions to the rules, said Kelly.
“We don’t want to limit the architect’s ability to create an architecturally interesting design,” he said.”It gives us more leeway and will give the [city] Design Commission more leeway whereas before, the ordinance did not give them that authority.”
The old standards, which were created in 2011 in response to increased development in the area, stated a maximum of no more than 50 percent of any building material could be used. However, when developers wanted to design an all-brick or stone building, this proved to be a problem, Martin said.
The solution to the problem was an update to the standards, which created a minimum percentage required instead of a maximum. Martin said this will allow designers who want to go above the standards to do so without fear of any issues arising.