A public forum concerning the former Red Bank Middle School property that was scheduled for Nov. 8 has been canceled. With that being Election Day, officials said they didn’t expect many people to attend.
Another forum is scheduled for Dec. 13. During the first, held at City Hall Oct. 11, one resident suggested that the meeting place be moved to the community center to encourage more participation, and more information about the possibilities be provided by officials before giving people time to speak.
Another resident suggested the city have several design teams each submit a concept for judging, and then have a feasibility study done for the winning design(s).
“A feasibility study is really important,” agreed resident Emily O’Donnell.
She also voiced another recurring sentiment: a desire to see the property retain much of its green space.
“I thought, ‘What do I live in Red Bank for?'” said Kate Skonberg. “It’s green spaces. We talk about the North Shore. It happened because of Coolidge Park, not the other way around.”
In her campaign for not developing the middle school property, O’Donnell pointed to the amount of existing retail space sitting unused around the city.
When one resident worried about a different kind of development – apartments – at the site, Mayor John Roberts assured her the property will not be developed into apartments nor a strip mall.
“Think about different ways of how we come together as a community, and go from there,” he encouraged the roughly 15 citizens in attendance. “We’re trying to look at all the ideas and utilize the property as best as possible,” Roberts said, adding, “We have made trips different places and looked at different designs for the property.”
Commissioner Terry Pope said he particularly liked Cambridge Square, a multi-use development in Ooltewah that incorporates local retail and restaurants into a town square-like setting with characteristic architecture, fountains, walkways and attractive landscaping.
“The footprint is about the same size as we have with the old school property,” Pope noted.
Citizen Darin Wright recommended modeling it after a different development – Atlanta’s Inman Park – where local restaurants are brought together under one roof, sharing space with condos and offices in the historic garden suburb.
“We could do this in Red Bank,” she said. “There are lots of foodies in this whole area. Let’s be the people who have really cool local restaurants. Make it a destination. Make it fun.
“We need to be a destination other people come to instead of us going out.”
While exactly how to do that is still on the drawing board, both officials and citizens agreed that is the property’s purpose.
“Due to some things we couldn’t control, the school [property] has taken some time, but even though it’s been four years, we don’t want to hurry,” said Commissioner Eddie Pierce. “We want it to be something the city – all residents – can be proud of and bring people here.”
Still, Wright said, it’s time to make a move. She referenced similar meetings held over the years concerning not only the property in question but the city as a whole. In 2014, a visioning session led to the creation of the Red Bank 2035 plan.
“I feel like we’ve done this before, we had these meetings,” she said. “Now we need to get something done.”