An urban park for recreational vehicles is John Hawkins’ dream for just over six vacant acres of land off South Access Road and Randolph Circle, near Highway 153 and Harrison Pike.
But Hawkins’ dream is facing neighborhood opposition and will have to be refined and presented again if he wants the endorsement of Chattanooga planners.
Hawkins appeared Monday before the Chattanooga/Hamilton County Planning Commission to outline his plans for a park to accommodate 180 RVs, a residential unit for a full-time resort manager and security, an office, bath facilities and eight storage buildings. Hawkins came to ask for a variance from the set back rule.
“I’m not going to do anything but build a golf course [quality] RV park,” Hawkins said Monday.
He needs the property to be rezoned from agricultural use to commercial use to make the RV park happen.
But neighbors of his proposed resort — including a planning commissioner — were vocally opposed to the plan on Monday.
“Frankly, I’m a little bit surprised,” said Ralph Decicco, owner of several properties near the proposed resort.
Decicco said he was unaware of the proposed use for the property, only that it was up for rezoning, going into Monday’s meeting.
And he called Hawkins’ initial presentation, which included similar sites and a 40-slide PowerPoint — to commissioners “a bit of a dog and pony show.”
Decicco said the property floods and is almost squarely in the heart of Chattanooga’s geographic center.
“There is no RV park in the downtown of any city in America that I know of,” Decicco said.
But Hawkins said there are downtown RV parks in Denver, New Orleans, St. Louis and Nashville.
Chattanooga City Council member Yusuf Hakeem speaks in a meeting in this Aug. 12, 2014, photo.Other nearby residents said the roads surrounding the proposed RV resort already are cramped and in spotty disrepair.
“If you’re worried about the road, why haven’t you got it fixed yet?” Hawkins responded.
Yusuf Hakeem, city councilman and planning commissioner, was skeptical of Hawkins’ plans and found him abrasive.
“How do you see it enhances that community to have RVs in the area?” he asked.
“Tourism,” Hawkins rebutted.
Citing Hawkins’ responses to earlier skeptics, “I would suggest toning down your rhetoric when you go out to talk with people,” Hakeem said.
And later, “I suggest you get a PR person to go with you when you go to the neighborhood,” Hakeem added.
Hakeem pressed Hawkins on whether he had any experience developing something such as the proposed Chattanooga RV resort.
Hawkins said given his experience managing an RV resort in North Carolina — with more than 150 owners — he feels confident in his ability to pull this project off.
Don Moon, longtime local developer and sitting planning commissioner, told Hawkins that he is aware of urban RV parks, specifically in New Orleans, and that they aren’t necessarily great examples.
“I do know one in New Orleans that’s not first-class, and I do know one that’s nice,” he said.
Moon said he didn’t feel Hawkins brought enough to the table Monday to persuade him.
“You showed us what you could do. You didn’t show us what you will do,” he said. “The information’s too scanty for me.”
Eric Myers, architect at Elemi Architects and planning commissioner, suggested Hawkins take a 60-day deferral to get his information and plans together, and meet and hash out details with neighbors of the proposed RV resort.
The board, excluding Hakeem, voted in favor of the deferral.
Contact staff writer Alex Green at agreen@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6480.