Mountain Creek resident Steve Hunt said he would love to have a “world class park” featuring mountain biking and hiking trails, bouldering and areas for picnicking, but not if it also means the building of more apartments near his Mountain Creek home.
Hunt is one of seven residents in the area who have formed Friends of Mountain Creek in an effort to have a say in how home builder James Pratt III develops what used to be the Quarry golf course near Mountain Creek and Reads Lake roads. Also part of the discussion around the future of the area is the North Chickamauga Creek Conservancy, which was given almost 200 acres on the side of Walden’s Ridge by the late Jack McDonald.
The land stretches from the W Road on the side of the mountain to the area where Quarry clubhouse and first and second holes were. Pratt’s original proposal sought to put 56 owner-occupied townhomes, 47 rental townhomes, 40 single-family units and 10 apartments on the property. This latest plan calls for putting single-family homes and high-density rental properties on 32 of the 52 acres Pratt now owns and leaving the remaining 22 as greenways, including an area that would provide access to the proposed Walden’s Ridge Park.
Pratt and the neighbors have been involved in a dispute over project for more than two years. Pratt is suing the city of Chattanooga over a rezoning plan for the property, which Pratt claims would render the site worthless.
The land where the former Quarry golf course stood, was not zoned for development during that time but was changed when then-owners wanted to add a bar to the course’s clubhouse. The course eventually closed, with the new zoning laws in tact, and Pratt bought the property to develop single-family units and townhomes.