Sensing the measure didn’t have support from his colleagues, Hamilton County Commissioner Steve Highlander, R-Ooltewah, has pulled a resolution that would have temporarily paused rezoning requests along Hunter Road.
Instead, Highlander has talked with Mayor Weston Wamp about developing a working group that would evaluate county roads in places where growth is outpacing infrastructure.
“There’s no question that you raised … a reasonable concern about traffic that roads like Hunter Road and Snow Hill Road face — and they were never designed to,” Wamp told Highlander during a commission meeting Wednesday. “They were designed more for wagons than they were for the kind of traffic that you get these days.”
The pause would have affected properties that front or have access to Hunter Road between Highway 58 and Mountain View Road, allowing for a comprehensive study by the Regional Planning Agency on infrastructure needs and zoning recommendations. It would have lasted at most 18 months, although Highlander said he expected the pause would have been shorter.
Highlander said in an interview he anticipates the mayor’s working group will be primarily concentrated on unincorporated parts of Hamilton County where building has become rampant. He’s hopeful he won’t have to bring his resolution back for consideration by the commission.
Commissioner Ken Smith, R-Hixson, said last week it would be difficult to avoid setting a precedent if the commission approved the moratorium. There’s more than one road in the county where constituents would want to see less traffic.
“I’m a little concerned,” Smith told commissioners. “I support Commissioner Highlander 110% with the concerns we have in that district, and we have processes in place.”
Wamp said in a phone call Wednesday the eastern and northern parts of the county are in particular need of attention. Hamilton County has been investing in basic road safety features, including a new reflector program, but officials may need to start thinking about more intensive capital projects beyond just paving.
The mayor noted the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Authority has the consulting firm RaganSmith Associates on a retainer as part of a larger planning effort in unincorporated areas. Those efforts would align with the mission of this new working group, Wamp said, and the company could play a role in the process.
Wamp sees the task force operating in a manner similar to the county’s facilities working group, which will be delivering a set of recommendations later this month on addressing a pressing backlog of school building needs. It has met more than a dozen times over the past year.
Wamp also hopes to form a working group that would focus on sustainably delivering fire service in unincorporated areas, which he noted are the fastest growing parts of Hamilton County. All of those rely on volunteer fire departments.
Gary Boles, who lives on Mountain Pass Drive, said Hunter Road is not built to handle the amount of traffic it receives on a daily basis. Boles also has concerns about a nearly 300-house subdivision proposed at 8209 Bell Mill Road, which sits near his property. Neighbors have argued the subdivision would worsen driving conditions in that area.
“You take your own life in your hands when you drive down Hunter Road because of the blind curves,” Boles said in an interview. “I’ve learned to be very careful when I approach those curves because you can’t see what’s going on. There are frequent wrecks, and when somebody has a wreck there, they generally go off the road and into a ditch because there are no shoulders.”
Contact David Floyd at dfloyd@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249.