They’d been there for about 90 minutes — they’d sat through a PowerPoint presentation, broke out in discussion groups, eaten barbecue carted in by a developer trying to win their support for a large-scale development off Tunnel Boulevard.
The neighbors, about 60 of them, came to New United Missionary Baptist Church on Thursday evening to hear developer Michael Kenner’s pitch for a 190-acre area, part of his expansive plans to develop 240 acres across seven sites around East Chattanooga and Eastdale.
Their unease was simmering.
Opening the meeting, Pastor Jeffrey Wilson prayed: “Leave no question on the table — don’t talk about it in the parking lot, talk about it here.”
Kenner ran through slides showing his previous developments in Nashville. Like his plans for the Tunnel Boulevard development, those projects redeveloped large areas with intentional designs to foster community interaction and accommodate residents of all generations and incomes, he said. He talked about how his plans for the site came from community sessions he held last year in East Chattanooga. When he first applied to rezone the property in December, planning commissioners told him he needed to meet further with the community to address its concerns.