The Signal Mountain Planning Commission is recommending a change to the town’s zoning ordinance to reduce density of new development in residential zones to 0.2 units per acre, which amounts to one unit per 5 acres.
The proposed change would affect all available land zoned for residential use in the town, but it would not apply to minor subdivisions in which a single existing lot is divided into two. In those cases, each of the two lots would need to be at least half an acre.
The change would not apply to previously approved subdivisions, including additional phases of existing subdivisions approved as part of a plat, said Elizabeth Baker, the town’s mayor and member of the Planning Commission, at the commission’s meeting Thursday.
She said the proposed change aims to focus new development on existing infill lots where town services are already provided.
“Increasing residential property tax with those infill lots and not causing increases on services allows us to generate more revenue to put forth for those infrastructure changes that need to happen for larger developments,” Baker said.