Five days after the state’s surprise announcement of a new site for Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute in Chattanooga’s Lookout Valley, state officials just as suddenly reversed the decision with no discussion.
The surprise Sept. 23 announcement and sudden reversal Sept. 28 sparked rumors around the reason the site on Birmingham Highway is no longer the state’s pick. Speculation in an unsubstantiated report on Chattanoogan.com this week credited a family whose property is immediately adjacent to the selected site with halting the project.
The announcement came as a surprise to many Lookout Valley residents, not just one neighboring family, said Chip Henderson, the Chattanooga City Council representative for that area. He’d heard nothing about the state’s land purchase until the day before the site announcement, Henderson said.
“I’m not going to speculate on how it happened,” Henderson said by phone Tuesday. “As far as I understood, it was the governor’s decision to pull it off the table. Until somebody from the state confirms it, then I think all we have right now is speculation.”
Henderson said the Lookout Valley community successfully pressed for the reversal, not just one family. Armed with email addresses and contact information for state officials that Henderson provided after the announcement, Lookout Valley residents responded, he said.