Council member Carol Berz attends a meeting of the Chattanooga City Council in this file photo.
Ethanol pipeline routeA controversial ethanol transfer facility cleared an administrative hurdle Monday, bringing the pipeline one step closer to construction.
The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Agency cleared Englewood Enterprises on Monday to build the facility and proposed fuel pipeline along Enterprise Park Drive near the Bonny Oaks Industrial Park.
The company must hold a community meeting to get public input on the project before the Chattanooga City Council makes the final decision in February. Nearby residents earlier expressed fears that the facilitywould affect the environment and possibly lead to further transfer facility developments.
But developer Michael Price of MAP Engineers said he’s confident the project, which first began cropping up at government meetings in March, will move forward.
“Any community has concerns,” he said. “We need to do a better job of letting them know what it is and what it is not.”