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Monday, November 9, 2026Nov 9

Chickamauga residents weigh in on city’s future

From left are University of Georgia Public Service Associate Downtown Planner Danny Bivins, Walker County educator Betts Berry, City Manager Micheal Haney and UGA Senior Community Designer Kaitlin McShea Messich. The group is working together to plan for the city's future.
From left are University of Georgia Public Service Associate Downtown Planner Danny Bivins, Walker County educator Betts Berry, City Manager Micheal Haney and UGA Senior Community Designer Kaitlin McShea Messich. The group is working together to plan for the city's future. From left are University of Georgia Public Service Associate Downtown Planner Danny Bivins, Walker County educator Betts Berry, City Manager Micheal Haney and UGA Senior Community Designer Kaitlin McShea Messich. The group is working together to plan for the city's future.

If you want to have a nice restaurant, you have to serve the alcohol.

photo Chickamauga residents discuss ideas for the future of the city at a visioning session hosted in part by the Georgia Downtown Renaissance Partnership.

Better traffic flow, a quality hotel and fine dining establishments that serve alcohol, trolley transportation through the downtown area and better infrastructure through Wi-fi and fiber optic cables: These are some of the things Chickamauga residents would like to see in their town.

The city recently hosted a roundtable discussion attended by about 70 citizens and representatives of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government to create a road map for the future.

University of Georgia Public Service and Outreach Associate Downtown Planner Danny Bivins plans to return in a month with the findings of the citizen survey and a plan to make some of those things a reality. An outreach arm of the university, the institute draws upon the knowledge and resources of UGA to “provide education, assistance, research, policy analysis, and publications to assist public officials in serving citizens in Georgia and throughout the world,” according to its website.

“It’s exciting to see that this many people love the city that I love,” City Manager Micheal Haney said following the visioning session earlier this month. “This is the first step of this plan. From our utilities to our tourism to our downtown infrastructure there’s endless possibilities to work together as one community. I’m excited and everyone involved is excited. I can’t wait to see what happens when we finally get to that part.”