Hamilton County commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday morning to allow the county mayor to accept at a future date a tract of land from the North Chickamauga Creek Conservancy to be used as a county park.
The property sits between the W Road atop Signal Mountain and Mountain Creek Road below and adjoins the former Quarry Golf Course. It is being developed by a coalition of nonprofit groups to create the first property in the county with downhill mountain biking, bouldering, hiking and potentially 200 acres of green space.
“Its position on the mountain is unique,” conservancy Executive Director Tim Laramore said. “It’s on a long slope and it has a really nice spring through the property. It has features that we don’t see in other parks. We’re really excited and ready to get to work. This means we can start enacting our vision.”
It will likely be 2-3 years before the land is donated. There is nothing now on the property other than trees, dirt, rocks and some trash that has been dumped throughout the years. The private partners will create recreational space and then hand it off to the county to operate. The county will be responsible for any construction that isn’t directly involved with the trail system. That could include parking, restrooms and picnic areas.
The project is being led by a partnership of The Land Trust for Tennessee, Southern Off-Road Bicycling Association, Southeastern Climbing Coalition, the North Chickamauga Creek Conservancy and the Access Fund. The groups are excited about the land’s proximity to downtown Chattanooga and its easy access for a large portion of the region’s population. It also will provide what SORBA sees as a need for the recreational community.