With newer schools, access to Interstate 75, and key employers including Volkswagen, Amazon and McKee Foods, the east part of Hamilton County has seen a population surge and is positioned for more, officials said.
But impressive growth brings more traffic, school crowding, sewer problems and other headaches, both officials and residents in the area said. Increasingly, proposed new subdivisions are amping up tensions as developers try to fill a need for housing and some existing residents in the area react with worries.
Chattanooga City Councilman Darrin Ledford, who serves on the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission, told panel members recently at a meeting that people in the Ooltewah-Georgetown area want a land-use plan that works.
"I see it on social media," he said. "It's screaming for it."
Mike Price, president of the firm MAP Engineers, said east Hamilton County is a desirable area to live and there has been a lot of new homes built there, particularly in the past decade.
Price said infrastructure, such as roads, is catching up to growth. He cited improvements underway to East Brainerd Road and Apison Pike.
"This area will continue to be a desirable area and one of the spots that will continue to see growth for the foreseeable future," he said.
This summer, the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data showed Collegedale as the fastest-growing city in the Chattanooga region.
The city's population climbed more than 34% from 2010 to 2020, according to census figures. Collegedale's growth was more than triple the rate for Tennessee and Hamilton County as a whole during that period.
Meanwhile, East Brainerd residents showed up in force at a community meeting during the summer, with many complaining of clogged roads and over-development with more homebuilding on the way.
Meeting with key Chattanooga, Hamilton County and state officials, the idea of a building moratorium on new homes was raised by one resident to the applause of many.
"We understand we're growing too fast," Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger told the residents, adding the Tennessee Department of Transportation has to address some of the problem. "We need to continue to work together."
County planners said as many as 1,100 more residences already are approved in the East Brainerd area.
County Commissioner Sabrena Smedley, R-Ooltewah, who represents much of the East Brainerd area and is running for county mayor, cited a recent zoning meeting in Apison.
"It was very apparent that the community was really concerned about roads and schools filled," she said, notably citing the intersection of East Brainerd and Ooltewah-Ringgold roads where developer Bassam Issa plans to build a shopping center anchored by Publix.
One resident said that if 1,100 more homes are built, that likely means roughly 4,400 more people added to East Brainerd. He wondered how the area will handle all the additional sewage.
Price said he expects the Apison area will see development slow down because the sewer needs of new houses cannot be met.
"There's a pinch on the ability to accommodate sewer because the system is getting overtaxed," he said. "The capacity is not there to continue to grow."
He said some engineers and developers are eyeing alternate sewer systems, such as those that are decentralized.
In a decentralized system, a treatment center may serve a cluster of homes, a subdivision or small community or a commercial or industrial complex, according to the National Onsite Wastewater Recycling Association. That differs from large treatment plants that require miles of supply and delivery infrastructure.
Two years ago, the county's sewer authority sought a special permit to build a sewage plant in the Ooltewah area. It would have been part of a larger $200 million plan to update the county's sewer lines under a Clean Water Act mandate.
But officials were met with heavy pushback from Mahan Gap Road residents furious over what they said would be unsightly, smelly tanks that would lower their home values and diminish their quality of life.
Under pressure from the community, the Hamilton County Commission denied the proposal in a 6-3 vote.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.