The Collegedale Planning Commission will hear a rezoning request for a 408-acre portion of a 550-acre property for sale on Edgmon Road on Monday at 6 p.m. at Collegedale City Hall.
The property, which includes Hidden Hills Farm & Saddle Club, is now zoned for agriculture.
EAH Acquisitions, an Atlanta affiliate of Canadian homebuilders Empire Communities, is requesting to change the zoning of the property to single-family residential for a planned unit development.
In June, Collegedale city commissioners voted unanimously to annex the property at the request of majority property owner Don Chastain of Grindstone Enterprises in order to connect the property to city services. Commissioner Ethan White was absent.
The proposed residential development includes 443 single-family homes and 148 townhomes.
The city's planning staff recommended approval of the rezoning request, with conditions including installation of sewer infrastructure by the developer and a maximum density of 1.45 units per acre.
Some area residents want the property's use to remain agricultural, citing reasons such as increased traffic and overdevelopment of the area.
"In my opinion it is absolutely one of the most beautiful properties in the Collegedale-Ooltewah area, so it just makes me sad that they're wanting to develop that," Collegedale resident Brooke Hold said by phone Friday.
Her daughter took horseback riding lessons at Hidden Hills, and she said the area has seen incredible growth since she moved there 13 years ago.
"Every time I drive somewhere in the area, there's a new subdivision," Hold said. "It just seems like to me that we're outbuilding our roads, the traffic is terrible, it's a lot for our current situation.
"Roads are not growing, but the population is definitely getting bigger. I love that property and just hate to see it become a big subdivision. Plus I don't see how Edgmon Road and Old Lee Highway can handle a big subdivision."
Teresa Jones, whose daughter took lessons and works at the farm, said the property is an asset to the area in its current use.
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"The development of the land there will cause an enormous increase in traffic in an already congested area," she said through Facebook Messenger. "I simply don't see why they would be willing to sacrifice such a beautiful, productive, positive piece of land and business for the community in order to build another subdivision."
Tara Hills, whose uncle has controlling interest of the property, operates Hidden Hills Farm with her husband, Mike Hills. She and three other family members own equal shares of the property, which is larger than the 550 acres for sale.
Mike Hills said in a phone interview the sewer system in the area is already overwhelmed with the addition of the Misty Valley subdivision south of the border of the Hidden Hills property, and the roads aren't capable of handling the traffic a new subdivision would bring despite the recent addition of a traffic signal at Edgmon Road and Old Lee Highway.
"Put 500 new homes on this road, and these turning lanes are clearly not going to be able to manage that in any way, shape or form," he said, adding that the additional cars from the subdivision would likely affect traffic all the way to the traffic signal at Ooltewah-Georgetown Road.
Contact Emily Crisman at 423-757-6508 or ecrisman@timesfreepress.com
Staff File Photo by Dave Flessner / The Collegedale Planning Commission is considering a rezoning request from an Atlanta affiliate of a Canadian developer to put around 500 homes on a piece of farmland that includes Hidden Hills Farm & Saddle Club.