Some Chattanooga residents Monday expressed relief that a study by planners cautions that building new apartment complexes may not best serve the area where they live.
"We don't need any apartments," Angela Amunategui, who lives in the Mountain Creek Road area, said at a meeting Monday. "Give people the opportunity to buy their homes."
The land-use study by the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Agency calls for keeping densities allowed by existing zoning in the Mountain Creek Road corridor, which stretches from Signal Mountain Road to north of Reads Lake Road.
The Mountain Creek Road area already has an abundance of apartments. While much of the area that's undeveloped is zoned for low-density residential, some developers have pushed for changes to enable construction of more apartments. That has led to heightened tensions between existing residents and developers.
City Councilman Chip Henderson, who represents the area, said he thinks the planners' recommendations in the study met the sentiment of people who live in the area.
"The study reflects the desires of the community," he said in an interview at the meeting, where area residents reviewed the results of the six-month-long work.
A little more than a year ago, a development group sought to build 220 apartments for a new Mountain Creek Road complex on land zoned for single-family construction. But some residents complained, and the developer later pulled the request.
That proposed new complex was not far away from an earlier plan where Chattanooga development company Pratt Land & Development had sought to build apartments and single-family homes on the former Quarry golf course.
In February 2021, the City Council rejected a plan to develop that property into a 225-unit complex of apartments and single-family home sites.
That was just the latest volley in a long dispute over the golf course property. Developer James Pratt had filed a lawsuit against the city in 2018 concerning an earlier zoning decision by officials.
In January 2022, the city settled with Pratt over the 2018 zoning lawsuit and agreed to pay $425,000.
While the planners' study Monday night recommended keeping densities where there's current low-density zoning, it also said some property owners could seek permits for townhomes and apartments along with single-family units. The study said overall density could end up the same as if the land were developed entirely for detached homes.
The study also cited other examples, such as where there's attached residential development with condominium ownership.
The study recommendations still must be approved by the Planning Commission and City Council, which could come within the next couple of months.
The study said property owners have the right to request rezoning at any time.
"Ultimately, decisions about the rezoning of property fall to the Chattanooga City Council," the study said.
But Monday night at Red Bank High School, where more than 50 people took part in the meeting, residents expressed worries about high-density growth.
"We are concerned about traffic on Mountain Creek Road," area resident Steve Garrett said.
Rose Duchon, another corridor resident, pointed to over-development and traffic.
"It would be nice to have parks," she said.
Ralph Noble, who also lives in the area, brought up infrastructure, traffic and flooding.
"We already have a large number of apartment buildings," he said. "We don't need any more apartment buildings on Mountain Creek Road."
Dan Reuter, executive director of the Regional Planning Agency, said at the meeting that traffic is expected to be taken up in a later study in which the Mountain Creek Road area will be included.
Reuter also said outside consultants will be brought on to help his team update area plans for different parts of the county. Such plans serve as a guide for growth for different communities in the city and county. In addition, he has said the agency will work on a comprehensive plan for the unincorporated parts of the county.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.
Staff Photo by Mike Pare / Work is underway Tuesday on apartments on Morrison Springs Road near Mountain Creek Road.