A developer seeking to build a four-story hotel in East Brainerd was unanimously denied by planning commissioners Monday after planning staff said the proposal didn’t fit the area and neighbors adamantly opposed the idea.
Allen Jones of Stone Creek Consulting applied to rezone parcels near the intersection of Jenkins and Shallowford roads from a residential neighborhood to a commercial corridor for an 84-room hotel.
Jones represented property owner Tom Phung, who proposed hotel, retail and restaurant space on 4.7 acres on Grider Way, across from Grace Baptist Church, according to planning documents.
The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission denied the request, though Chair Ethan Collier said every development that comes before the panel gets pushback from neighbors. As chair, Collier only votes to break ties.
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Planning commission rejects East Brainerd hotel opposed by neighbors
“It’s interesting to be in this position where every development of every kind in every part of our county has opposition,” Collier said. “Today it’s a hotel. I’m assuming the applicant will come back with something else. We’ll have opposition to that.”
Other commissioners said they opposed the request because it did not conform to a 2022 land use plan that recommended suburban residential zoning and detached single-family residences as the primary development.
“My motion isn’t because there’s development. It’s because it doesn’t follow the plan,” said Nathan Janeway, the county’s development director. “I just feel like if there’s a plan in place, we should follow the plan.”
Janeway referenced the years he has put into Plan Hamilton, a new blueprint for county growth which has been delayed several times.
County commissioners in June passed a 30-day moratorium on certain required development documents being approved for the county’s unincorporated areas. Planning commissioners were able to approve documents Monday that had been submitted before the moratorium.
The pause is designed to last until planning commissioners can vote on Plan Hamilton in August.
NEIGHBORS OBJECT
Residents representing the homeowners associations of the nearby Drake Forest and Ashwood neighborhoods told commissioners their biggest concern with the proposed hotel was traffic.
But they also worried a hotel would add light and noise pollution and heighten safety concerns.
“They’re really not even willing to consider conditions,” said Jones, who applied for the rezoning. “A lot of these concerns that they’re bringing to the table we can’t really address without having that conversation.”
The property owner wanted to lease to a “higher-end, brand name hotel,” Jones said. The average occupancy rate at Hamilton County hotels is 60%, so the hotel would have only 50 rooms full on a typical night, he said.
Two hotels — a Drury Plaza Hotel and a Holiday Inn Express Candlewood Suites — have opened in recent years on Shallowford Road closer to the Interstate 75 interchange.
“We don’t need another hotel,” Alan Fulk, representing the Drake Forest neighborhood, told commissioners. “There’s already two new hotels on Shallowford Road that have been put in in the last couple of years. If those are at 60% occupancy as he mentioned, then I don’t see a need for a third hotel.”
Planning staff were more supportive of town houses or duplexes as a buffer between single-family residential areas and commercial lots near the intersection with Jenkins Road, according to a staff report.
The traffic created by the hotel would be less intensive than traffic from a residential development with more units, Jones said. He referenced the large Ashwood development across Shallowford Road.
“Not to sound rude, but if the neighborhood across the street is 500 people and 200 homes, they’re contributing to traffic,” Jones said.
Planning commissioners left the door open to hear another proposal for the parcel bordered by a church and residences.
“It’s about what the right development is,” commissioner Justin Holland said. “I think there can be a right development that the neighborhood can work with a developer to achieve.”
Contact business reporter Daniel Dassow at ddassow@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.