Hamilton County commissioners representing communities like Soddy-Daisy and Ooltewah have proposed giving the county its own planning commission and ending a long-running relationship with the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Agency.
Interest in strengthening distinctions between growth in rural and urban and suburban areas has led county residents to fill rooms and filibuster meetings where growth has been an increasingly prominent topic. Many residents of the county’s less densely populated communities have told commissioners, the county’s development services staff and members of the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Agency — which offers planning support for the city and the county — that they hope for sparser development moving forward.
The planning agency, governed by a board likewise split between the city and the county, has been a concern for some commissioners lately. The commission has final authority over its zoning, but decisions come to it after a review by agency staff and a recommendation from the Regional Planning Commission.