Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp took to social media over the weekend to address concerns about a proposed land-use swap involving McDonald Farm and Enterprise South Nature Park.
The proposal would slate about 1,300 acres of the farm in Sale Creek for conservation, while lifting deed restrictions on about 500 acres of the 2,800-acre Enterprise South Nature Park in the Ooltewah area to open it up for industrial development.
“I’ve always described myself as a conservative conservationist,” Wamp said in a social media video on Sunday. “And so we saw an opportunity that we thought would lead to potentially a 2,000-acre park at the north end of the county, while also maintaining the core features of a 2,000-acre nature park at the south end of the county.”
Still in its preliminary stages, the proposal was publicly announced Oct. 8, after the Chattanooga Times Free Press learned of the plans and approached Wamp for comment. He told reporters he had not planned on bringing forward the plans — in the works for eight months — until an unspecified later date.
The announcement triggered a wave of opposition from residents familiar with the nature park, while those who have called for McDonald Farm’s preservation over the years celebrated.