Hamilton County plans to solicit public feedback into 2026 about plans to open up a 500-acre section of Enterprise South Nature Park to industrial development while securing over a thousand acres of McDonald Farm for conservation.
A website for public input on the plans, opened Friday by Mayor Weston Wamp, comes after a wave of opposition grew over the course of October after he announced the proposal. A petition started by those who live around the nature park in the Brainerd and Ooltewah area had gained about 8,800 signatures as of Friday.
People against the plan have cited concerns about a mountain bike trail, a cemetery, wildlife in the area and overdevelopment in the southeastern part of the county.
Wamp said in a Friday press release that the swap wouldn’t change current recreational use, like biking and hiking at the park, even though the map he showed at a press conference on Oct. 8 was stamped “industrial expansion” over an area including the Atlas Bike Trail.
Wamp called the press conference that week, after eight months working on the plan in private, after the Chattanooga Times Free Press learned of the proposal and sought his comment for a story. At the time, he said he had intended to announce the plans at an undisclosed future date.
Bikers have expressed doubts about subsequent assurances from the Mayor’s Office about the protection of the trail.
The Chattanooga Times Free Press has sought the release of a digital version of the original maps, which has not been forthcoming.
“Our hope is that this community input phase will focus on how we can increase the total acreage of protected land and green space in Hamilton County,” Wamp said in a Friday press release, “while ensuring that long-term growth opportunities are planned responsibly, transparently, and in parts of our county where it makes the most sense practically and financially.”
(READ MORE: Residents weigh in on McDonald Farm-Enterprise South deal’s potential impact)
Wamp said that the public input phase of the plans will extend into 2026, saying that the proposal is in its preliminary stages.
If the trade were to happen, conserving McDonald Farm in Sale Creek while opening up the nature park for development, it would need to be approved by the U.S. Department of Interior, since the nature park — a former military ammunition site — is under a federal deed restriction. It would also need the go-ahead from the Hamilton County Commission and the Chattanooga City Council.
It would be another step forward in an effort to preserve McDonald Farm in Sale Creek, once owned by the family of the late former publisher of the Chattanooga Free Press, Roy McDonald. The farm was purchased by the county in 2021 for $16 million, before several county elected officials — including Wamp — were in office. County officials were originally looking at the property for industrial use, but after public outcry from residents nearby and a survey showing a lack of infrastructure, they pivoted toward conservation.
Still, those opposed to the swap plan have questioned why the farm must be preserved at the cost of 500 acres at the nature park, when the county owns both pieces of land. Others are skeptical that the 500 acres can be developed in the first place due to its steep hills and ridges, including Commissioner Steve Highlander, R-Harrison, who did not know about the plans up until their public announcement.
Contact city and county reporter Siena Duncan at sduncan@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.