The Fairfax Heights and Bagwell City neighborhoods have won the battle to keep a 7.5-million wet-weather sewage storage tank out of their backyards.
"It's the right thing for them [the city] to do," resident Danny Grimmett said in a phone interview today, confirming city officials told him Friday the project would be moved across DuPont Parkway, near McKamey Animal Shelter.
Plans originally called for the tank, which measures 45 tall and 210 feet at its base, to be located near the DuPont sewage pump station at Memphis Drive. The overflow facility is part of Chattanooga's long-term efforts to reduce sewage overflows into the Tennessee River. The Bagwell City neighborhood has been plagued by recurring sewage problems caused by heavy rains.
Since June, Grimmett and other community members have consistently appeared at Chattanooga City Council to protest the project.
In May, Justin Holland, administrator for Chattanooga's Department of Public Works, said the Memphis Drive site made the most efficient location for the $12 million tank.
"Moving the tank to another location nearby would require millions of dollars in additional funding and significant delays in the capacity assurance program that was approved earlier in the year by the EPA as part of the consent decree," Holland has said.
Contact staff writer Paul Leach at 423-757-6481 or pleach@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @pleach_tfp.
