The proposal was new. The questions were not.
Last week, a group of nearly 100 people showed up at a public meeting in which attorney John Anderson laid out a case for a 49,000-square-foot grocery store at Taft Highway and Timesville Road.
One of the landowners behind the proposed new grocery, Anderson held the meeting to field Signal Mountain residents' worries about the store's size and need.
Anderson, who practices law in Chattanooga and lives in Walden, said between $22 million and $32 million in food sales consumed on the mountain are currently bought off the mountain each year.
The potential total retail "leakage," including items such as pharmacy sales, pet food and alcohol, is more than $101 million annually, he said.
"Retail sales will remain at home," Anderson said, suggesting one of the key benefits of the shopping center that would hold the store and about 10,000 square feet of other retail or office space.
This is a rendering by Franklin Architects of a proposed new grocery store in the town of Walden atop Signal Mountain.He estimated that on $16 million annually in grocery sales at the store, Walden could garner some $200,000 annually in sales taxes from the new development. Another $160,000 could go to Hamilton County Schools, Anderson said.
Fuel sales from a proposed on-site station would create even more in tax receipts, he said, while property taxes would be additional.
Anderson said that 120 new full- and part-time jobs would be created by the grocer, which he termed "a regional chain," while declining to give its name.
Last year, a 38,000-square-foot Food City was proposed for the adjacent town of Signal Mountain, but was voted down by the town council.
Mountain resident Elizabeth Baker said the Walden proposal is different from the store that was planned for the town of Signal Mountain and not so near a residential area, which she termed "a huge difference." But, she still raised questions about the proposal.
Melissa Cantrell, too, said she worried about the size of the proposed store, calling that "a huge consideration."
Other questions included how the proposed project would fit environmentally, as well as within the more relaxed lifestyle in the town.
Anderson said a traffic study indicated that the level of service on Taft Highway would be unaffected by the development.
Architect Bob Franklin, whose company is designing the project, termed the property "an excellent site" for such a development.
"It's reclaiming an existing development," he said. "The site makes sense. It's screened. It's heavily buffered."
The 9-acre tract for many years has held Lines Orchids Greenhouse, which is moving to a Soddy-Daisy location and sold the property to Anderson's group.
Email Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com.