A $700,000 environmentally-friendly parking lot opened Friday morning next to Renaissance Park, an example of a new green future, said Mayor Ron Littlefield.
"What you see today is what we need to see more of across this community," Mr. Littlefield said.
The city opened the paid parking lot after almost a year of construction. The lot lies between Coolidge and Renaissance parks and has several "green" components including a rain garden in the middle, pervious concrete lots to allow rainwater to flow through and sloped surfaces for water runoff.
LOT COSTSRates for the new Renaissance Park parking lot are:* 0-2 hours: $1* 2-4 hours: $2* 4 hours and over: $4Source: Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority
"This isn't just an ordinary parking lot," said the city's Parks and Recreation director, Larry Zehnder.
The lighting surrounding the lot is also low-energy and meets Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards, officials said.
A sign also adorns one end of the parking lot, telling users about the environmental attributes of the site. Mr. Zehnder said the Tennessee Valley Authority contributed $46,000 to the project for the signs and the rain garden.
Anda Ray, senior vice president of environment and technology for TVA, said the lot is a prime example of green technology at work that could be replicated across the state and the United States.
"You can have economic growth and sustainability," she said. "This is an example."
She said the parking lot helps create a more livable community.
"It protects a resource that's so critical to the lifeblood of Chattanooga: That's water," she said.
Russell Moorehead, vice president of Lamar Dunn & Associates Inc., who built the parking lot, said his firm did not do any analysis on how much a conventional parking lot of similar size would have cost.
But he said the cost difference would have been insignificant.
"I don't know if there would have been a substantial savings," he said.