On the former property of the Frank Trotter School, plans for a 264 unit apartment complex is in the works in the 4900 block of Central Avenue, near Alton Park. The complex is to be called Reserve at Mountain Pass.Some Alton Park residents do not want to see a new 264-unit apartment complex standing on the site of the former Frank Trotter School.
Chattanooga City Councilman Erskine Oglesby, who represents Alton Park and St. Elmo, said he and other members of the community see the proposed $40 million development as a steppingstone to revitalization.
On Tuesday, the Chattanooga City Council votes whether to approve a zoning request that would allow Kentucky developer LDG Multifamily LLC to build Reserve at Mountain Pass on the 13.26-acre property, located in the 4900 block of Central Avenue. The site is limited to manufacturing uses until the council approves it for residential purposes.
"We would like to see affordable houses for working families on the property instead," Gil Shropshire, president of the Alton Park Piney Woods Neighborhood Association, said after a recent council meeting.
Shropshire said he believes the proposed apartment rent, priced between $730 and $830, will cause a gentrification problem. He voiced similar concerns when the developer met with the community in January.
"You've got a lot of retirees out here, and if the property tax goes up they ain't going to be able to make it because they're on a fixed income," Shropshire said at the time. "So they are going to be forced out."
LDG Multifamily has said its targeted tenants make between $26,000 and $36,000 in annual household income.
Alton Park's median household income is $24,328 and median rent is $344, according to citydata.com.
On Friday, Oglesby said he had spoken with a wide range of community members and stakeholders who saw the market-rate apartment development as a positive. Alton Park improves its chances of bringing in grocery stores and other commercial necessities if it increases its population density, he said.
"It takes volumes of people to make that happen," Oglesby said.
He said he's talked to people who would be interested in locating businesses in Alton Park if the community had enough people to support them. In turn, new businesses in Alton Park would create employment opportunity for its residents, he said.
"It's no secret," Oglesby said of his support, recalling his campaign promises to push for economic development across his council district.
Some residents have also said they worry apartment construction will unearth possibly contaminated soil from a nearby former chemical plant site.
Oglesby said soil tests do not indicate contamination.
In the end, federal and state environmental agencies will have final say-so if any future soil tests show contaminated soil on the property, Oglesby said.
In February, the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission recommended approval of the zoning request, subject to a number of conditions.
The commission's approval prohibits the developer from providing parking between any building and the public street and requires internal sidewalks to connect buildings to Central Avenue sidewalks. No building may be taller than three stories.
Contact staff writer Paul Leach at 423-757-6481 or pleach@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @pleach_tfp.