An empty lot, weed-filled garden beds and a swath of asphalt on Hughes Avenue in Alton Park will be converted soon into recreational green space and an open food source thanks to the Net Resource Foundation's Hughes Project.
Set to be completed this fall, the project also includes landscape design by WMWA Landscape Architects to decrease runoff and improve water quality, along with strategically placed trees and plants to decrease the urban heat island effect in the area.
Raquetta Dotley, elected last month to represent the Alton Park area on the Chattanooga City Council, is executive director of the Net Resource Foundation and watched the need in the area grow as a volunteer for the after-school activity and feeding program at Westside Missionary Baptist Church. She will begin her council term next month.
The nonprofit organization expanded on the church's after-school program to engage in community partnerships and projects such as the Strut the Parks event held in partnership with the Trust for Public Land. That event was part of the national 10 Minute Walk campaign, an effort with a goal of ensuring everyone has access to a park within a 10 minute walk of their home by 2050.
The success of the Strut the Parks event led the organizers to want to do something more to revitalize the community. They decided to focus on the block of Hughes Avenue near Westside Missionary Baptist.
The Hughes Project began with streetscape improvements, in which volunteers planted redbud and "Autumn Brilliance" Serviceberry trees purchased with funds from the UnFoundation and donated by the city's urban forestry division.
Next up will be improvements to the existing community garden on a lot next to the church that already has six raised garden beds, now inactive. The garden will be expanded to 10 beds through the Hughes Project, and all will be maintained by and open to the community, Dotley said.
How to help
The Net Resource Foundation is holding a “Clean and Green Spring Into Action” event for the Hughes Project, located between 3996-4023 Hughes Ave., Saturday, April 10 starting at 9 a.m. Volunteers will clean the garden and plant spring and summer vegetables. All supplies will be provided.To make a donation or sponsor a bench, visit thenetresourcefoundation.org or call 423-401-0503.
An empty lot on Hughes, across the street from the church, will be cleared and leveled for the construction of a platform and stage where the community can hold outdoor church services, youth programs and music performances.
"We want to just encourage people to come and relax, and we want to host community-centered events where people can have a good time and ... build social capital that way."
Plans include a meditation garden with native flowers as well as new benches that are available for people to sponsor for $700 apiece.
"They'll get a plaque and be a part of the permanent revitalization of South Chattanooga," she said of people who sponsor benches.
The next phase of the project involves decreasing the urban heat island effect created by the large amount of asphalt and lack of trees and green space on Hughes Avenue.
The concept was designed at no cost by landscape architect Matt Whitaker of WMWA Landscape Architects, with the goals of improving the water quality and beautifying an underserved neighborhood. The design redirects stormwater runoff from the church roof and parking lot - which carries heavy metals and other contaminants into the city sewer system and into the creeks - and uses soil to slow down the flow and filter the stormwater before it reaches the water table.
The addition of islands in the parking lot and more plants will help reduce the heat island effect on the block by creating more shade and absorbing the sun instead of radiating it back out, Whitaker said.
"It just gives them something nice and pretty to look at and be proud of, to be proud that they're taking part in improvements to the environment and water quality of the greater region and also their own neighborhood," he said. "People like to have nice places to be and gather and be proud of what's happening there."
It also exposes youth helping with the project to environmental matters and landscape architecture as a profession, which many people know little about, he said.
"We do a lot of important work for neighborhoods, communities and the environment, and there needs to be more diversity in the profession," Whitaker said.
Contact Emily Crisman at ecrisman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6508.