The first public meeting for a process to develop a land use plan for the unincorporated part of Hamilton County on Walden's Ridge was held Tuesday.
The eight-month planning period for the unincorporated area is part of a larger process to create a plan for all parts of Walden's Ridge in Hamilton County, including the town of Walden - which completed its portion of the plan earlier this year - and the town of Signal Mountain.
"We are one community up here, but there are two municipalities and the unincorporated area," said Keith Covington of Common Ground Urban Design and Planning, the Franklin, Tennessee-based consultant to the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Agency for the Walden's Ridge plan. "All three of these can work together, and need to work together, and the plan can help facilitate that, especially when it comes to looking at more mutual-type issues like infrastructure and the growth and how it impacts everybody on the mountain."
Walden's Ridge is one of 12 community plans in the area served by the regional planning agency. Although plans are typically revisited every five years, the last time the agency updated its plan for Walden's Ridge was 1997, Covington said.
He said the plans are intended to serve as guides for municipal decisions related to land use and development, as well as transportation and capital improvements.
On Tuesday, Covington also met with the plan's steering committee and several focus group composed of people with particular interests related to the plan.
One of the focus groups included builders, developers, architects, engineers and real estate agents who work on the ridge. Another was composed of representatives from agencies such as the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Hamilton County Water and Wastewater Treatment Authority, Hamilton County Schools and the county's Parks and Recreation Department. A third group included residents interested in conservation and environmental concerns, he said.
Additional focus groups could be added as the plan progresses, Covington added.
Some residents of the unincorporated area said they did not feel they were adequately represented on the plan's steering committee, and that interest groups were too well represented in the planning process.
County Commissioner Chip Baker, R-Signal Mountain, said he helped secure funding for the plan from the county and selected the committee members. He said he aimed for a mixture of residents from Walden, Signal Mountain and the unincorporated area who had expertise and experience related to land use planning.
The committee includes Walden residents Dawson Wheeler, outdoor recreation enthusiast, and Mayor Lee Davis. Unincorporated area residents include Chuck Pruett, owner of Pruett's, the area's only grocery store; Leslie Gower, CEO of the Association of General Contractors of East Tennessee; and attorney Nelson Irvine. Town of Signal Mountain residents include Doug Fisher, executive director of the Homebuilders Association of Greater Chattanooga; Karen Rennich, deputy director of the regional planning agency; and real estate agent and Vice Mayor Susannah Murdock.
Dan Reuter, executive director of the regional planning agency, told attendees not to focus on the committee.
"They're just trying to give input to how this process unfolds," Reuter said. "I promise you we won't let this get adopted without a lot of meetings and without you all being involved."
One citizen said she would like lot sizes in the unincorporated area to be no smaller than 10 acres, giving the loss of wildlife, traffic, and noise and light pollution that development causes as part of her reasoning.
Another resident, who said he lives next to a recently sold 535-acre parcel off Sawyer and Corral roads in the unincorporated area, expressed concern about the effect of potential development on creeks in the area and asked if the property is to be developed into a golf course.
Other citizen concerns included increased traffic on inadequate roads and schools in need of expansion.
The next stage of the planning process will be a public planning workshop in which the public will provide input, and that information will be consolidated into a framework plan that will go back before the public to evaluate and provide further input.
Contact Emily Crisman at ecrisman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6508.