CALMING THE NORTH SHORE
The North Shore community is so convenient to downtown Chattanooga, no wonder everybody wants to live there. That’s also the problem. Everybody wants to live there. More than 25 years ago, as the Chattanooga waterfront began to transform with the renovation of the Walnut Street Bridge as a walking path, the opening of the Tennessee Aquarium and the plans for future use of Coolidge Park, the once rundown North Chattanooga neighborhood began to look like a pretty handy place to live.
The changes began gradually, house to house. Old cottages were refurbished, smaller Craftsmen were enlarged and nearly century-old Victorians were new again.
In time, houses were raised on the empty lots among the hills. Before long, there weren’t many empty lots left.
But people still want wanted to live in the gentrified community, so builders got creative. They went up, they went between, they went in back. They tore down two and made four. They bought up businesses, had the area rezoned and made apartments. They bought up estates and developed neighborhoods.
Many pockets in the new and improved North Shore now look overbuilt, crowded, and still there are plans for more.
Finally, people — likely both denizens of many years and newer residents — have had enough. They’re opposing the proliferation of small-lot single-family homes, townhouses and apartments in front of the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission and the city council.
On Monday, the planning commission heard about a new proposal for one particular block. Its staff had recommended against townhouses on the street, but developers were back with a plan for single-family homes on small lots.
Still, neighbors didn’t like what they heard. The street is too narrow and needs improvement, the lots are too small, the zoning shouldn’t be changed.
The planning commission, perhaps hearing the groundswell about the North Shore in general, turned down the request. But developers still can bring their request before the Chattanooga City Council.
In another proposal before the body, a developer wanted to put six single-family homes on just over a half acre of land. After hearing from unhappy area residents, planning commission members turned down the proposal as requested but approved it if modifications are made.
We believe it’s time for a new strategic plan for the area that would have input from all stakeholders — planning commission members, city council members, builders, retailers and residents. If we can calm streets — the city’s new buzzword for removing lanes from M.L. King Boulevard — surely we can calm development in a community before it becomes an overgrown mass of odd-looking, shoehorned-in and crowded buildings and a place where, once again, no one wants to live.