Animal rescue facility planned
EAST BRAINERD ROAD ZONING
The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission has given the initial thumbs-up to a zoning request that will enable a local animal rescue organization to move its operations to East Brainerd Road, despite a recommendation by the planning staff to deny.
If approved by the Hamilton County Commission, the 0.22-acre lot at 8430 East Brainerd Road will be rezoned from R-1 Residential Zone to C-2 Convenience Commercial Zone.
The rescue, called TiggerTown, is currently located in a strip office center on Lee Parkway Drive, where it has been situated for the last two years.
The planning commission’s staff recommended the body deny the request, believing the center would “create nuisances for adjoining residential properties.”
But Candice Russell, owner of TiggerTown, clarified that the organization is not an animal hospital, as mistakenly stated by planners, but a cat rescue that focuses mostly on finding new homes for kittens.
“So there’s not going to be barking dogs, there’s not going to be cats running loose, they’ll be contained,” she said. “I’m in an office suite right now and I’ve not had one complaint from any of my neighbors.”
The property on East Brainerd Road, which sits across from Covenant Presbyterian Church, now houses a single-family dwelling owned by Russell’s father that serves as a rental home. If the request is approved, the father-daughter pair said they would make improvements to the structure — restoring the exterior, cleaning up the overgrown yard and separating the rooms — enabling it to be used as a facility for the rescue.
The new facility would allow TiggerTown to house as many as 45 cats at a time, as opposed to the current office, which can hold about 35, Russell said.
Planning commission members approved the rezoning under a handful of conditions, including that the property only be used for cats, that no additional parking pads be added, that no signage be displayed on the road and that Russell meet with neighboring residential property owners to inform them about her plans for the lot.
Planning commission member Darrin Ledford suggested a condition that would have prevented animals from being kept outdoors, but Russell said plans for the rescue include a fenced enclosure that would allow the cats to leave the house without trespassing onto neighboring property.
“It’s a place for them to have outside experiences, be able to chase the mice and the chipmunks … but be safe from getting hit by a car, getting attacked by a coyote, hawks,” Russell said after the meeting. “If I have permanent residents, ferals that are non-adoptable, [it’s] a place for them to live safely and have the rest of their days not be stuck inside.”
The cattery would be located behind the house, she added, meaning it would not be visible from the road.
The request will be brought before the Hamilton County Commission for a final vote sometime in August.
Contact staff writer Myron Madden at mmadden@ timesfreepress.com.