The Collegedale Commission passed a new ordinance Monday night to rein in pet behavior at city parks. Effective 15 days after the second reading, pets must be on leashes, owners must clean up after their pets, and pets are not allowed in park ponds, fountains or creeks.

Enforcement is another story. The parks and recreation board will enforce this new law. Police will not be called to enforce violations, but if an officer sees pets violating these rules in the park he can issue the owner a ticket.

Guide dogs and other service animals are exempt from the ordinance.

-- Zoning Cases --

The commission passed on first reading an ordinance rezoning 140 Apison Pike from AG Agricultural to C-2 Commercial for owner Jimmy Eller.

Though this land has commercial-zoned land diagonally across the street it does not touch another C-zoned property. The commission first worried that this would be considered spot zoning, but city attorney Sam Elliot clarified the commission’s concerns.

“Not all spot zoning is illegal,” he said. The Apison Pike property connects to cleared land owned by Chattanooga intended for softball fields to accommodate a 400-team tournament in 2009. Mr. Elliot said this was evidence that the rezoning would be the “first wave of a developing trend.” He said the zone change had a good chance of being upheld in court for that reason, though it was ultimately up to the judge if challenged.

Mr. Eller said he was pursuing the zoning change in case the city of Chattanooga began to inch its way onto his property to finish the fields. He said he’d rather get a commercial price for his land than a residential price.

The commission passed on first reading an ordinance rezoning 151 Apison Pike from I-1 Industrial land to R-3 Residential land for owner William Platt Jr. The Collegedale planning committee did recommend this change. The rezoning would unify neighboring properties holding the owner’s cabinet business and Chestnut Creek Apartments.

Commissioner Harry Hodgdon said he would not support any more R-3 zoning conversions because he believes Collegedale has reached its limit of multi-family housing. He said traffic and especially drainage suffer.

“I just don’t think we can absorb any more of these,” he said, and that the western third of Collegedale had reached saturation. Commissioner Hodgdon said he wanted to protect the city’s eastern two-thirds.

Mayor John Turner said “development is natural,” and that Collegedale needs affordable housing for younger residents and Southern Adventist University students.

Mayor Turner said a land use plan did exist once for Collegedale, though it was limited to the “downtown” area surrounding city hall. He said 1990 was the last he heard of it. The commission plans to probe land use further in an upcoming workshop.

-- Collegedale City Park Vision --

Mayor Turner gave good news that the city may be able to salvage a parcel of land on Apison Pike in front of Veteran’s Park for a future Collegedale city park or simply for Fourth of July festivities. Mayor Turner said he approached the land owners and asked them to consider the city if the land was ever put up for sale. Mayor Turner said he was surprised when the call came only three months later, two weeks ago. The owners assume the property is worth $1.1 or 1.2 million, but said they would sell it to the city for $500,000 and write off the difference.

The land is next to Rite-Aid in front of Veteran’s Park. Mayor Turner said purchasing the land would save Veteran’s Park views from being obstructed by development along Apison Pike, which the city plans to widen soon to accommodate extra traffic. He said eventually he’d like to see picnic tables with grills and paths if the city decides to buy the land.

The commission voted to express interest in acquiring the land and to continue moving toward purchase.

-- Other News --

The commission voted to bring Collegedale up to current state and federal air pollution codes that Chattanooga and Hamilton County have already adopted. The new codes are effective 15 days after final reading and carry fines as high as $25,000 per day in violation penalties.