Mayor Ron Littlefield is set to begin moving to annex certain outlying areas into the city of Chattanooga and expects to complete the process by October, officials said Tuesday afternoon.
The city is expected to soon submit to the Planning Commission a plan of services for the areas the city wants to annex.
The process includes consideration by the Planning Commission and action by the City Council and includes a public hearing.
The council is expected to vote on the first phase of annexation in September.
The annexation would go into effect 30 days later.
There could be a follow-up phase of the annexation, officials said.
The city is not opting at this time to take a number of sections it earlier outlined in the "urban growth boundaries."
Steve Leach, public works administrator, said considerations include current road conditions and whether the areas are currently sewered. He said if the city takes a subdivision that does not have sewers, the city would be responsible for providing it with sewers within three years.
Officials said the county Water and Wastewater Authority has already provided sewers and has plans to provide them to some of the areas eyed by the city.
The WWTA is not likely to give up the sewers it has already built, Mr. Leach said.
He said it is uncertain whether the WWTA would cede sewer rights where it is planning sewers.
City officials pointed out that sewer costs are borne by sewer service charges and not through taxes.