Councilman Ken Smith
City Councilman Ken Smith said the city of Chattanooga will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. on Thursday to outline plans for fixing and paving Northpoint Boulevard, which is a private and publicly-owned road that serves as a main thoroughfare for residents and visitors.
The press conference will be held at FirstBank, which is located at 1959 Northpoint Blvd.
in Hixson.
“One of my first priorities upon taking office in 2013 was to address the poor road conditions in Hixson, especially Northpoint Boulevard as it was a primary thoroughfarefor our community but could not be paved since it was a private and publicly-owned road,” said Councilman Smith. “After years of work with the property owners and with support from the City Attorney’s Office and Mayor Berke’s administration, I am pleased the city can finally fix and pave Northpoint Boulevard without using eminent domain or city tax dollars to acquire the privately-owned portion of this key road in the Hixson community.”
Up to now, the City owned 2/3 of Northpoint Boulevard with the remaining portion of the road being owned by 12 private property owners according to a 1988 Road Contribution Agreement. In an effort to fix the road, Councilman Smith coordinated a series of meetings with the owners to propose splitting the cost of bringing the infrastructure of the road up to code, which would cost an estimated $220,000 for the private section. After most property owners rejected this option, Councilman Smith initiated efforts to explore different options – one of which allowed the city to take ownership of Northpoint Boulevard without using city tax dollars to acquire the property.
Councilman Smith said, “Anyone living, working or just visiting Hixson knows about Northpoint Boulevard. In fact, its condition has been a major challenge to the ongoing economic development efforts in our community.
"Good roads are a critical piece to having a vibrant and growing community, and I want to thank everyone who helped make this day possible as Hixson has taken a significant step to making our community a better place to live, work and play.”