A large commercial development and apartments/townhomes are planned for an undeveloped 51 acres at the intersection of East Brainerd Road and Ooltewah-Ringgold Road.
The proposal includes 121,500 square feet of retail and seven out parcels with unspecified retail space.
About 29 acres would be commercial, and the remainer for apartments and townhomes.
Barbara BeVille is the property owner, and the application with the Planning Commission is in the name of Neuhoff Taylor Architects.
The staff of the Regional Planning Agency is recommending denial, noting the area is still served by two-lane roads.
Also, developer Mike Moon is planning to build single-family homes on 17 acres at 2016 Ooltewah-Ringgold Road.
The property is owned by Bryan Defoor.
A church is now at the site.
The RPA report on the planned development at East Brainerd Road says, "Based on the adopted policies, it is clear that the Ooltewah-Ringgold Road and East Brainerd Road intersection is intended to be a medium to high-intensity, mixed use development location. A portion of the site is already zoned commercial to accommodate this policy, and a grocery store center is already located across the street. The request is to rezone additional acreage to commercial to accommodate a larger scale shopping center, and to rezone property for R-3 apartment/townhouse development.
"Since no site plan was provided for the R-3 Apartment-Townhouse District portion of the request, it is unclear how this portion of the proposal will be integrated into the overall development proposal to achieve the plan’s vision for a mixed-use development at this location. The proposal to increase the commercially zoned acreage from 12.6 acres to 29.2 acres (similar in size to SuperTarget Center on Highway 153 or other large big-box centers) would not be appropriate for this location based on the established, predominant residential character of the area. When combined with the existing commercial zoning already in place for this location, this proposal would increase the total commercial zoning for this intersection to 43.8 acres which would shift this node from a neighborhood-serving to a more regional scale retail center. Based on the guidance of the Comprehensive Plan, such centers should not be located on two lane roads. In addition, extending the commercial zoning farther south along Ooltewah-Ringgold Road would not be compatible with an existing residential PUD community that would be across from this commercial development. Finally, the current transportation infrastructure consists of two-lane roads without sidewalks on both East Brainerd Road and Ooltewah-Ringgold Road. The Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) has identified an expansion of Ooltewah-Ringgold Road though commitment of funding has not been secured for the next 20 years. The RTP has also identified an expansion of East Brainerd Road to, but not past, Ooltewah-Ringgold Road though commitment of funding has not been secured for the next 20 years.
"Based on these considerations, staff recommends denial of the request."