The City Council on Tuesday night stepped up efforts against what Councilman Jerry Mitchell called the "monstering" of North Chattanooga by developers tearing down older homes and putting up over-sized dwellings tightly squeezed together in their place.
Councilman Mitchell said the community's voice was heard against a proposal by former City Councilman Chris Anderson and his GreenTech firm on a steep 11.5-acre tract at Knickerbocker Avenue and Notting Hill.
He made a motion to deny the rezoning, and it was approved without further discussion.
Attorney Joe DeGaetano, who lives across the street on Knickerbocker earlier said the developers were trying to "shoehorn in" as many homes on Knickerbocker and townhouses on the hill above as they could. He said the plans were incompatible with the single-family neighborhood. He said the project was "certainly out of character with the neighborhood."
Garnet Chapin said GreenTech was known on other projects for "clearcutting so that no living plant is left on the site."
In another North Chattanooga case, Councilman Mitchell recommended a week's deferral to study some of the issues involved.
John Jernigan Jr. has a request for RZ-1 Zero Lot Line Residential zoning at 510 and 512 Tucker St. He said he did not plan to tear down the two older homes at those addresses.
However, he said he wanted to be able to build new houses at the rear along a narrow street that Councilman Mitchell described as more of an alley.
Mr. Jernigan said he planned to fill in a ditch and widen that roadway, though Councilman Mitchell speculated that could lead to water spilling over the road.
A woman who has lived in North Chattanooga since 1999 said the suburb is being ruined by developers "tearing down beautiful 1910 houses and putting up tract' houses so close together you can hand over a cup of coffee."
She said the old mill houses were being rapidly replaced by "McMansions" and North Chattanooga was losing its attractive quaintness.
Mr. Jernigan said the two new houses would be 10 feet apart.
In another North Chattanooga case, a rezoning request was approved for Aimee Allen for a structure that has long been divided into apartments. It is at 600 Tremont St. across from Aretha Frankenstein's restaurant.
She said her plan was to keep the building and apartments in place, noting that she had put in recent upgrades.
One concern was that the older building could be torn down and a bigger structure put in its place. The council added a restriction that if the building goes that one of a similar type would need to replace it.