Residents along Ooltewah-Georgetown Road who have farmed the scenic valley for many generations were told Monday afternoon that "Change is coming."
The Planning Commission deferred for 30 days a request to put up to 184 single-family homes on a 95-acre farm that was recently sold.
However, Mike Price, representing Ooltewah developer Karim Jooma, said the property is going to be developed one way or the other. He said if a Planned Unit Development is allowed as requested, there would be 184 lots but conditions could be placed on the layout, including keeping 43 acres as green space.
He said the developer "by right" can go ahead and build 170 homes at the farm without any conditions under the Agriculture 1 zoning.
Mr. Price is to hold an additional meeting with nearby residents, several of whom made impassioned pleas to Planning Commission members.
Rep. Greg Vital, who has a farm south of the site and hundreds of acres north of it and is an ardent conservationist, said this area should not go as many nearby sections that have become clogged with traffic. He said the former rural Ooltewah is "enormously out of control."
Several residents said this would be the first break in a string of family-owned farms stretching up the rural road.
Gary Behler, Juvenile Court clerk, said he and his wife searched for four years before finding their "dream area of rolling farm land" at Ooltewah-Georgetown Road.
Veronica Seaman said she looked for over two years before landing 20 acres in that section. She said, "I want to look out from my deck and see deer playing and cattle across the road."
Dean Morehouse, a previous County Commission contender, said the location at 1044 Ooltewah-Georgetown Road is five miles from the nearest volunteer fire station. Jeff Eversole, another County Commission candidate recently, also spoke against the development.
However, Mr. Price warned, "Change is coming. It's coming to this area."
City Councilman Darrin Ledford, a Planning Commission member who oversees zoning for the City Council, agreed. He said the die was cast when the County Commission in July went along with smaller lot sizes in new developments as requested by the Homebuilders Association, which had cited a housing crisis in the county with difficulty of people to find homes.
The location is five miles from the nearest sewage line, but Mr. Price said it will use a decentralized package system that must get the okay from both TDEC (Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation) and the WWTA (Hamilton County Water and Wastewater Treatment Authority). He said this would be the third such system in Hamilton County.
Mr. Price said he was withdrawing a request to also include townhomes on the property.
He said the developer plans to construct a turn lane into the site.