In Chattanooga and Hamilton County and around the country there is a shortage of property for new housing, and to help, the Homebuilders Association of Greater Chattanooga has requested changes to zoning and requirements to allow smaller lots and greater density.
The Homebuilders Association’s requests that were made to the Regional Planning Agency to accomplish this have been considered and the staff has been in the process of making proposed changes.
Options are being created and will be further discussed at the next meeting.
One possibility is to leave the R-1 Single Family Residential zoning as is, but to create a completely new zoning designation for Single Family detached houses that would have smaller lots, higher density, and smaller setbacks and road frontage.
Another option would be to amend the requirements in the existing R-1 zones to reduce the minimum lot sizes. It has been 40 years since updates were made for R-1 zones, officials said.