The city of Chattanooga has agreed to pay developer James Pratt $425,000 as settlement of a federal lawsuit he brought after the City Council in 2018 voted 6-3 to squelch a development he planned at The Quarry on Read's Lake Road.
Mr.
Pratt agreed to drop his lawsuit and the restrictions that were approved by the council on the property remain in place.
Also as part of the settlement, 1.55 acres of the Pratt property will be transferred to the North Chickamauga Creek Conservancy.
The City Council at the time went along with a request by Councilman Chip Henderson to place new conditions in the current C-2 zoning that had the effect of downzoning the property against the owner's wishes.
Mr. Pratt at the time said the city "over-reached." He said, "This is improper, illegal and just not right."
The developer noted that the city 16 years earlier had changed about 600 tracts to C-2. He earlier told the Planning Commission, "To go back to the zoning from 16 years ago, that's crazy."
At the time, then-City Attorney Phil Noblett said the law "does allow the imposing of conditions for the benefit of the public."
Six council members (Ken Smith, Anthony Byrd, Jerry Mitchell, Russell Gilbert, Erskine Oglesby and Chip Henderson) were in the majority, while Demetrus Coonrod voted no and Carol Berz and Darrin Ledford abstained.
Developer Pratt has been planning to put a development at the former golf course, but neighbors are fiercely opposed.