The Chattanooga City Council will vote next Tuesday on final reading to approve a new zoning ordinance, a citywide rewrite of future rezoning. The new ordinance will take effect the week of Thanksgiving, not in October as first proposed.
Chris Anderson of the mayor’s office told council members July 16 that postponing implementation by 30 days will allow time to sync ordinance mapping with the Regional Planning Agency’s Plan Chattanooga maps, and to update the community and get feedback.
“It creates goodwill moving forward,” said Councilman Darrin Ledford, chairman of the planning and zoning committee.
“Hopefully we will have a better code and we can address the challenges that this city is facing,” he said.
The zoning document is subject to quarterly review. Councilman Ledford has said industry leaders have concerns about the rewrite.
“There’s a lot of good suggestions in that document,” Councilman Ledford said. “The beautiful thing about what we’re able to do up here is make amendments.”
“Our work has just begun,” he said.
As if on cue, a Highland Park resident spoke at the public hearing July 16 to point out that the ordinance does not provide hardship status or special remedies that make small affordable housing projects possible.
The current zoning ordinance was adopted in 1961. Mr. Anderson said that disjointed amendments have allowed it to limp along in the decades since, a patchwork of zones which creates problems.
He said the new ordinance will liberate housing choice and housing affordability. The new ordinance allows homes on smaller lots.
An RPA summary of the ordinance states that it targets vacant or underdeveloped sites and will also boost options for mixed-income housing and mixed-use development, as well as increase the tax base.
In 2023, RPA divided Hamilton County into 12 “area plans,” each of which has its own map of “place types.” These maps are intended to guide future growth.
Mr. Anderson has said the plan does not change any current zoning. It does not change rules for accessory dwelling units or short-term vacation rentals.
Most processes for rezoning and the roles of various bodies involved in rezoning will not change.
Many new zones have parking space minimums for cars and bikes and electric vehicle charging station requirements.
Still under review are the ordinance’s enforceability and objectivity.
The city’s Land Development Office will continue to enforce regulations.
“We heard very loudly that there needs to be enforcement,” said RPA Deputy Administrator Karen Rennich.
The rewrite has been three years in the making. It aims to modernize Chattanooga’s zoning and bring more urban zoning tools to the table; to simplify it and make it more user-friendly.
Mr. Anderson said the update is “crucial to our city’s future.”
After an evaluation in 2020, planning and zoning consultant Camiros in 2020 recommended a complete rewrite of the ordinance in 2021.
2022 was spent in meetings and review with stakeholders and the ordinance’s initial first draft surfaced in 2023. Since then, there have been three public meetings.
The city’s team assessed 400 comments, questions and suggestions from the public and held four meetings with councilmembers before releasing the current redline draft June 4, which was reviewed and unanimously approved for recommendation by RPA July 8.
At that time RPA had recommended that language be added regarding the Board of Zoning Appeals, group homes as recommended by special needs organizations and STVR mapping.