It's now or never. If you do not want three homes per acre on every rural road in Hamilton County then come to the June 18 County Commission meeting and call/email your county commissioners.
The Home Builders and Realtors Associations introduced five pages of last minute Plan Hamilton amendments undermining months of work by county citizens. Many county commissioners did not seem to know what was in the amendments and what happened at the Planning Commission meeting. These amendments created a lot of unnecessary confusion.
If these amendments are approved, three homes per acre will be allowed on A-1 (2 per acre) zoned property if sewers are used, everywhere in unincorporated Hamilton County.
At the last County Commission meeting, Julian Bell, representing the Homebuilders Association, indicated they want to decrease overall land use for residential development and reduce urban sprawl.
So, how does allowing more density on every A-1 zoned property decrease land used and prevent urban sprawl?
Let's look at density in other areas compared to Hamilton County's A-1 zone of 2 per acre:
Chattanooga's A-1 minimum lot size is 5 acres -- HC is 10 times more
Top 10 Tennessee Fastest Growing Counties (including Hamilton County) averages 0.6 per acre -- HC is more than three times that average
Home Builders and Realtors' request of three per acre is five times the average of the other fastest top growing counties and would create urban sprawl.
According to the US Census Bureau, Urban characteristics are -- (FYI, there are 640 acres in a square mile):
1,275 housing units per square mile ensures each qualifying urban area contains at least one high density nucleus (1.99 per acre)
425 housing units per square mile define the initial urban core (0.66 per acre)
200 units per square mile fill in the remainder of the urban area (0.31 per acre, after the urban area is identified)
Urban sprawl has already occurred in Ooltewah at three homes per acre. And 5,000 total housing units will be coming soon to Area 9, most of them are located on already congested roads like Snow Hill, Hunter, Ooltewah-Georgetown, and Mountain View Road. Traffic will be doubled. And, the Mountain View Road and Lee Highway intersection at Exit 11 is already over 90 percent capacity.
The Area 9 Citizen Committee created a Compromise Plan based on the community's vision to preserve the rural character, any changes should be made transparently—not introduced at the last minute by those who stand to profit from them.
Every area of Unincorporated Hamilton County will be affected by these proposed amendments if they are approved and many people have no idea what is happening.
Please spread the word and ask everyone to call/email your county commissioners to request that they vote no on the five page Home Builders and Realtors Associations amendments to all of the Area Plans that include allowing three homes per acre on all A-1 zoned property.
Please support Area 9 and ask Commissioners to vote yes to the Compromise Plan created by a citizen committee based on the community's vision to preserve our rural area.
And please attend the County Commission meeting on June 18 at 9:30 a.m., HC Courthouse, 625 Georgia Avenue, 4th floor (Parking garage next door between Walnut St and Cherry St.)
Kim Helton