The Chattanooga City Council this evening delayed by 30 days a vote on a zoning change for a proposed expansion to the Salvation Army’s facilities facing Eighth Street.

The Salvation Army hopes to build a new barracks-style building in which to move federal prisoners it houses as part of a work-release program. That way, prisoners could be moved out of an existing building that the Salvation Army’s board hopes to use for housing for indigent families.

ML King residents and members of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga community have expressed concern that the expansion could jeopardize the neighborhood’s safety.

Salvation Army officials said the expansion could make the area safer since it would provide a sufficient number of beds for the prisoners. Currently, there is some overflow and some prisoners must sleep on cots, said Maj. Jim Lawrence, the Salvation Army’s area commander.

For full coverage, see tomorrow’s Chattanooga Times Free Press.

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