Chattanooga responded Tuesday to a request for more information about its urban growth boundary plans by detailing a wide swath of land around three cities it could potentially want to annex in the future.
Mayor Ron Littlefield drafted the letter Tuesday and sent it to the county.
The five-paragraph letter simply states Chattanooga's proposed plans for potential growth boundaries. They include areas around Lakesite, Soddy-Daisy and Collegedale. The lands unclaimed by any of these three cities, the letter states.
"Thank you for your attention on this matter," Littlefield wrote. "I look forward to working with you and other officials of local government to take full advantage of this new season of growth and development."
Mayor Jim Coppinger declined to comment Tuesday, saying he wanted a chance to review the letter.
He said a special assistant to Littlefield dropped off the letter late Tuesday evening to county Chief of Staff Mike Compton.
Littlefield triggered an exchange of letters last week when he sent a letter to the county asking that the urban growth boundaries for all cities within Hamilton County be reopened and reexamined. The existing boundaries were set in 2001 after a meticulous two-year process.
But the county responded that it needed more information from the city regarding its growth boundary plans. Littefield's letter Tuesday was a response to that request.
County Commission Chairman Larry Henry said he hasn't seen the letter yet, but he's received calls from residents.
"The people who are living in my district who are on the radar screen to be annexed, are adamantly against it," Henry said. "Sewer is the big issue. They're going to pay the sewer tax without the sewer. They know they're not going to get anything out of the city of Chattanooga.
"They don't have a real big problem with paying the taxes if they're going to get the service for it," Henry said.
The fears of possible future annexation led to one group -- friendsofhamilton.org -- to send a news release out on Monday that they wanted to form their own city of Hamilton, Tenn., on the northeastern portion of the county.
Littlefield said talks like this are exactly what he thinks needs to happen within the community when discussing the urban growth boundaries. He has said he wants to look at the urban growth boundaries because of enormous potential for growth around Enterprise South from Volkswagen and Amazon.
City Council Chairwoman Pam Ladd said Tuesday night council members had not received a copy of the letter.
She said she would prefer a face-to-face conversation rather than a letter announcing a unilateral plan. She said the exchanges going on right now make her leery about what could happen now if a meeting takes place.
"You're already going to have people coming there with preconceived notions and maybe some opposing views," she said.
She also said she also worried about city and county relations at this point.
"I'm concerned both governments continue to work in silos," she said.
Ansley Haman covers Hamilton County government. A native of Spring City, Tenn., she grew up reading the Chattanooga Times and Chattanooga Free Press, which sparked her passion for journalism. Ansley's happy to be home after a decade of adventures in more than 20 countries and 40 states. She gathered stories while living, working and studying in Swansea, Wales, Cape Town, South Africa, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Ga., and Knoxville, Tenn. Along the way, she interned for ...
Cliff has worked for the Times Free Press for five years and covers Chattanooga city government. He previously covered Rhea County, as well as transportation and growth and development in Southeast Tennessee. A native of Maryville, Tenn., Cliff graduated in 2003 from the University of Tennessee with a bachelor’s degree in communications with an emphasis on journalism. Before coming to Chattanooga, he was a crime reporter with Hernando Today, a supplement of The Tampa (Fla.) ...
"Awe who cares, he will be gone soon."
I truly hope that you are right, for the sake of Chattanooga.
Is this the mayor’s backdoor to metro government? One major problem with this idea is the timing. The economy is improving but at a very slow pace and the mayor wants to annex communities into the city which means paying high city taxes, storm water fees and code enforcement just to name a few. This isn’t the best idea mayor. Thou will shouldn’t force people to pay more.
Hard to believe this guy was elected to a 2nd term. It appears Littlefield basically wants to take all of unincorported Hamilton County into the city of Chattanooga. Unreal. He's a power hungry bully who wants his legacy cemented and will do everything in his power to do so. I hope Hamilton County, Mayor Coppinger, etc., tell him to stick it.
Not to worry. The next mayor will do the same. The plans and foundation were laid long before Mayor Littlefield came into office.
High taxes? What high taxes? I live in the city in a very modest 1500 sq ft 30 year old home and my paltry property taxes are a little under $2,000 per year....Of course, this does not include the storm water fees which are a REAL bargain!
Personally, I can't wait to vote for Littlefield again......of course I DO LOVE PAIN!!! OOOPS...Look at the time...it's almost noon, time for me to go pound my thumb with a hammer!! See ya'll later.
oops!! mayor littlebrains overspent his budget on a 32,000.00 hunk of junk and now need a new source of quick cash-- lets announce our intention to annex everyone not already in this mess... we need to buy more junk and pay me and my cronies our big salaries
sage1, does that $2,000 per year property taxes include both city and county taxes? Haven't you ever noticed that your county taxes are always higher than your city taxes? Maybe Chattanooga should secede from the county and use all those county taxes city dwellers pay for Chattanooga residence only.
Two thousand a year for a lousy 1600 sq ft? I paid S2,400 for a 3,200 sq ft 30-yr old tri-level in Dayton, Ohio area in the highest rated city in the area.
It came with sewer, fire hydrants, street lighting, sidewalks, and unlimited weekly trash pickup...all without additional charge. Utilities -- gas, electric, water were all underground. No charge for rain runoff [we had free storm sewers], no additional anything.
Downside was the rotten weather...hence Hamilton County. I now have septic system, all electric, county water, manufactured home, no hydrants -- the lake is a mile off for water supply in case of fire, costly trash pickup -- one barrel, bagged -- free-range and feral dogs. Upside is the $800 tax.
What is our remaining sentence with the tyrant L'Littlefield?
Well Amnesti, if you want to give up paying your county taxes then you will have to do without: Courts, a Jail, Ambulance/EMS, Civil Process serving, Schools, Health Department, Auto Registration (Court Clerk) and lots of other things. I'm sure your best buddy Ron would be willing cover all of those things by tripling your City taxes if you ask him nicely. (Public Art Fund may be extra).
Salsa, Chattanooga schools were much better off when they weren't tied to the county anyway. Maybe they should go back to that period in time. With the county property paid by city residents now in the hands of the city, Chattanooga could afford its own courts, jail, ambulance/EMS services, civil processors, health dept., auto registration and lots of other things. In fact, it was the county struggling monetarily when the city and county decided to engage in matrimony decades ago.
So lets analyze what the affected area will get when annexed by chattaooga, their property tax will double, they will have to pay a sewer tax and storm water run off fee. Them will lose their police protection (not enough officers for what the city has now). Their roadways will become almost impassable with potholes from neglect from city offials (too busy spending momey on art and contaminated property to fix the roads). They would be under the control of the chattanooga city council ( that is a nightmare by itslf). The bright side is that they would no longer have to pay the new fee to go to the downtown library. Wow what a deal.
amnestiUSAF84 makes things up as hr goes along. He himself has no idea what he is saying. I am still waiting on him to turn this into a racial issue like he usually does....Come on amnestiUSAF84, what about a "gotcha" moment.
Macropetal you are right, the school sytems were better when there was the city and county. I agree with you there and I went to both of them. You are wrong about the other things though. Chattanooga city had never had its own health dept., auto registration or civil process servers. By law that is all the Counties responsibility.
WALL STREET PROTESTS...NOT ANTI WALL-STREET AT ALL, BUT INSTEAD RACIALLY MOTIVATED VIOLENCE AGAINST WHITES KNOWN AS WELL UNDER ZIONIST "TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP" FROM HANDS OF WHITE AMERICANS TO SO CALLED "MINORITIES"(COMMUNISM) http://multiculturalismisterrorism.blogspot.com/ THIS NEWS IS RELATED TO "WHITES AREN’T WELCOME IN AMERICA ANY LONGER" !!! http://www.youtube.com/user/BostjanAvsec <== OBAMA'S HEALTH CARE RECORDED LIVE IN 2009. Facts about lunatic ZIONIST Obama/Bush's twilight zone administrations(HORROR) or genocide against white population.
VISIT "MULTICULTURALISM = TERRORISM & OBAMA = OSAMA" http://stateofterror.blogspot.com/ OR “OBAMA = STALIN = BUSH or USA = SOVIET UNION” http://avsecbostjan.blogspot.com/ FROM 911 TO AMERICAN WHITE REFUGEES FILLING ASYLUM ABROAD RIGHT NOW !!! LEARN TRUTH PER WHO, HOW, AND WHY HAVE RUINED YOU...
WALL STREET PROTESTS...NOT ANTI WALL-STREET AT ALL, BUT INSTEAD RACIALLY MOTIVATED VIOLENCE AGAINST WHITES KNOWN AS WELL UNDER ZIONIST "TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP" FROM HANDS OF WHITE AMERICANS TO SO CALLED "MINORITIES"(COMMUNISM) http://multiculturalismisterrorism.blogspot.com/
THIS NEWS IS RELATED TO "WHITES AREN’T WELCOME IN AMERICA ANY LONGER" !!! http://www.youtube.com/user/BostjanAvsec <== OBAMA'S HEALTH CARE RECORDED LIVE IN 2009. Facts about lunatic ZIONIST Obama/Bush's twilight zone administrations(HORROR) or genocide against white population.
VISIT "MULTICULTURALISM = TERRORISM & OBAMA = OSAMA" http://stateofterror.blogspot.com/
OR
“OBAMA = STALIN = BUSH or USA = SOVIET UNION” http://avsecbostjan.blogspot.com/ FROM 911 TO AMERICAN WHITE REFUGEES FILLING ASYLUM ABROAD RIGHT NOW !!! LEARN TRUTH PER WHO, HOW, AND WHY HAVE RUINED YOU...
These plans have been in the works for decades. Hating on Mayor Littlefield is useless. These decisions were made long before Mayor Littlefield was ever elected to office.
Ron Littlefield seems to be involved in one controversy after another. He probably is doing this land grab scheme to draw attention away from his buddy Paul Page sexually harassing city employees. We have yet to hear Mayor Littlefield say anything meaningful regarding that matter.
fedup350 said.."So lets analyze what the affected area will get when annexed by chattaooga."
"Their property tax will double" YEP a true statement indeed.
"They will have to pay a sewer tax and storm water run off fee." YEP...and they will most likely NEVER get sewers installed thus no storm water run off into the sewer system. But they will pay the fees.
"They will lose their police protection (not enough officers for what the city has now)" Another YEP....They will never get fire service either. BUT they will pay for it.
"Their roadways will become almost impassable with potholes from neglect from city offials (too busy spending money on art and contaminated property to fix the roads)." YEP...not to mention the added repairs to their vehicles damaged by said potholes/neglect
"They would be under the control of the chattanooga city council ( that is a nightmare by itself)." YEP yet again! But, for entertainment, they would have the opportunity to vote for another "YES" - MAN/WOMAN for the Dear Mayor.
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