Naveed Minhas

Seventy-five Emma Wheeler Homes residents have been relocated as a result of the Chattanooga Housing Authority's renovation project on the site.

The relocated residents may not return, housing officials said.

However, if all goes according to plan, the remaining 265 families will not have to move to a different site because of the renovation, expected to cost about $10 million, said Naveed Minhas, CHA's vice president of development. Instead, they will be relocated to the 75 vacant units while renovation is going on in their units, he said.

The relocation process was among several issues discussed at the housing authority's monthly board meeting Tuesday.

The renovation started in the spring of 2011 and is expected to be complete within three years. When complete, the vacant units will be filled from CHA's public housing waiting list, officials said.

At the meeting, housing authority board members approved a contract with Aegis Environmental Inc. to provide abatement services for units at Emma Wheeler Homes at a cost of $315,060, with a $30,000 contingency to be managed by CHA staff.

CHA Executive Director Betsy McCright also announced that the housing authority's 2013 Annual Agency Plan has been published. Copies are at each public housing site, CHA's main office at 801 N. Holtzclaw Ave., and online at www.chahousing.org.

"We're trying to tell the world about it," McCright said.

CHA officials want people to read the agency plan and write any concerns or comments. The board will vote on the plan at its next board meeting, scheduled for Sept. 25.

The plan discusses having a community planning session about the future of East Lake Courts and College Hill Courts. CHA officials have said the sites, the two largest and oldest in the city, are too old and have too much damage to repair. College Hill Courts alone would cost about $50 million to bring up to standard, CHA officials said.