City Council - Regular Meeting

Mr. Chair, I will give my time to Minister Janice Shireen Smith, who will be delivering our invocation as the official chaplain for District 5. Minister Smith.

Good afternoon, everyone. I continually be grateful to serve as president of District 5 and 9 in my community. And I'm so blessed today that Dennis Clark, Ron Elliott are in the room as we celebrate the goodness of God. As I pondered over what I would say today to bless all of us, not just y'all, but all of us, God gave me Genesis chapter 1 that says in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was void and it was without form. And darkness was hovering over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God looked upon all he had made at the end of this very scripture. and said that it is good. Well, you might say, perhaps, what am I saying to you today? I'm saying that God created. God created. And inside of us, there is something we can all create. We can carry our lives in the perspective of knowing God and lifting the hands of God by blessing one another. When we look inside of ourselves at the way that God put everything together, we have that same ability. He said so and it is so. We have the ability to make a difference for the homeless. We have the ability to make a difference for the helpless. We have the ability to bring peace in times of storms. And when we look at our duties, that God has so blissfully blessed us with. We are in headship. We are people who make decisions. We are people who make decisions for the betterment of the city of Chattanooga, which not only expands for Chattanooga, but it goes throughout this whole state. Headship is a great responsibility. And to each and every one of us that holds this responsibility, it is a place where we create humility. Humility and not the right to demand by our own pride. God was selfless when he created us. God was generous for what he gave us. And today I'm asking everyone that we extend our hand, which is the hand of God, to be creative. in this place, in this season, and what God has given us. Let us pray. Father God, in the name of Jesus, God, as we come this afternoon, we come thanking you, God. We honor you, God, and we give you glory. God, there are so many perils and troubles on every hand. Even just inside of this great city of Chattanooga. But God, we pray, Lord, that at the same time that you will hold us up by your righteous right hand. So much so that all our hearts are blended into your glory. All our spirits are directed by your peace. God, continue to keep us throughout this meeting, God. Let our hearts institute the creativity that you so much wanted us to have. God, I ask blessings upon each and every officer. I ask blessing upon each and every individual. God, I thank you for the care that has been exhibited in this room by your people. Continue to hold us, keep us, and bless us, God, with the power of your great peace. And it's in Jesus Christ's holy name by God the Father who is in heaven. And we pray. Amen. All right.

Thank you. As we get started this afternoon, just a reminder to everyone to please turn off or silence your cell phones so that we don't have any unnecessary distractions this afternoon. And we like at the beginning of our meeting just to give a rundown of how the meeting will go. So we kind of operate in two parts. The first part of our meeting is an agenda session where we will have some special presentations, and we do have a couple of those this afternoon. and then council will go around and we'll discuss any agenda items that are up for a vote this afternoon and then next week and then looking ahead into the future three weeks or more council will discuss any of those items as needed after that point we will have a recess where we will have an attorney client meeting today with our city attorney and so when we get to that time i'll announce the the time that we'll be coming back after that recess and when we do we'll be voting on all the items that are on our agenda today and so after all of that after the voting at the end of our second portion of our meeting. There will be a time for members of the public who are here to address council on any topic that you'd like. And at that time, our city attorney will read some rules and we'll have you come down front. There is also this week a special time, a public hearing about Plan Chattanooga. And so if you're here to speak to council for that purpose, there will be that time just here in just a very few minutes. AND SO JUST WANTED TO KIND OF EXPLAIN THE DIFFERENCE THERE. ANYONE'S WELCOME TO SPEAK ABOUT PLAN CHATTANOOGA HERE AT THE FRONT END OF THE MEETING AND THEN AT THE END just kind of an open public comment period. So our first special presentation, we have some K-9 officers here with us today with their officer handlers. And so if they would, I guess, come down or rise where you're at, whatever is most comfortable for our K-9 officers. So we have, I believe, K-9 Duke. Is that right? this okay so we have canine bert with his handler officer temmons is that right okay and so we just want to take this time and recognize canine officer bert he is retiring from the Chattanooga Police Department and he will be transferred to the ownership of Officer Timmons and there will be a time later on when we vote we'll be officially voting on a resolution to I guess authorize that retirement but wanted here at the at the front end to recognize him and I think he deserves a round of applause. OK. And so our next item in the nature of a special presentation is a public hearing on Plan Chattanooga. and the way we'll handle this public hearing is we'll set aside a maximum of one hour total for anyone for any and all speakers who are here to talk to council about plan chattanooga and we'll do two minutes per speaker and so if you're here for the purpose of talking to us about plan chattanooga you're welcome to come to the podium down front here AND WE'LL GET A TIMER, OKAY, WE ALREADY HAVE OUR TIMER. AND IF YOU WOULD, JUST GIVE YOUR NAME AND DISTRICT AS YOU START YOUR TIME.

All right, and good afternoon. My name is Josh Branham, Governmental Affairs Director for Greater Chattanooga Realtors. Our footprint covers five counties, including Hamilton County and obviously City of Chattanooga. Just speaking to what the current real estate forecast is, we have new data that should drop In two days each month we on the 12th of each month we get updated information, but the most recent data that we have is for June of 2026 and I'll say that the median Sales price for June of 2026 for just the City of Chattanooga was $350,000, which is unchanged from June of 2025. The average days on sale for a property is 40 days. uh which is over if anybody would remember back to 2020 during the height of covid when people were buying a lot of property that number was much much smaller so it's a healthier market now and in city of chattanooga there are approximately 1 221 properties which is an over which is an increase over the previous year but uh instead of reading all these numbers to you as always i'm a resource please reach out to me i'll be happy to give you zip code specific data if you require that our association is here to help lawmakers like you with these sorts of decisions so thank you all very much thank you

I'm Hadrian Turner, 4006 Dearmont Court. Good afternoon, council members. My name's Hadrian, and I'm speaking on behalf of Save Enterprise South Nature Park. We appreciate the work that has gone into Plan Chattanooga and the effort to establish a long-term framework for how Chattanooga grows, including how we balance development with conservation, parks, and natural resources. We do want to raise one concern that we will be watching as the plan moves forward, the proposed resort and recreation place type. We understand that the place type map is a policy guide, not a zoning map, and that adopting it does not itself change the zoning of any property. But the plan also makes clear that these designations will inform future zoning changes, development decisions, and investments. That makes the distinction between resort and recreation and preserve particularly important. The draft describes resort and recreation as allowing a range of private commercial uses, including hotels, restaurants, marinas, campgrounds, and even housing, and notes that some properties could accommodate 100 plus acre resorts. Preserve by comparison is intended primarily for government owned public properties with very limited development. We have already seen the potential consequences of overly broad recreation zoning at the county level. Hamilton County recently considered a parks and recreation zoning district drawing from the resort and recreation place type in Plan Hamilton. Save Enterprise South and other local organizations raised concerns that the resolution was written as broad enough to allow up to 30% of public lands and parks in unincorporated Hamilton County be commercially or privately developed. The county ultimately tabled that proposal and are seeking ongoing feedback on its revision, and we believe that was the appropriate outcome. Another item of note in Plan Chattanooga is the current place type label for the former Boy Scouts property landlocked by Enterprise South Nature Park. The city and county recently made a significant public investment to acquire this property. The county's authorization to participate in that purchase specifically included language expressing the intent of the property to be rezoned to open space and is also recommended by the Regional Planning Commission. We believe that to remain in focus. Thank you.

Is there anyone else on Plan Chattanooga?

Good afternoon. Janice Gooden from the Creek District 8. I have attended so many planning commission meetings. I don't know if I've broken the record yet. I've gone to many sites with my councilwoman. The historic River to Ridge plan was adopted in 2020, and it took us two years to get there. And then the other plans came in play later. It's a little confusing to me as to what's different from what we started with. I know that plans are supposed to last a certain length of time and be updated. So that's the part. It's not really clear to me what's different. The process is not clear to most people that attend planning commission meetings or even with the community engagement. So that's something we need to work on. The language is technical, very hard to understand. So those are basically my comments. Don't really have any specifics as to the plan itself, but it's kind of hard to understand.

Thank you. Good afternoon. My name's Edward Green, Jr. I live in Ron Elling's district. I don't know how it was that Janice knew exactly what I was going to say, so I'm going to say this. To make it clear for children to understand, this language that you all are using, it is confusing. I'm 74 years old, and some of the English that you all are calling English wasn't English when I was taking English. Having graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 1983, I was given the title Learn. It's difficult to come here and to listen to you all talk back and forth to each other with a different English language. So please just make it easy for us to understand what it is that you all are talking about because we are looking at each other or with a confused look on our face. It is not fair for you all to only understand what you're talking about and leave us holding the bag. Thank you. Sir, thank you.

Anyone else on Plan Chattanooga?

I'm Robert Fisher. I'm a 25-year realtor, commercial realtor, and I didn't come here to say this, but as you all have asked, I think Plan Chattanooga, Plan Hamilton are the greatest documents you all have produced in 25 years. They're tremendous. And I'm sure hours and hours of work, but I think it's a tremendous document. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Okay.

all right anybody else from the public on plan chattanooga if not we do have um just want to make sure going once going twice because we do have karen renick from our regional planning authority here i think to give a just a brief presentation for the benefit of the public and the council about the plan okay

Thank you. I just have a few slides and I appreciate the comments and we will take those to heart and under consideration. So just as a reminder, Plan Chattanooga is a comprehensive plan for the city. It's a citywide growth strategy and then it has eight detailed area plans. The information on the plan and all the documents can be found at planchattanooga.org and everything that I'm talking about here today. So the plan provides updated guidance on development, redevelopment in areas where we wouldn't want that to occur and replace a variety of you know that wide variety of plans we already have so when i'm talking about kind of that comprehensive plan and detailed area plans we could also use community or neighborhood plans so just as a reminder what we're doing here is not anything new we've we've termed it plan chattanooga but the city is already covered under comp plan which is the 2016 or comprehensive plan thinking about language, which is called renewing our vision. It was adopted by planning commission in 2016. It is kind of the growth strategy. At that point, it was city of Chattanooga and Hamilton County combined. It's been updated several times. And we also have a wide variety of plans and policies. So what we're doing is updating those documents. um and um strategies the plan chattanooga has four goals as kind of a truncated presentation from what i gave council earlier but the goals are that chattanooga is a city of vibrant walkable places chattanooga is made up of diverse safe neighborhoods where everyone can find housing that suits their lifestyle needs and is it affordable to them Chattanooga has interconnected transportation options that provide every person with access to opportunities and everyday needs. And Chattanooga is a city and a park that honors and protects the area's unique natural environments and cultural landscapes. So this came out of the public process, the four goals shaped up and then the rest of the plan flows from these goals. The plan is tied directly to One Chattanooga. So One Chattanooga kind of lays out that strategic vision and the plan was developed to support the goals of One Chattanooga with policies, projects and programs about physical development infrastructure. So one of the One Chattanooga might mention ensure affordable housing choices for all Chattanooga, and the plan tries to address the where and how of that. This also is informed by prior work. So all the past planning work of the Regional Planning Agency, partners such as CHA, TPL, the design studio, CARTA, River City Company, all that work is enfolded as much as possible in Plan Chattanooga. and informs the plan base. We're not necessarily duplicating or replicating that, but it does inform Plan Chattanooga. It also incorporates the City's Housing Action Plan and Parks and Open Space Plan, and it provides policies and projects programs for the City to continue to thrive. Plan Chattanooga is structured and what we're asking Plan Council to adopt is Plan Chattanooga. It includes that introduction and kind of overarching citywide structure. That's really kind of the comprehensive vision of the plan. So with IDEA, instead of having all these disparate smaller area plans that may or may not interact with each other, we have that overall city framework that is kind of a shared city framework with goals objectives actions and planning concepts and then from there we have area specific recommendations we also have implementation in the transit vision since we spoke with charles frazier from carta and this is outlaying a vision for transit mobility network of what that could look like 20 years into the future so For anyone listening that might not have looked at the plan, I would encourage them to look at the introduction and citywide section, really setting out that citywide framework, and then if there's an area specific to them. So don't need to read everything, but I would really look at those two together. And there's also a citywide place type map. We used to call this a land use map, where most of the plans we talk about have a land use map, and this is when we're thinking about a zoning case. This is what we're referencing. We've iterated and kind of grown that, so now we're looking at form and character, so kind of other components of what makes a sense of place. And so if you go on planchattanooga.org, you can scroll down to the map and type in your address and you can see the plan recommendation for that. So what is Plan Chattanooga? It is a focus on physical development. It guides the type of development, redevelopment by recommending the location of certain place types or land uses and form. I think it's important to say it does not regulate types or locations of development. It is a guiding document. It does not ensure the funding of recommended projects. It does not change the zoning of any property. As always, only council can change the zoning of property. So it is a It is a guide and we do use it to help inform zoning decisions, but zoning is a separate process from Plan Chattanooga. Plan Chattanooga was adopted by the Regional Planning Commission. I have a state law reference there because the Planning Commission is required to have a general plan for development. So this is the general plan for development for the City of Chattanooga. And Planning Commission's resolution also recommended adoption by Chattanooga City Council. So we are using the plan. Planning Commission has adopted policy and we're using the plan now based on Planning Commission's action. So your adopting resolution, I want to thank Phil for his work with that. We have the adopting resolution mentions adopting the plans but makes several statements in it to be really clear what is the purpose of the plan. It does sunset older plans and policies. And I put an asterisk here because the plan does still keep several adopted plans and policies inactive. And one of them is the Westside plan. We're working on the redevelopment of the Westside neighborhood. And that is a current plan that's very specific to that area. So if you read Plan Chattanooga, that chapter will say, that we're still using the west side plan as a guiding document but for the most part the rest of the community area neighborhood plans and policies will be sunset and replaced by plan chattanooga The resolution adopting, the draft resolution adopting the plan also makes two points. And I say this multiple times to be very clear. This plan Chattanooga is a guiding document. It doesn't change zoning and it doesn't ensure funding. So this is how Chattanooga City Council has used plans for as long as I have been here. You have an option under state law to do something different, which is more binding. This is not the choice that we have made for at least 25, 28 years. Also, and this is a commitment we discussed with Councilman Burrs as Chair of Planning and Zoning Committee, within six months of plan adoption, we will come back and provide an update on Plan Chattanooga as the comprehensive plan, either through a report or recommended changes by plan amendment. So kind of did both here. That's either a report back to you that it's working well, no changes, or recommended changes by plan amendment. And so think one of the things we've learned through larger planning efforts, including the form based code, the new downtown form based code and 2016, the new zoning ordinance, the ADU amendment, then coming back holds us accountable to making sure that we're taking good notes and tracking the progress, but also gives us an opportunity to report back to you how a tool or plan in this case is working. And so need to come back sooner than that we will but at a minimum we'll plan on a six-month report out on the plan we also um and i appreciate the comments from enterprise south we are aware of the boy scout property showing as manufacturing when um i think their preference would be that that would be a kind of a park and open space or excuse me preserve area so we do have a list of possible running things to start considering um and i say that because we have a dynamic community, and I don't want the comprehensive plan to be adopted in this sit. That is not helpful to us. So making sure that we have in our mind that we are a growing community, and we need to be prepared to adapt to those changes. Also, we have plan metrics, and so that is really intended to track how is the plan working overall. It's kind of a growth strategy. Is the plan doing what it says it can do, and hopefully that

six month um mark we can also report back on that and i'm happy to answer any questions if you have any okay i think we do have a few uh councilman henderson thank you mr karen uh you know getting back to terms and language and english and all of that and i think you know i think one of the phrases that that we use is when we sunset a policy and i think it led to a little bit of confusion even out in my district that Those plans, those individual plans that we worked on were going to go away, but it's my understanding, and I've read it in the new plan Chattanooga, those individual plans are incorporated into the comprehensive plans.

That's correct. Some of those have. So we have, I don't have the count, but I will go back and try to count all the current plans and policies we have in place. Not all of them have been moved over. But yes, there's language, and I believe if specific language from a plan got moved over, I've tried to communicate with every council member if that was the situation. But yes, there are plans, language, specific plan language for some plans and policies that have moved over, and it would just be incorporated in the plan.

In other words, in The specific one that Ms. Janis referred to was the Ridge to River. I haven't specifically looked for that one, but I would assume that that plan would have rolled over into this comprehensive plan.

The plan was rolled over and updated. So the plan was, and I'm looking at Janice saying 2020, 2021. So it has had updates since then. But it does sound like maybe a kind of a comparison would be helpful. Like if I participated in the 2020 effort or prior effort, what has changed now, that is something that we can work on. So the plan, some of the elements moved over, but not, maybe not word for word is my best way to describe that.

Could you... Is it possible, do you know which plans maybe didn't carry over at all?

Yes, we can come up with a list. The list is actually shorter of plans that we're not recommending sun setting. At the beginning of each of when we talk about these eight area, the one through eight there, there's a section in each of those plans to talk about which plans are being sunset and which will move forward. But so it might be, I can combine those two with a list of here's the ones that are be sunset and no longer referenced. And, and primarily that's referenced in a zoning case providing guidance and which ones will continue to move forward.

Okay.

So usually it is the more either specific like the West Side Plan. There's just a few of them that we're recommending moving forward.

Okay. So you're using a term that I was under the assumption that all individual plans would sunset, but some would roll over into the comprehensive plan. But you're using a little bit different term.

Well, let me rephrase that and see if I can be more clear on my end. The plans themselves where we would be referencing, for example, the Hickson North River plan last updated in 2015, we would not use that as a plan recommendation anymore. There is a component, the Hickson North River Plan had a strategy for, I believe it's Bradford Park, which we moved that strategy over. That was determined. That's still a question about what happens in that area. So that strategy was kind of picked up and moved over, but not the entirety of the Hickson Plan. And so the Hickson plan would be sunset, and we normally would not reference that plan anymore, but there are portions of the plan that would be still considered an active policy that might be needed that would get moved over. Okay. Thank you. And I believe we did, that's one of the changes we made probably about six months ago, was just making sure, looking at all the policy, do we have areas that are changing, but we don't have additional, we might need additional policy guidance. And I think we've communicated most of those. They're generally along corridors where we need a little bit more guidance.

Okay. Councilwoman Hill.

Thank you. The sunsetting conversation is interesting, and so I'll just add my personal experience to this. When serving on planning commission, you have all of these staff recommendations and documents. And for me as a planning commissioner, it was really important to use the plans that were adopted by the council to reference, to use as a guide as a planning commissioner when I'm looking at something in a different district to say, this is what people have worked on together. So it makes sense that in doing this large amount of work that we would be trying to have a goal of consolidation of all of that so that we have a singular document that we're referring back to. That said, the reason I hit my light was because this has been one of two really massive planning lifts that we've done since I joined council five and a half years ago. The other was the big zoning, right? Huge, huge scopes of work that have taken your staff a great deal of time. So first, thank you very, very much for all the time, the leadership, the thoughtfulness with which RPA has approached this work. The second thing is, I do believe that the willingness of RPA staff to consider these as living documents that can be studied and adjusted has added value and built trust in the policies as we have rolled out the new zoning code. So when you said that Councilwoman Burrs, our Chairwoman of Planning and Zoning, recommended that we do the same thing with this, it just sent off a little firework in my mind because I thought that is a great idea, and I'm really glad that you recommended that, Councilwoman, so thank you. And thank you for being accommodating to it, Karen. I'm excited for us to ratify this so that everybody will have it. Certainly have folks in my communities that have been vocal, adding their feedback, and are also excited about where this new plan heads in making stronger neighborhoods, smaller commercial nodes, giving some options there. So thanks very much. That's all, Mr. Chair. Okay.

and councilwoman burrs thank you mr chair karen i'll just ditto thank you for all the hard work and i appreciate the fact that you've already started that running list so we can uh continue to revisit the things that are already questioned right now i don't know how you keep all the information in your head that is just you're amazing um and mr green i don't always understand the language either so i am with you i think i just ask a lot of questions until somebody helps me understand so thank you for being here and janice always for being here and sharing input from your communities i think it's important that we continue that conversation not just from here but hearing from the public so that's all i have mr chair thank you thank you all right and thank you karen that's all the questions we have i believe um

And that will bring to a close our public hearing on Plan Chattanooga. And just a note for everyone who's here or watching online, that resolution that Karen mentioned will be on our agenda on August 25th for a vote.

So, okay.

We'll move on to our agenda then. Council, could I get a motion on our minutes from the last meeting? So moved. Second. All right. We have a motion properly seconded and the minutes FROM OUR PREVIOUS MEETING WILL STAND AS PUBLISHED. COUNCIL, IF YOU WOULD LOOK WITH ME AT OUR AGENDA FOR THIS EVENING. WE'LL START BY LOOKING AT ORDINANCES, AND IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ON ANY ORDINANCES ON OUR AGENDA TO BE VOTED ON THIS EVENING, PLEASE HIT YOUR LIGHTS.

COUNCILMAN HENDERSON. NEW SPEAKER THANK YOU, MR. CHAIRMAN. UNDER PLANNING ITEM D, zero zero nine five i did receive an email from the applicant requesting a deferral until september the 8th so i'll be asking the council to approve that motion okay thank you and councilwoman noel thank you mr chair uh on the public works um item b i am going to defer that until the 18th

is um is mr hutchinson here you you are okay see me after here after this here uh and i'm going to defer that until the 18th okay thank you yes ma'am all right any other questions or comments on ordinances on our agenda this evening council

Don't see any lights, and so we'll move on to resolutions. Councilwoman Hill, you're recognized.

Thank you. Planning item E, this is related to a planned unit development amendment. I got an email just before council that there's a little bit more work that needs to be done between RPA staff and the applicant, so I'd like to, I plan on making a motion to defer this for two weeks until August 25th. 25th. Thank you.

ALL RIGHT. ANY OTHER QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ON ANY RESOLUTIONS ON OUR AGENDA THIS EVENING, COUNCIL? SEEING NONE, WE'LL LOOK AT NEXT WEEK'S AGENDA ITEMS. DO HAVE A FEW ORDINANCES ON FINAL READING. AND NO ORDINANCES ON FIRST READING. AND ALSO A HANDFUL OF RESOLUTIONS. ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ON NEXT WEEK'S ITEMS? SEEING NONE, IF YOU WOULD LOOK WITH ME, COUNSELOR, AT OUR PURCHASING ITEMS ON THE AGENDA FOR APPROVAL THIS EVENING. and hit your lights if you have any questions or comments on these.

Councilman Harvey, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to point out on the last item that the request to increase was negotiated from 11% to 5%. So I always like to point that out and thank you all for doing your due diligence on that and decreasing the cost to taxpayers. So thank you for your hard work on getting that done. Absolutely.

And kind of on a similar note to that, I think it's the fourth item there, the Komatsu wheel loader. You'll notice that there's a trade-in deduction that we were able to recognize on that item to reduce the cost there. So again, kudos to our purchasing department and all of our departments for keeping an eye on the bottom line. That's much appreciated. Any other questions or comments on purchases, Council? Yes, Councilman Clark, you're recognized.

This is a question regarding the custodial services for the city downtown campus buildings. What buildings do those specifically include and does that exclude any other buildings such as like the library or any of our head start buildings or i guess i'm and i guess my other follow-up question to that would be how many custodial agreements do we have

and thank you mr uh mr councilman uh bill payne in public works the the downtown campus uh specifically includes this building the the lindsay street building city hall city hall annex and the wellness center so those those are the buildings that are specifically in the downtown campus And that is the only custodial agreement that our facilities maintenance folks have. I know that other departments and other places may have custodial agreements for the facilities that they provide custodial services for, but Public Works and the Facilities Management Group provides custodial specifically for the downtown campus.

So that is the downtown campus footprint, those cluster buildings?

yes that's correct i just i had never heard it referred to as such like i didn't know if this was the main campus or but that makes sense thank you yes sir thanks bill any other questions or comments on purchasing items council okay seeing none we'll look at future considerations THERE'S NOT A WHOLE LOT ON THERE. I ALREADY MENTIONED THE PLAN CHATTANOOGA RESOLUTION THAT'S ON OUR AGENDA FOR AUGUST 25TH. THAT'S ON THE FIRST PAGE. ANY OTHER QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS? okay i don't see any lights on the board here and we do not have any committee or department reports this evening um and so we do need an attorney yes client meeting and so we will be in recess until five o'clock We are back in session. Madam Clerk, if you would please read item 7a.

An ordinance closing and abandoning a portion of the unopened right-of-way in the 3600 block of Divine Avenue plus two adjacent alleys as detailed on the attached maps subject to certain conditions.

Move to approve. Council, we do have a motion properly seconded to approve this ordinance on final reading.

Are there any questions or comments? I'm sorry.

I need to rescind that. I'm sorry, council.

Any other questions or comments, council? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And the ordinance has passed on final reading. Item 8A, please, Madam Clerk.

An ordinance closing and abandoning a portion of the unopened right-of-way, unused permanent landscape easement, and unused utility and public use easement in the 2400 block of Gun Barrel Road as detailed on the attached maps subject to certain conditions.

Move to approve. Second. Council, we do have a motion properly seconded on this ordinance. On first reading, are there any questions or comments before we vote? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And the ordinance is passed on first reading. Item 8B, please.

An ordinance closing and abandoning a portion of the unopened alley in the 2800 block of East 8th Street. I'm sorry, let me start again. An ordinance closing and abandoning a portion of an unopened alley in the 2800 block of 8th Street as detailed on the attached maps subject to certain conditions.

chair so i am going to um defer this until august 18th and i did speak with the representative for mr hutchinson right after the 3 30 and um i think it'll be okay on the 18th but i'm going to defer to the 18th so i can go out and look at it that's a motion to defer that's a motion to defer until august the 18th okay

TO HEAR A SECOND. WE DO HAVE A MOTION PROPERLY SECONDED TO DEFER THIS ITEM UNTIL AUGUST 18TH. ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS BEFORE WE VOTE? ALL IN FAVOR? AYE. ANY OPPOSED? AND THIS ORDINANCE ON FIRST REGION WILL BE DEFERRED UNTIL AUGUST 18TH. THANK YOU. YES, MA'AM. ITEM 8C, PLEASE, MADAM CLERK.

An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code Part 2 Chapter 38 zoning ordinance so as to rezone property located at 127 Fern Avenue from RN 17.5 residential neighborhood zone to RN 2 residential neighborhood zone.

And this is planning item 2026-0091. Is the applicant present? And is there any opposition present? Okay. And Councilman Henderson, you are recognized.

Move approval.

Council, we do have a motion properly seconded to approve this ordinance on first reading. Are there any questions or comments before we vote? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And the ordinance is passed on first reading. Item 8D, please.

An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code Part 2 Chapter 38 Zoning Ordinance so as to rezone properties located at 6411, 6511, and 6611 Dayton Boulevard from RN16 Residential Neighborhood Zone to RN13 Residential Neighborhood Zone subject to certain conditions.

And this is Planning Item 2026-0095. Is the applicant present? And is there any opposition present? councilman henderson you're recognized thank you mr chair after receiving an email from the applicant requesting deferral i move that we defer this until september the 8th council we do have a motion properly seconded to defer this first reading planning item until september 8th are there any questions or comments before we vote all in favor any opposed And this ordinance will be deferred for first reading until September 8th. Item 8E, please.

An ordinance to amend Chattanooga City Code Part 2 Chapter 38 Zoning Ordinance so as to rezone properties located at 2834, 2840, and 2852 Kirkman Road together with 7201 and 7215 Tyner Road from RN16 Residential Neighborhood Zone to TRN3 Traditional Residential Neighborhood Zone subject to certain conditions.

and this is planning item 2026-0075 is the applicant present okay is there any opposition present okay and councilwoman burrs you're recognized thank you mr chair i'd like to approve with conditions in a mr attorney i believe you have the conditions yes ma'am listed okay yes ma'am hold on just a second sure

Let's see. Let me give you the conditions here. The conditions currently are, there are actually, wow, there are 12 conditions. All right. Got them all. I'll read them here. End of the record. Thank you. All right. Maximum number of units is 94. No more than 48 attached townhome units. Townhome units shall not be located on lots that abut Tyner Road or Kirkman Road. Dwelling units fronting on Kirkman Road shall have a minimum lot size of 5000 square feet. No more than one entrance or exit to the development on Kirkman Road and no more than one entrance or exit on Tyner Road. No driveways on Kirkman or Tyner Road. Construction entrance only on Tyner Road. Sidewalks the length of the development along Kirkman Road and to the extent allowed on Tyner Road. landscape buffers are required, trees along Kirkman Road and lighting to EPB specifications, new crosswalks on Kirkman Road and Tyner Road with city transportation approval, traffic study in addition to the traffic study relative to this development meet with city administration to talk about a plan for the bigger picture that is tyner kirkman silverdale bonnie oaks and old cleveland pike and last submittable submittal of a stormwater plan those are all 12 conditions thank you yes ma'am do we need to have the applicant to acknowledge those would that be helpful yeah i think they're okay if you wouldn't mind coming down

Ben Skidmore with Kenley Horn. Those are the same conditions as discussed at Planning Commission and are agreeable to the development team. Okay, very good. Thank you.

Matt, have you offered for comment yet?

We're at that point, so feel free.

Okay, good, good. I just wanted to thank the applicant and the community because they came together twice, and these conditions were as a result of that public-private partnership. Thank you to the community. If anybody's watching, we have a representative here from the neighborhood that's directly across the street from the development. And thank you to the applicant for the time you spent working with the community and helping us come up with these conditions. I think it's going to be a good project. So thank you. Okay.

Any other questions or comments, Counselor? Did we already get a motion and a second on this?

We made a motion to approve with conditions. Okay.

Second. Second. Okay. And so any further questions or comments? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And the ordinance is passed on first reading with conditions. Just a few.

Yes, thank you.

Item 9A, please, Madam Clerk.

A resolution authorizing the administrator for the Department of Economic Development to enter into an agreement with River City Company for a storefront improvement and retail recruitment initiative in the amount of $500,000.

Council, we do have a motion properly seconded to approve this resolution. Are there any questions or comments before we vote? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And the resolution is adopted. Item 9B, please.

A resolution authorizing the city of Chattanooga to allocate $35,000 from unallocated accrued interest of the American Rescue Plan Act Coronavirus state and local fiscal recovery funds to Artsville to support operational expenses for fiscal year 2027.

We have a motion properly seconded to approve this to adopt this resolution. Are there any questions or comments council before we vote? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And the resolution is adopted. Item 9C, please.

A resolution authorizing the administrator for the Department of Public Works to enter into a Tennessee Youth Employment Program contract with the Southeast Tennessee Development District for the FY27 Public Works Summer Youth Program and City of Chattanooga Internship Program in the amount of $92,200. Move to approval.

Council, we do have a motion properly seconded to adopt this resolution. Are there any questions or comments before we vote? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And the resolution is adopted. Item 9D, please.

A resolution authorizing the appointment of Melissa McCallum as a special commissioned police officer unarmed for the City of Chattanooga, Chattanooga Parking Authority, to perform duties expressly limited to the performance of her duties in the position of parking ambassador.

Motion approved. Do I have a motion properly seconded to adopt this resolution? Are there any questions or comments before we vote? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And the resolution is adopted. And item 9E, please.

A resolution approving a special exceptions permit for residential planned unit development amendment for part of the property located at 1547 Mercer Street. and an unaddressed property in the 1500 block of Mercer Street to amend condition numbers one through four of resolution number 32672, previous case number 2025-0138 for a previously approved special permit for a residential planned unit development for part of the property located at 1547 Mercer Street and an unaddressed property in the 1500 block of Mercer Street subject to certain conditions.

Councilwoman Hill, you're recognized.

Thank you. I move to defer this item two weeks until August 25th.

Second. Council, we do have a motion properly seconded to defer this item to August 25th. Are there any questions or comments before we vote? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And this resolution is deferred until August 25th. Item 9F, please.

A resolution authorizing the retirement of K-9 Duke from the Chattanooga Police Department and transfer of ownership to Dennis James as more detailed in the attached waiver.

Motion approved.

Second.

We do have a motion properly seconded on this resolution, Council. Are there any questions or comments before we vote? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And the resolution is adopted. And finally, Resolution 9G, please.

A resolution authorizing the retirement of K-9 Bert from the Chattanooga Police Department and transfer of ownership to handler Lucas Timmons as more detailed in the attached waiver.

Motion approved. Second. Council, we do have a motion properly seconded on this item. Are there any questions or comments before we vote?

With your pick.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And the resolution is adopted. That takes us to purchases. We're happy to welcome Weston to the podium.

Good evening, Council. Good evening. We have six purchases recommended for approval this evening. The first is with Public Works. It is a new agreement for custodial services for the city's downtown campus. This will be a four-year agreement with an annual amount limit of $450,000. The award will go to the Golden Seal Company is the best bid. Item number two is also with Public Works. They're requesting an increase of $750,000 to agreement 561399 with CWS Chattanooga transfer to cover current and future invoices through September 26, 2026. The new annual spend will be $3,670,000. Item number three is with wastewater. This is a one-time purchase of two actuators and gearboxes for wastewater. This purchase from Motion Industries will be in the amount of $67,733.66 utilizing the source well contract. Item number four is with Public Works. This is a one-time purchase of a Komatsu wheel loader to be used by the State Street Aid Division. This purchase from Power Equipment will be in the amount of $97,761 utilizing the source wheel contract. Item number five is with Public Works. This is a one-time purchase of two Ford F-350 super duty dump bed trucks to be used by wastewater. The purchase from National Auto Fleet Group will be in the amount of $162,384.16 utilizing the source well contract. And finally, item 6 with Public Works is a year 4 renewal. Hunter Oil is requesting a 5% increase due to the increased manufacturing costs of all petroleum-based products. The new annual limit will be $157,500. Second.

we do have a motion properly seconded to approve these purchases are there any questions or comments before we vote all in favor aye any opposed and the purchases are approved thank you weston we'll go around the dais now for committee reports we'll start with councilwoman noel councilwoman dotley councilwoman burrs

Thank you Mr. Chair. I don't have a committee report, but I have a couple of community announcements.

I will be hosting a district 6 summit on August 20th at the Dr Carol Beaver Stanley Justice Center.

It'll be in the morning from 8 to 10, and we'll be focused. It's open to the public, anybody that wants to attend. It'll be focusing on economic development, entrepreneurship, and connectivity in District 6. And then I'll also be hosting a town hall meeting on August 27th at the Tyner Community Center. It'll be from 5.30 to 7.30, and we will be focusing on neighborhood safety.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you. Councilman Henderson. Councilwoman Hill. Councilman Harvey.

There you go. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We will have a Parks and Public Works Committee on August the 25th to discuss a stormwater ordinance brought to us by the City Attorney's Office.

Okay.

Yes, sir.

Thank you, sir.

Councilman Clark.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We will also be hosting a community meeting for the Brainerd Park community, as you can see on your screens. Wonderful flyer there. Brainerd Park is the home of the Brainerd Golf Course that will be celebrated 100 years this year. There's just a lot of movement happening in that community, particularly with Carter's Corridor. and then their connectivity to Brainerd Road. So we're going to have a wonderful dinner that day. I welcome all my council members. I want to thank the mayor's team, Mandy and Kim Strong. We closely partnered with the Office of Constituent Support to host these. And so we will have city administrators there present including our chief and i think uh assistant chief daniel jones will be there and this is just an opportunity for us to bring city hall to the community and to discuss things that are particularly happening in these neighborhoods so that's monday august the 17th at six o'clock p.m at the brannett golf course clubhouse and you guys are more than welcome to join us for dinner which will be served on behalf of our district so thank you thank you yeah vice chair elliot

ALL RIGHT. THAT TAKES US TO THE PORTION OF THE MEETING WHERE WE'RE HAPPY TO RECOGNIZE MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC WHO ARE HERE TO ADDRESS COUNCIL, AND SO IF YOU'RE HERE FOR THAT, IS THERE ANYBODY HERE FOR THAT PURPOSE THIS EVENING? ALL RIGHT. IF YOU ARE, JUST PLEASE LINE UP AT THE PODIUM DOWN FRONT HERE AND LISTEN AS OUR CITY ATTORNEY READS THE RULES. NEW SPEAKER Yes, sir.

AT THE END OF EACH COUNCIL BUSINESS MEETING, THE CHAIR WILL RECOGNIZE MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC WHO WISH TO ADDRESS THE COUNCIL, AND HERE'S YOUR RULES. Each speaker wishing to address the council can only be recognized at the microphone up front provided for that purpose. Can't have more than three minutes to speak, but you can address the council only upon matters within their legislative and quasi-judicial authority and not on matters which are not under the authority of the council or regulated by other governmental bodies or agencies. Do not engage in any vulgar or obscene language nor use the floor to personally attack or personally denigrate others. and address the council as a whole and not make comments directed towards individual council members. Lastly, do not engage in disorderly conduct or disrupting a public meeting which is prohibited by Tennessee law and someone commits that offense if a person substantially obstructs or interferes with the meeting by physical action or verbal utterance with the intent to prevent or disrupt a lawful meeting or gathering. Having stated those rules, Mr. Green, please give your name and your district.

You already gave my name, so I'm in District 9. Appreciate that, Mr. Attorney. And to the entire City Council, today I stand to salute a young man who gave his life on August the 14th of 1977. Don't hold me to the year because I've slept since my friend was killed. But he was killed at the Red Food Store on Broad Street. Clarence Edward Hamler was a friend of mine. Not only was he a friend of mine, he and I attended the same church. And Councilwoman Dotley, we... was elated to see you at Union Grove Baptist Church this past Sunday. So we're going to give you your flowers not only there, but for the effort that you put forth in helping me get them to name the street on South Broad Street after Clarence Hamlin. So this coming Friday, the 14th, Chris Bryant and wonder, we will be remembering the death of one guy who was the life of the party. Not only was he the life of the party, but he was a church member of mine. And so it is with great honor I stand and ask that you all would allow me to use the last minute of my three minutes in honor of Clarence Edward Hambler.

gone but not forgotten thank you thank you good name good afternoon my name is brian i live in district 4 and i wanted to share something that happened today a group of unhoused neighbors i know really well were told by police at 1 p.m that they had to until tomorrow morning to leave their encampment or they would all go to jail This is a group that has built a supportive community. They look out for each other. They encourage each other. They kept their area clean and out of sight. And they had permission from the landowner to be there. We can argue about the laws. I understand officers are expected to enforce the laws that exist. But I want to ask one simple question. What is the point of giving people less than 24 hours? Less than 24 hours means they cannot make smart or healthy choices about where to go next. Less than 24 hours means their belongings will be lost and damaged. Less than 24 hours creates chaos for people who are already doing everything they can to survive. And we all know the reality. There is no shelter they can go to. Chattanooga does not have enough beds for more than half of its unhoused population. So where exactly are they supposed to go to in, what, 15 hours from now? What could the rational reason be for giving people less than a day, if not out of vindictiveness? Is the goal to actually make it difficult to live unhoused in Chattanooga? Because while people who are unsheltered need some level of stability to improve their lives, our city is making their lives even less stable. Why? That is not the character of Chattanooga that I know. Whether the motivation is tourism, redevelopment, or simply wanting to do the humane thing, we all agree that we want fewer people living on the streets and in the woods. And the best way to do that is to provide a low barrier shelter where people can stay, build stability, and take steps to improve the situations. What we do know is that the current status quo is not working. Cracking down on people in such a needlessly harsh way is counterproductive. And without any logical explanation, it feels mean-spirited. Cities should not be judged by how they treat their most affluent residents or their biggest businesses. They should be judged by how they treat their most vulnerable citizens. And despite all the progress Chattanooga has made and continues to make, this is an area of clear moral and practical failure. I'm asking the city to do more. I'm asking you to start by approving what we all know is desperately needed, a low barrier shelter. Thank you.

Thank you. IS THERE ANYONE ELSE HERE THIS EVENING THAT WOULD LIKE TO ADDRESS COUNSEL? SEEING NONE, COUNSEL, WE'VE REACHED THE END OF OUR BUSINESS FOR THIS EVENING. SECOND. MOTION PROBABLY SECONDED. ADJOURNED. ALL IN FAVOR? AYE.