Plan Hamilton

Although there are some areas of Hamilton County which are proposed to have large increases in development, RPA and Hamilton County staff largely got it right when they addressed Signal Mountain.

However road capacity is the one area where Plan Hamilton clearly misses the mark.

Area 7 Summary

Area 7 in the Regional Planning Commission’s Plan Hamilton is the southern portion of Walden’s Ridge Plateau, and “sits almost entirely atop Signal Mountain /Cumberland Plateau with Sequatchie County to the west and Soddy-Daisy to the east and TN SR 111 bordering to the north.”

Although the towns of Walden and Signal Mountain are not governed by Plan Hamilton because they are incorporated, residents of those communities are certainly affected by the plan because increased population in unincorporated Hamilton County will strain the infrastructure in Signal Mountain and Walden.

Goal - Range of Housing Options

• Provide an education program county-wide on Agricultural zoning and what legal actions are possible with Commissioner support - could include lower density of housing.
• The growth opportunities for Area 7 should be tempered by constraints related to natural features, terrain, and infrastructure.”
Specific Recommendations

• Bring residents together to contribute to planning and how growth is managed so that it aligns with the area’s unique topographic and infrastructure limitations.
• Re-examine the capacity of the roads and publicly discuss what investment would be required to expand capacity.
• Consider how the residents’ wishes that Area 7 remain rural and low density could be honored.
Tools & Strategies

• Base density should remain low and rezoning to higher densities should only occur in incorporated areas where sewer capacity and emergency services are available.
• Residents may support a future decrease in A-1 densities in this planning area.
Transportation

• Walden’s Ridge currently has four primary access points:
1) Hwy 127 to Chattanooga;
2) the W Road to Chattanooga;
3) Roberts Mill Road to Soddy Daisy;
4) Hwy 127 to Dunlap
• The routes to Chattanooga are the most utilized by a wide margin, with Roberts Mill the third most-traveled, and fewer people traveling to Dunlap.
• Despite discussions about creating a new access road connecting to Suck Creek Road, these three thoroughfares are likely to remain the main access counts in the foreseeable future, due to the massive investment that would be necessary to build a new road.
NOTE: RPA confirmed that their consultant did not evaluate traffic increases due to future development