Top Updates
- Look out, Lookout
- Rock slide closes Scenic Highway
- Another Rock Slide: Scenic Highway Closed
- Paper should listen to the citizens
- Chapelbrow–Good Concept, Bad Location
- Concerns abound for Chapelbrow
- Mudslide at Covenant calls into question the wisdom of development on steep slopes
- Rock Slide Shuts Down U.S. 64
Signup for Updates
-
Recent Comments
Categories
All Updates
- December 2009 (3)
- November 2009 (7)
- October 2009 (7)
- September 2009 (2)
- August 2009 (36)
- July 2009 (3)
- March 2009 (1)
- December 2008 (1)
- March 1997 (1)
- July 1989 (1)
Petition: Spring 2009
Petition Circulated Spring 2009
We, as citizens of Lookout Mountain, believe the City Council has before it an extraordinary opportunity to support community growth. We are concerned about a new “Planned Unit Development”(PUD) ordinance and want to ensure that any ordinance put before the Council embraces a long range community vision. We also want to ensure that it mitigates or protects the community from unintended consequences of development such as traffic congestion, higher taxes, and loss of significant natural resources.
Before a PUD ordinance is voted on, we want meaningful involvement and collaboration among a land planner, citizens, officials, property owners and developers to produce a comprehensive plan with complementary zoning ordinances. Merely holding a hearing on the proposed PUD ordinance without more extensive community involvement and without hiring a land planner is not acceptable.
We ask that the City Council, before passing this zoning ordinance, hire an experienced professional land planner who is independent of the Council and not affiliated with any current development plans. We want this planner to investigate the best approach for the future development of Lookout Mountain. Many studies show that well planned growth provides a win-win situation for property owners, citizens, and developers by increasing land values and creating even more desirable communities.
Past Online Signatures from
consider and receive public comments on a proposed Planned Unit Development
Ordinance. It will be held at Fairyland Club on Monday, March 16, 2009, at 6:30
p.m. .
planned by people who are experts in this field, not land-owners and developers. We
live on Lookout instead of Signal Mountain because we do not want to live in a
community that has grown unchecked and unplanned. I believe it is imperative that
Lookout Mountain, Georgia officials plan for the future in a manner that brings
value to the lifestyle of Mountain residents of all ages.
be great if there were a way to safely walk from the Covenant area to the Village
Center.
on this issue before any opinion can be made-thanks for making this available to
the taxpayers/residents of LM
affect our whole Lookout Mt. community. Nothing is ever lost by engaging in
thoughtful consideration ahead of time.
Georgia I grew up on Lookout Mountain and moved back to Fairyland 19 years ago to
start and raise a family in the small town atmosphere we now enjoy while still
being near the amenities of a larger city; Chattanooga. Simply put, the proposed
PUD addresses a very large project and change for the size of Lookout Mountain with
the potential to positively or negatively impact the current lifestyle and quality
of life on the Mountain. I have professionally dealt in commercial real estate
since 1984, and, in my experience, I have found most opposition to change is due to
a misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the facts. After reading the proposed
PUD, my opinion, for what it is worth, is that there are simply are too many open
ended options thrown in throughout the proposed PUD that allows for potential and
real contradictions to the stated development plans and restrictions. Such
contradictions allow for a developer, after a PUD approval, to obtain fast and
fairly easy changes or interpretations to accommodate what they want (or really
needed to start with) or to make any changes they say they need in order to
continue the project once into the project – before the public knows what hit them.
Maybe I missed something on the first read; it seems the proposed PUD only
addresses basic issues and is left open for later interpretation with open ended
and precatory language. An uncontrolled PUD can quickly lead to disaster. The
impact of additional traffic for the proposed new development is alone enough to
bring high concern. The existing tourist traffic/trade is inconvenient to the
Mountain residents and benefits few, but is something we have accepted due to its
long time existence. Existing tourist traffic as well as traffic brought by
development/expansion of new and existing projects can certainly wear out and over
use the infrastructure before its time at a disproportionate cost to the residents.
The residential taxpayer pays for the wear and tear caused by tourist and related
traffic on our infrastructure as well as for additional public services/manpower
needed to handle the impact. Many cities/towns charge an impact tax in the form of
hotel/motel tax or a use tax (room or ticket sales or some other meter of use) to
help lift the increased cost burden of upkeep/replacement off the residents or to
help pay for amenities beneficial to the residents. The hotel/motel tax on the
small number of rooms in our city does not seem to be a viable option on its own. I
am not aware of any use tax on local tourist attraction ticket sales, but perhaps
something like that would be useful and welcomed on this Mountain not only for the
high tourist traffic, but for other high uses such as the proposed development and
expansions of existing ones. I certainly do not have the answers, but I do know
that the residents of Lookout Mountain and of its immediate surrounding areas
certainly deserve to be heard and have their concerns addressed and met before any
PUD is approved affecting many generations to come. At this point, there seems to
be too many unanswered legitimate concerns of the public to move forward with an
approval of the proposed PUD. Thank you for your consideration and attention. Sandy
Allison, CCIM
suggested by council members, but rather for the developers of ChapelBrow who, I
believe, along with a handful of others have conceived of a master plan for the
community from which they can profit. I am disappointed that the commission seems
poised to adopt the PUD without input from citizens and other stakeholders in our
community and agree with the petitioners that a professional land planner should be
hired to assist in determining the best approach to develop our unique
community.
makes since. We must preserve the integrity of this community.
I do want things to be done the right way for our city and not look back later and
wonder why we were in such a hurry. .
evaluation and planning is the potential impact that hasty action could have on our
school. Fairyland Elementary is not equipped for rapid growth. Without a solid long
range plan, which includes the involvement of all the stakeholders, we will see
overcrowding in the school. Do we really want large class sizes? Do we want to see
trailers pulled in as temporary classrooms? The citizens of Lookout Mountain,
including its children, can only benefit from careful thought prior to the
implementation of a PUD ordinance.
development on previously undeveloped land—not only for environmental
sustainability but also for maintaining and enriching the character and quality of
life on Lookout.
the mountain, but for the land below the mountain as well?
under the direct employement of Frank Brock / Chapelbrow. The person should also be
interviewed by the key members of the community not officially part of the PUD
process to ensure they are indeed non-biased before they are hired
Limits.
voters……it will not go away ….it will be in the forefront in November. It
will reveal stupidity and bias on the part of some elected individuals.
……Lookout citizens come first (ie. Before vested interests
mountain
attempted to finesse this issue by tieng it to the Town Center.Recently,after
pointed questioning ,they have admitted Chapel Brow is the driving force pushing
the timeline.The counsel suggests that the PUD will not open the City for extensive
future development because a future developer would need to seek planning
commission and counsel approval,which would according to the present counsel only
be granted in rare instances after thourough examination.That is simply not
true.The counsel will need a rational basis for denying future development with
reasoning beyond ,”we do not like it and do not think it is in the best interest of
the community”.Rather,they would have to give an articulable reason supported by
objectively varifiable facts. Intense pressure will be brought against whatever
arguments the counsel articulates by developers from Atlanta and elsewhere skillful
in addresing such arguments.These developers will have faced planning commissions
and counsels with far more sophistication than our volunteer community leaders.
Passing this ordinance will put in place forces that will over time change the
mountain significantly in ways we cannot now predict.Those that will be making the
decisions utilizing this ordinance ten years from now probably do not today live on
the mountain
people to Lookout, the broad forests, beautiful streams, and unique rock.
project for the future of the Mountain, money will still come when the PUD is
finalized and the project will be better for it.
issue of the PUD ordinance. The ordinance should be written to protect the
residents of Lookout Mtn, GA from expansion that puts our safety, lifestyle, and
property values at risk. Please consider these objectives and reevaluate whether or
not City Council has identified appropriate restrictions and defined what is and is
not acceptable progress.
not to make decisions for us. Every resident has selected to stay here or move here
for the way it is, its size , its traffic, its schools, its spirit, churches, etc.,
not in anticipation for dramatic change. The PUD that is planned will cause
extensive change in the profile of Lookout Mountain when increasing the population
to a projected increase of 30% not to mention opening the door to other potential
PUDs. When this kind of change is projected it needs the overwhelming support of
the residents and the objections of those who would experience adverse effects
certainly need to be given their due consideration.
professional city planner if hired. It will not be a successful venture if the
residents do not accept it!!
integrity of the community is the only acceptable growth. Please protect Lookout
from development that merely adds wallets instead of adding to the community.