Chattanooga City Council Meeting: November 18, 2025 - Sister City Presentation, Northgate TIFF, and SNAP Support
Chattanooga City Council Meeting: November 18, 2025
The City Council of Chattanooga, Tennessee, convened on November 18, 2025, for a regular business meeting that included a presentation from the sister city trip to Wuxi, China, a department report from the Chattanooga Public Library, extensive discussion of the Northgate Mall Tax Increment Financing (TIF) and sales tax proposal, and votes on several resolutions addressing the SNAP benefits disruption. The meeting also featured public comments on stray dogs, pedestrian safety, park preservation, and homelessness.
Sister City Presentation
- Councilman Jeff Davis presented highlights of the city's delegation visit to Wuxi and Hangzhou, China, including meetings with local officials, visits to manufacturing plants and schools, and cultural exchanges. Gifts from the sister city were presented to the administration. Councilwoman Hill clarified that the trip was funded through individual council travel budgets, not city general funds.
Department Report: Chattanooga Public Library
- Executive Director Will Lee reported significant growth across the library system: attendance projected to exceed 450,000 this year (nearly double a Tennessee Titans game), program participants up 23% from the previous quarter, and outreach interactions up 67%. He outlined the new strategic plan focused on lowering barriers to access (e.g., fine-free materials), improving and expanding facilities (Northgate and Eastgate branches need replacement, a new branch needed in the 37421 area), expanding outreach (the Poppy mobile library, senior engagement), partnerships (Carta shuttle for Westside residents, YMCA fitness kits, LIHEAP digital application assistance at libraries), and expanding beyond-books collections (toy library, workout kits). The downtown library will celebrate its 50th anniversary on October 17, 2026.
Discussion Items: First Reading Ordinances
- Definition Amendment (Junk and Secondhand Dealers): Councilman Elliott requested time to add visual protection requirements for junkyards. The city attorney suggested moving forward with the current amendment and bringing a separate ordinance later. Elliott agreed to work with the city attorney on a separate amendment.
- Alley Abandonment (Bridgedale): Councilman Anderson asked for more information from Public Works before approving, requesting to connect with staff before the agenda session.
- Planning Items: Several items were deferred due to lack of developer communication with council members and neighborhood associations. The Southern Spear project in Highland Park was deferred to December 16, 2025; rezoning at Curtis Street and Wilcox Boulevard were deferred to December 2, 2025; and a property at Anderson Avenue was deferred to December 16, 2025, with a warning that it may be denied if contact is not made.
Discussion Items: Resolutions Addressing SNAP Disruption
- Councilman Elliott offered amendments to two resolutions. The resolution directing the city to suspend water shutoffs for unpaid sewer fees was amended to extend the suspension until January 15, 2026, instead of tying it to the resumption of SNAP benefits or end of the government shutdown. The resolution urging EPB to safeguard customers was amended to reference the federal government reopening and transitions in the coming weeks, rather than the SNAP suspension.
- The resolution authorizing a $200,000 contribution to the Chattanooga Area Food Bank was amended to change the caption from "during" to "following" the suspension of SNAP funds. The funds will come from the city's contingency fund. Council members expressed strong support, noting that food security is a basic right and that residual need remains even after benefits are restored.
Discussion Items: Economic Development - Northgate Mall TIFF and Sales Tax
- Sharita Allen, Mayor's Senior Advisor for Economic Development, presented the proposed tax increment financing (TIF) for infrastructure upgrades at Northgate Mall. The total project cost is $8.9 million, amended to $8.7 million based on a third-party review. The property tax TIF would generate an estimated $3.3 million over 20 years, leaving a gap to be filled by capturing local option sales tax (1.125%) in a defined area. The base year is proposed as 2024, setting a baseline of $522,052 in property tax and $560,000 in sales tax for the city.
- Council members discussed the base year, the need for accountability mechanisms in the development agreement, and the community's vision for a walkable town center resembling Cambridge Square. Councilman Henderson raised concerns about the base being frozen during tax increases and suggested exploring a community benefit district or special assessment district. Councilman Davis recused himself from discussions involving the Hixson Utility District but expressed strong support for the project, emphasizing the need to revitalize a long-neglected area. Chairwoman Hill asked about mechanisms to ensure the development meets community aspirations, and the city attorney noted that the development agreement (to be finalized by the Industrial Development Board) can include conditions and community engagement requirements. A town hall meeting was announced for November 23, 2025.
Key Outcomes
- The definition amendment (first reading) was moved forward, with a plan for additional amendments.
- Several planning and zoning items were deferred: Curtis Street and Wilcox Boulevard rezonings to December 2, 2025; Anderson Avenue property to December 16, 2025; Southern Spear project to December 16, 2025.
- Resolution A (water shutoff suspension) was approved as amended, suspending shutoffs until January 15, 2026.
- Resolution B (urging EPB) was approved as amended.
- Resolution C (food bank $200,000) was approved as amended.
- The security guard services purchase (Collins Protective Services) was deferred to December 2, 2025, due to concerns about qualifications and oversight.
- All other resolutions, appointments (Bob Geyer to Board of Zoning Appeals, Greg Wisnat as risk officer, Karen Reinick as executive director of RPA), bond issuances, and routine purchases were approved as presented.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Jacob Kinney (District 9): Expressed concern about aggressive stray dogs in his neighborhood, stating that McCamie animal control has not responded to repeated requests since September. He urged the council to address the issue before an attack occurs.
- Anthony Shaw (District 8): Requested council assistance to restore safe crosswalk access to Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences (CSAS), which was blocked by UTC construction fencing. He proposed creating a pedestrian right-of-way on 3rd Street or installing a traffic light at Palmetto and Third. He also stressed the need for proactive pedestrian impact assessments before construction approval.
- Nathan Griffin (Save Enterprise South Nature Park): Announced the organization's 501(c)(3) status and petition surpassing 10,000 signatures. He argued that protecting the park is economically beneficial, citing mountain biking's $7 million annual contribution, air and water quality benefits worth nearly $3 million, and the stability of outdoor recreation compared to manufacturing.
- Anna Galladay (District 8): Highlighted that emergency shelter capacity meets only 22% of need and that federal policy changes will reduce permanent housing funding from $4.2 million to $1.5 million. She urged the council to allocate resources to fill the shelter portion of basic needs, analogous to the food bank contribution.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon everyone. Thank you so much for being here. I am now calling to order the City Council of Chattanooga, Tennessee, for Tuesday, November 18th. Please join me. We will have would you mind doing the Pledge of Allegiance? Oh. Pledge of Allegiance will be led by our vice chair. Pledge of allegiance of the United States of America. Would you like to do that? By heads, please. Life at Historant. Thank you for granting us chaplin mercy. Without accidental incident from point A to point B. We ask that you be with this council family and all of those that are represented here today. These words we ask in thy name Amen. In October, Councilman Jeff Davis and I had the honor of visiting Wuxi China, which is a sister city of Chattanooga. And so we're going uh Councilman Davis is going to do a presentation, and we have some gifts from our sister city to give to representatives of the administration. All right, well, hello everyone, or Nihao, as they say in our sister city of Wuxi. That's one of exactly two Chinese words or phrases that I knew in China. The other one is she she, which means thank you. Um and before we get too far into the presentation today, I want to give a big, a very big she to uh Melissa and our council office uh for all of her uh outstanding work preparing the trip and making sure all the arrangements were in place for us. Um we certainly appreciate that very much. So thank you. Um so obviously chairwoman Hill is here with me, she was in our delegation, and then Karen Claypool, um, who's the president of our local sister cities association is here with us as well. Um so we'll get into kind of a little picture show here. Um the first half of our trip was spent in Whooshi, which is our actual sister city. Um roughly seven million, which is um also about the population of Tennessee. So if you can imagine putting the entire population of our great state into one city, that's Whooshi, and you kind of have an idea of the scope of the population and how it differs from what we're used to. Um up in the um kind of going from the top left there, um, the picture in the top left and in the middle. Um those were taken at a local uh automotive manufacturing plant, uh similar to to Volkswagen, like we have here. Um this plant, however, they make um vehicles for any number of different automotive brands. So on the day we were there, I believe they were making um compact pickup trucks to send to South America. Um the next day they would be making something completely different. And their assembly line is very highly automated and they switch very quickly from one product to the next. So it was interesting uh to see that. Um in the top right corner uh is a picture of our delegation with some officials from the Wuchi University of Technology. Um there on the far left of that picture is Kim, who is one of the members of the local foreign affairs office in Wuxi, um, who helped guide us around. Uh we're certainly very appreciative for her. Down in the bottom uh left corner there. Uh again, that's our delegation. In that picture, we are with some local school officials from a local high school, which had, I believe, was it 2600 students? I believe. Yeah. And it was interesting, it was kind of partial, partially boarding students and partially Dave students there at that school from around the Wuxi region. In the middle there, you have yours truly, and also Chairwoman Hill. We're actually in a classroom. That's an English classroom. And at that point in time, we were just interacting with the students as they were having small group discussion about a book that they were reading through as they worked to learn English. And that was that was a great experience there. In the bottom right, again are these are all official pictures.
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