And we have a quorum, so I'll get us started here, call the meeting to order.

Um council, could I get a motion on the minutes for our last meeting?

So second.

All right.

Minutes will stand as published.

Um first up today, we have Karen Rennick and Charles Frazier, I believe, to talk with us about Plan Chattanooga.

Mr.

Chair.

And I gave um everyone a green binder because I'll be referencing maps and so, and then um copies of the handout, and then I believe Nicole uploaded um the handouts and the presentation should be in appropriate folder.

So if I missed something, please let me know.

Okay, hold on just a minute.

I'm not sure if we okay, strategic planning.

And then one of them is under mine, and then one has uh CART's okay, thank you.

Thank you.

We split those up.

And so I have 10 minutes.

So if I um hit my um clock or my phone and looking at the time, and then um Charles will take 10 more minutes.

So um from um planning staff, we've got Brian Schultz, Director of Development Services, and Pam Glazer, both long serving um planners, um, and then with Charles and Scott Wilson, and then Kevin Tilbury from Kimley Horn has provided support both for Plan Chattanooga and more of the specific transit work, and he's here.

And I also want to thank um our consulting work led by Planning Next, they were a great firm to work with.

So briefly, I'll go over kind of Plan Chattanooga process and next steps, and Carter's speak more specifically to the transit vision.

Plan Chattanooga is a comprehensive plan for the city.

There's one citywide growth strategy, and then more eight detailed um more specific plans covering all areas of the city.

And so the last draft was posted in May of 2025.

Most of you have seen that.

We do reference that in our staff recommendations when we don't have more current policy.

Um, this is just to kind of help reorient you.

There is a citywide framework.

That's the first chapter of the plan, and then area plans become a little bit more specific and talk about placemaking for each area.

So when I um talk to folks, I encourage them to look at the citywide framework, read that chapter, and then more specifically narrow down to the area plan of interest.

Sure.

Yes, sir.

So uh flip back to that.

I noticed there's a lookout valley, but I thought we also would have a Mountain Creek corridor plan.

Was that not?

The Mountain Creek portion is contained, I believe, in the Hickson plan.

Okay.

So um in its um, so we've changed the names a little bit.

Um Councilman Clark noted that um for us that Midtown was not quite the right term, so we changed that to Midtown Brainerd.

So Hickson kind of covers that whole area.

We used to say Hickson Red Bank, but we're not doing policy for Red Bank, so we can always add Mountain Creek if we're gonna be able to do that.

Yeah, yes.

Okay, that was we have talked about Mike Shrewd.

We did.

Mountain Creek Corridor Planet.

That's correct.

Policies carried over.

Um so why do we need a comprehensive plan?

Uh the city is growing, it is um slated to grow more.

I put a link to a 2024 strategic planning presentation, which really goes into a lot more detail about that if you're interested.

Um the citywide framework has shared goals.

Excuse me.

Um the plan notes that um our populations changed over um the last decades.

It's younger, more diverse, made up of smaller households and smaller families, and then we have um built places and infrastructure, but in those areas we have um commercial industrial properties that could potentially be redeveloped or underutilized.

So kind of the why um plan touches on a couple things.

Those are just two examples of why we need a plan to address um future growth.

The plan recommends, and I can maybe put these switches the wrong way.

Um the plan's recommending policies, programs, and projects, but they're directly tied to one Chattanooga and informed by prior work.

So one Chattanooga lays out that strategic plan, and then the plan Chattanooga is really addressing the physical infrastructure, the physical built environment.

And so it addresses the where and how to ensure affordable housing choices for all Chattanoogans.

That's a one Chattanooga principle.

Also talks about how to improve local infrastructure, and then the plan is informed by all the past planning work that we've done.

We have a series of um plans.

We includes work um from the Chattanooga Housing Authority with one West Side, work of the um design studio, Carta's work, um, the Chattane Design Studio.

It also includes and incorporates the city's housing action plan and the um parks and outdoor plan.

So when we think about this is not just kind of derived completely new, it is building on the work that we've done in the past.

The plan has four broad goals and talks about Chattanooga is a city of vibrant walkable districts and neighborhoods where development respects the natural environment, maximizes transportation investments, provides a diverse economy, and sustains great neighborhoods and broad housing choices.

It's made up of diverse safe neighborhoods where everyone can find housing that suits their lifestyle needs and is affordable to them, has a robust transportation system with interconnected options for every person with access to jobs and educational opportunities, everyday needs and housing, and a connected system, parks and greenways.

And so this is coming from kind of the themes, that public input.

And so when we think about the citywide infrastructure, we're really starting with those four overall goals that hopefully most everyone could relate to and say that sounds right to me, regardless of where I live.

Then you're starting to narrow down how are we going to get there.

And so we probably need a little bit of graphic to talk about goals and then why do we keep how are we getting there?

And so, in order, there's a lot of research, a lot of input, a lot of data, some scenario planning, and the way to get to those four goals, there's five things that we're doing.

We're focusing more growth, relatively more growth in urban areas, and lessen those outlying areas.

We're evolving commercial areas into walkable centers.

We're redeveloping some of those aging retail corridors, we're creating neighborhoods with a greater mix of housing and better access to pretty much where anywhere anyone would want to go.

We're limiting development within harm um environmentally significant areas and maximizing existing infrastructure.

So this is if you think about four goals.

We're starting to kind of flush that out a little bit and how we're gonna get there.

There's a list of actions, I won't go into these, although some of them you'll note have a lot of similarities, both to one Chattanooga and like the parks and outdoor plan.

You'll see some carryover because it is built on those efforts.

And then as we start to narrow down, so we have our framework.

This is starting to paint that framework with centers and corridors.

Our plan is to have walkable clustered centers where retail uses are concentrated, corridors that have a greater mix of uses and court, including multifamily housing, and then medium and high density housing near corridors and centers just to help them maintain their economic viability and for transit.

So the um so it's that's funny.

Um Pam said they look like um fallout shelter symbols, so we might have to change those.

Yeah, those play with that.

Um so these are this is the idea of the corridors and centers.

We'll make a note to maybe um do a little bit better.

So the downtown is kind of our our main core, our main center, and then um you see, so you're gonna see some centers and um the Charles's presentational touch.

You see Brainerd Town Center, you see Northgate, uh, Hamilton Place is just off the map, the North Shore is the center, and so the idea is we want these walkable centers where we're going to have this kind of concentrated mix of uses, some of them are different scales, and then we have our corridors, right?

We're trying that's part of our framework as we're trying to transition our corridors to have a better mix of uses, including multifamily housing, and hopefully to be able to support transit where appropriate.

So is are the blue lines the transit supported corridors?

They're the corridors we're really focusing, yes.

And so, not um, and then um Charles can talk a little bit more about the transit supportive, but this is really trying to focus because we are saying you know, we've we're um putting more growth relatively to um our urban areas and then really focusing on our corridors and centers.

So, placemaking, so again, we're starting there down, we have our framework, we've identified kind of the um the corridors and centers, and this is where I think we're starting to fill in the the rest of the pieces.

So, placemaking describes uses and character of an area, it's a little similar to our old uh land use maps, but it provides a little bit more context about what what that type of use and that development would look like.

And so when we put that together, we have a citywide place type map.

And so in speaking to you last year, we met with quite a few of you going through the presentation at that time.

One of the things that you all said would be helpful would be a map of the place types for your district and the map of your zoning, and so you have those maps to kind of it's a the colors don't always match up, it is kind of easier when you're thinking about where change could occur, um, comparing those maps, and um, those are also digital copies, and I've provided a link here to the Google Drive if that helps.

And then we'll print an overall once the plan is adopted, if it moves forward council adoption, we will um print out an overall map.

But I think it's you can kind of see already our are the city form that urban area, which is that light brown, the yellow is kind of more suburban areas.

You see that park greenway system and your corridors, and then we have something called regional facilities, which are in this map, the airport and enterprise south.

So just have a few more minutes, and we're gonna skip through.

And the plan also addresses streets, context-sensitive streets and transportation projects.

It does note that um these are potential projects and concepts.

It doesn't commit funding the city to funding, it just says here's kind of ways we can get there, and a transit mobility vision that talks about um transit and mobility systems, the serval Chattanooga's.

So wrapping up plan we show the slide pretty much every time we do a plan.

The plan focuses on physical development.

It is not a regulating document, it is not an ordinance, it is a guiding document.

Uh does not change the zoning of a property, it does not ensure funding.

And just as a reminder, the only people that can change the zoning of a property are Chattanooga City Council.

So when we think about this, this is a guiding document.

So let's um move quickly through these.

I think our zoning 101.

We talked about how zoning powers are derived from the state.

Many of our zoning powers are the state.

Um also TCA also gives context for a regional plan.

It is a requirement of a regional planning commission to have a comprehensive plan.

This is going to be that comprehensive plan.

Um, we do have an old comprehensive plan.

There's a copy on the table.

This is replacing that comprehensive plan and all the community area and neighborhood plans will be set and sunset under that.

We'll still keep them as a reference, but this will be replacing, and this will be our new um updated guidance.

So just some next steps.

We'll be doing a lot of work to get to planning commission and meet all the requirements of state law.

It talks about timing and notice and what needs to go in a resolution.

Our plan right now is to go to planning commission in May with a presentation.

If um it lets me hear something different here.

Uh, adoption um planning commission's commission agenda in June, and then to council in July.

And then just lastly, benefits of this growth framework.

I know sometimes we get really focused on, and we as staff are not always helpful with that.

We get focused on what is the map say about a piece of property, but this is just bringing this back out.

And the benefit of this plan is that um the plan, if we compare it against using some benchmarks and comparing against kind of trend, does better than and it says more utilized land is redeveloped, more types of housing are created, more new housing is walkable and bikeable access to park and trailheads.

So the plan and looking at if we can are able to implement the plan, does better on some of the things that we think are important or detailed in the plan.

And so one of our next steps will be um doing some metrics so we can test how the plan is doing, not that we just developed the plan and then didn't come back to it.

So that's something that um we will work on and get back with you on when you have a little bit more information.

And I will turn it over to Charles and then I um depending on the chair will available for questions.

Um, and can it um ask us any questions or have to meet one-on-one by Charles and I are separately, so um just let us know.

And we'll send a follow-up email with some information.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, uh Chair Davis and Vice Chair Elliott, City Council members.

It's good to see you all.

Thank you for the opportunity here.

Um, I wanted to start with an opening, two opening remarks.

Number one, um, I often say in my role that I wish I had been here like a few years earlier to like solve problems or have stop certain things from happening.

But what I want you to know is it was perfect timing that the city was starting to do their comprehensive plan.

And I came to the city and I asked, can we please consider integrating the transit component right into the plan?

And the city said yes, please do.

And so I think we just got lucky here, and the timing has been right.

So this is an integrated plan with the comprehensive plan.

So I think when you're going through your work, you might have the question is transit considered here.

And when you open your map, you're like, oh, yeah, it is considered here.

So it should be a helpful tool, number one.

Number two, I just wanted to quickly acknowledge um we have a lot of CARTA employees here today.

The reason for that is um it's an all-hands on deck for CARTA these days.

I've been doing some town hall meetings talking about what we are to accomplish here for this city, and it's drawn some interest.

And so welcome to my team for being here.

We've got operators, shuttle operators, incline operators, and so they're all excited to be here and learn about the process.

So let me jump in.

Um I have a brief agenda for you just to keep you calibrated.

I want to just share with you the CARTA timeline.

So I I've been coming to you a few different times, and I want to just share with you, remind you where we are on that process.

I'm gonna tell you what the vision does and what it does not do, so I want to make sure you're clear on that.

I'm gonna go through the elements of the vision, so there's seven different areas, and then I'm gonna show you the vision itself, and I'm going to use the easy button here.

So if a picture shows a thousand words, I have a short video, and I'm hoping that that's a whole encyclopedia for you, and then you won't just hear me up here talking forever.

You can get this little nick-looking buses like that.

You like that?

Yeah.

That's the Henderson right there.

Maybe we can get one in District One somewhere.

I know that that's not out of that, is not out of the room of possibilities.

So we have a commuter route that's actually planned for parking.

Park and ride.

Park and ride.

That's my area, so I you're that's the area I live in, and so I would love a we have a park and ride commuter uh shuttle plan for that.

Um, importantly, I want to do take a minute to talk about transit supportive investment.

So I sent you all an email yesterday.

We were recently awarded a large award, and I want you to know in my work, I am setting up the city to leverage Carta in ways that we have not done so historically in this community because of the transit nexus.

We can help offset costs that would normally be just the cities and get grants that will pay for infrastructure, roads, signals, sidewalks, and so it's very important to me that if you take nothing else away of today, is just this opportunity that's out there, and I'll continue to work with all of you on that and make sure we're all educated.

Any update on the grant that we apply for to get into the AV, the build grant.

So the only update I have is that they are not taking any uh questions right now.

So they are doing the deep dive right now in all the applications for everyone knowledge.

We put in a big grant application, it's a 25 million dollar application to introduce uh A V shuttles into the downtown core, but also it actually creates an incubator for students to learn in a live learning lab.

It converts part of Shuttle Park South to ChuChoo.

So fingers crossed, um, they have not got to Tennessee yet, so they're going alphabetically through the states, but I will keep you listen.

As soon as I know, everyone here at this table will know.

Okay.

Okay, and then I'll talk about next steps.

Um, just as the timeline, so just I want to just read a little bit of history.

In 2023, the city appointed a new board of directors.

In 24, um, the board appointed me, and we have a new management team now.

And you'll recall on December 16th of last year, we came and did a state of the authority presentation to you.

And I'm very thankful for um Vice Chair Elliott.

You gave me an assignment there, and that was hey, this all sounds great, but I want you to quantify it and then bring it back to us as a plan so that we as legislators can figure out how to do that.

And I will be bringing you back a subset of the 20-year vision in a five-year transformation roadmap that's a detailed service expand that's quantified, so you have those numbers, and then we can figure out how we're gonna fund it through whatever means are available.

Okay, so that's coming right now.

It's on the schedule for May, but I'll work with uh Chair Davis on when we get that.

Okay, very briefly what the plan does and what it does not do.

This plan aligns Carta's plan with the city's uh growth strategy, number one.

Importantly, this incorporates three other transit studies that were invested in by the city, RPA, and CARTA, and integrates them into this plan.

So it's not like we're starting over with a new plan, we're taking that work that was done and integrating it into the growth plan.

It creates the long-term vision.

What it does not do, it does not define detailed street-level bus routing, gives us some flexibility.

It does not mandate that the city or CARDA implement any of the recommendations, and it does not preclude CARTA or the city from implementing other things that are not necessarily included in this plan today.

So it gives us maximum flexibility.

Um, it is tied to the growth strategy.

Here are the seven areas that you will find in the plan.

So it's high capacity corridors where we would have the highest frequency and infrastructure, bus rapid transit, on-demand microtransit, mobility hubs, paratransit for persons with disabilities, fixed route service, parking, and then commuter service.

And I'm going to go ahead and tip off my video now so that you can pause for a minute and see the vision for yourself.

One city where transit leads the way people move.

Buses show up when you expect them to.

Shuttles make short trips easy.

Getting from Brainerd, East Lake, and Alton Park downtown, from Hickson to Healthcare, from North Shore and Highland Park to work, doesn't require a car for every trip.

And not every trip has to go through downtown.

Transit is visible, dependable, and part of everyday life.

Everything comes together at hubs around the city.

Easy places to switch modes.

Bike to bus, bus to ride share, greenway to shuttle.

You can even pick up your package or pay your water bill.

One location.

Clear, intuitive, and designed for people, not confusion.

From there, the system shapes the city.

Sidewalks lead straight to stops and hubs.

Greenways extend beyond the river into neighborhoods.

Streets are designed so walking, biking, driving, and riding transit all work together.

You see it everywhere.

Shuttles serving St.

Elmo, South Side, and North Chattanooga.

High capacity transit corridors along Lee Highway, MLK, and Brainerd Road.

Park and ride from Lookout Valley.

Easy transfers near Riverfront, the North Shore, East Chattanooga, and neighborhood centers across the city.

Smarter traffic signals make travel faster and more efficient for everyone.

Residents park once at one of many free parking locations throughout the city.

Transit does more of the heavy lifting, reducing the hassle and cost people feel today.

This isn't a collection of routes or projects.

It's one connected mobility system, shaping how Chattanooga grows.

Carta is helping lead this work by planning ahead and connecting the pieces.

The 20-year vision is bold, practical, and human-centered.

Connected, flexible, and built for the future.

And it starts with the choices we make right now.

Thank you for allowing me to punt and give a little bit of a video there, but I'll very briefly, and I want to make sure I'm within my time restrictions, Chair.

So what this just went through, and I'm going to give you just now six or seven, and you have this presentation in your packet.

These are the areas that we've included in the plan.

So of the existing fixed routes, the service frequency is what it increases.

So six of the routes go to 15-minute service, five of the routes go to 30-minute service.

There are eight new corridors that are identified, and so this is where I was saying it would be helpful as you're making decisions and various development opportunities.

Open up the map and you can see is something planned here in the future, is it existing today?

Or you can, you know, it'll just it'll cue your mind to have the conversation.

It'll be in the plan.

This is the reimagined shuttle route network, and I want to thank all of you that participated in that process.

But you can see we move things off of Broad, we're now on market, goes straight to North Shore, Chestnut all the way to uh down Broad Street, new service on Riverfront Parkway, and then also very importantly, new service on Maine, which is all those restaurants there.

So parking in our facilities, servicing the lots, and then this is an opportunity for those part the private parking lot owners that are participating in the Chattanooga parking club, so we will also integrate opportunities for them to have shuttle stops along these routes.

Can I ask a quick question?

So I can so in theory I can go down to where the Chicho is now, park there, get on this shuttle.

Is there a fare for the shuttle, or is it just the shuttles are fare-free?

And so this is part of the that ecosystem of parking and downtown shuttle.

The revenues from parking, they pay for the parking management itself, infrastructure, but then also pays for the cost for the shuttles.

So this is a great economic activity tool.

And so this is a lot, this is why we're really starting to push the free parking.

Yeah.

I'm very interested in expanding that, and you know, so I think it's a great way for us to get people into restaurants and businesses.

Absolutely, that's great.

Yeah, so I'm this is a very exciting thing.

We have a shuttle operator here.

That's right.

She's the best.

Like she knows we're sending people when we're on, when we're on box, she's sending them to the restaurants, and we're, you know, so we're we're doing our part.

But this is a much more kind of a strategic approach to this, and so I'm happy that this is included in the long range vision.

We do need at some point a downtown transit center.

We're really suffering without it.

So all of our transfers take place on broad or on market.

It's very inconvenient for people, it's very inefficient.

Um, so this is in the long range plan.

Very important.

33 mobility hubs.

This is not necessarily all new builds, but a mobility hub is where these services connect, they come together.

So you might get on, take a fixed route bus from your from where you're going and then transfer to a microtransit service to get that last mile, right?

So it's but you don't want to be out in the elements there, so you might be at a library at a mobility hub at a recreation, one of the city's recreation centers.

So that's there's 33 of the mobility hubs identified in the plan.

Here's an example.

So this is the this is Eastgate Library, but this would be a mobility hub where we would take the existing infrastructure, and this is where fixed route would be our route four, but also the Cartago microtransit service, car share, bike share, the whole nine yards.

High capacity corridors, um, this is important.

So these are the areas where we would have transit-oriented development, bus rapid transit.

You can see there the Brainerd Highway, uh, Brainerd Road and Lee Highway.

Um, we are doing our TOD study now, and I'll keep you in the loop as that proceeds.

Here's an example of a bus rapid transit BRT uh facility, and so these facilities it takes away all the friction of boarding the bus.

So you pay for your ticket off the bus, everything's done off the bus, the bus comes in, you get on, and you get on your way.

So this will cut down travel time by half from downtown out to Hamilton Place.

Wow.

There's new microtransit zones, so you can kind of see the Signal Mountain uh Hickson area, Man Nicola Highway.

Um paratransit gets hugely expanded with the expansion of new routes.

So para-transit covers now all of the city and the areas for expanded route as well.

Parking, there are parking opportunities.

Not only uh Northgate, which is identified there, but South Broad is a huge opportunity for public parking structure, and there are grant dollars available to help build out that infrastructure.

Commuter service, so this comes from not only um the unincorporated and more remote parts of our county, but out of county as well, is considered in this.

And then finally, and I'm I'm gonna wrap up here.

I want to make sure that you're aware that this goes back to these grant opportunities.

These are things that Carta historically has not been involved in.

But these transit supportive investments are things that we can go and help get grants for.

So this is 70 miles of redesigned streets, including 53 miles of sidewalks, which is hugely important.

It's helpful for us because then persons with mobility issues can easily get to the fixed route system.

Anyone can get to transit.

It includes 61 miles of new bike lanes, 46 miles of protected bike lanes, 16 miles of greenways, which people don't typically think of as a connection to transit, but it is for us, is certainly in this community.

Very importantly, over 200 200 signal upgrades, and this is just smoother travel.

So this is 34 intersections, and this is beneficial whether you ever ride the bus or you just are in your vehicle.

Okay, so next steps as far as I'm concerned, and I'm gonna make sure that I give Karen another opportunity to answer any questions.

Um we'll go follow Karen's lead on the plan Chattanooga adoption, and then I will be bringing back to you as I indicated the five-year transformational roadmap, which is the five the financial plan and service plan over the next five years.

Happy to take any questions you might have.

Another follow-up on uh the shuttle system.

So you know I go down park to choose you, hop on one of these shuttles, and I it takes me to a restaurant.

How do I know when it's gonna come back?

So I get through my dinner, it's an hour, whatever.

I come outside.

How do I do I is it like Uber?

Do I use my phone or do I wait?

How's it work?

Couple different things.

So today it's very limited what you can do, but what we're laying out, and I'll I'll reference something that you can go look at.

You can put eyes on it today.

So today it's limited, you'd have to base on a schedule.

The service is frequent, comes every 10 minutes, so a schedule might not be that important.

But to answer your question, every one of our bus stops and shuttle stops will be upgraded with with real-time information.

So we have e-paper, it's currently installed right on market over here, um, just uh south of Warehouse Row.

So you can go see, and it gives you the predictions of the routes that are servicing that when they're coming, or if there's not one coming within the next hour, it shows you the next scheduled one.

That's one way.

But we anticipate also developing an app that would actually show you in real time.

So we're doing a lot of that testing now where we have real-time availability of those services.

We've got some maps that are published there in beta form, but you can literally see it.

So say it drops me off in the R district.

That's right.

How does it go to every restaurant every time?

Like how does it there'll be a defined route.

So you'll know that there's a route, and and again, so you'll have those kind of live map locations at particular stops, and so you'll be able to see where the shuttle is and where you are.

The other thing is, because the technology is the same, um, no matter how you produce it, it's how it's ingested.

We'll also approach the various restaurants so that they could have a screen inside the inside the restaurant itself.

So we talked about this when we did the shuttle listening meetings.

So the hotels want to have that, they want like the real-time screen right inside the thing, so that it's just easy for people.

Like you don't want to be thinking about it.

So it's coming in five minutes, I can have another beer or French Fryer or whatever.

Yeah, yeah, that's awesome.

Okay.

I see you this weekend.

We will see her.

She'll see you first and she'll say, she'll say, Do you remember the new question?

Councilman Henderson, do you have a question as well?

Are we prevented from going down in or crossing state line?

We are not prevented in doing so.

So but I just wanted to be clear on that.

There are different insurance requirements.

And so when long story short, when I had first landed here, our incident accident rate was too high, and our our insurance provider was not allowing that.

But we have driven that down.

We are now allowed to go into Georgia, and so it's just a different insurance for us.

I've noticed on this map, there doesn't seem to be a plan for going down into Northwest Georgia through St.

Elmo is or having a park in Roger because we have a tremendous amount of traffic that comes through St.

Almo every day.

That's right.

If we could eliminate a lot of that traffic, I'm sure I'm sure those people say that we'll be happy about that.

That's interesting.

It's true.

So what I wanted to say, just kind of generally in the plan.

So we've got commuter service that, and so it's not it's not street level.

We do have commuter service plan, and so it could be van pool, it could be a commuter bus, but I will take your note and make sure that in particular we look at that corridor, because I do think that's a good opportunity, and plus that's that's just a such a narrow lane there, and I think also with what's going on in Sea Rock City, there could be some exoti exacerbated traffic.

We are already looking at that intersection there, is it Tennessee, like right at the base of Incline?

Because that's going to be a problem no matter what.

And we are putting in a grant application to do a uh traffic study for some sort of infrastructure improvement there as well that I'll keep you briefed on.

But I'll take your note and add it to our.

Does anybody know like the majority, like the like 80% of Walker County works in Chattanooga?

But do we know where they're going in Chattanooga?

Are they going downtown?

Are they going all the way out to Volkswagen?

Like where they're where are they going?

Do we know that?

From I think from RTP who did that, and I can share that.

I mean, I think it just shows general areas.

Created an express, you know, maybe to get in there quicker.

That would be an incentive, as opposed to especially having to go through that four-way stop that they're now slopped so you can go ahead and traffic back up.

Absolutely, and I just want you to know also that Carta does have a interlocal agreement with Katusa County and some other agencies, and so I think we're already having conversations about services where there would be a connect up point, and we would bring people so but I will take your very specific note about that corridor for uh St.

Almo and make sure that it's incorporated.

And I had one follow-up.

Karen, the these um high capacity corridors that were listed.

Is that is that where we're thinking maybe most of our density will build.

I mean, is that is that how we coordinate these two together is we do and build high density along these high capacity corridors.

We do in part, and so Brainerd Road, Lee Highway is kind of a particular one, and there's actually a study going on we want that Brainerd Road TOD study, but that's kind of um, and so yes, part of it, some of it is um based on the existing zoning pattern and what we're proposing to do.

So Hicks and Pike, for example, will show us a is a corridor where we're trying to intensify, but it's not through the section through kind of the Stewart Heights area, it's really kind of where Lepton Drive picks uh, and then it just and so with that the plan would support increased density, more housing.

Um we've changed with the new zoning, change the character a little bit of those corridors by allowing pretty much any housing type you want, and then we have reduced some of the more intense um uses like um car repair.

So there are some we've changed that a little bit in the new zoning ordinance, and that's intended, which is kind of we're we implemented kind of along the way as we're developing the plan.

So, yes, it is intended to, and if you remember the new zoning ordinance, we have a placeholder for um a transit-oriented development overlay.

And when we did the presentation at council, we said that is showing an intent.

There's nothing there besides a placeholder and said this is a placeholder, and it council we said when we finish plan Chattanooga and we finish the work with Carta, then we can go back and try to apply a transit-oriented development overlay to those corridors once we kind of have this worked out, and so that isn't our future implementation because we want to make sure if Carta gets transit right, we want to support that with the right land use mix.

And so that's kind of that was something we've worked on for a while and kind of getting here.

And so the Brainerd project, which we might present on a later day, might give us a feel and get us started on that project.

But that is sitting out there as a possible implementation tool.

But really, the new zoning already is doing that for much of our commercial corridors like Brainerd, Hickson Pike, Lee Highway, some of East Brainerd Road.

It already has it's already been implementing that by allowing that residential that changing residential mix to try to incentivize housing on those corridors.

What other questions do you all have?

Yeah.

Charles question.

How much of this is in the works now versus and when I say in the works, we have funding to do it versus how much is that still just kind of the vision?

Let me say it like this.

That I will recommend to my board and to the city that we strategically plan the timing of using it.

In other words, I think I don't want to go and you I need you to be a part of the process.

And other so what what I plan to bring back in the five-year for the five-year implementation plan, are these are the five next steps that we're going to take?

Because what I want to hear from you is yes, this is the plan, or we want to change it, because then that's going to determine how I'm going to spend and pursue capital.

And the pursuit of capital, so I have to spend the capital now, and it's going to take 18 months to get the vehicle, so there's a delay in time.

So the answer is we have some capital funding available now.

I hesitate to give you a percentage that's available today.

But as soon as the plan is solidified, then we can actually start pursuing additional grant funds.

The operational funds is where we're going to need to decide how that's going to happen.

Okay.

And I want to say this.

Thank you for that.

And this is not so much my colleagues, because I think we all run into this.

As our city continues to grow, which we need to grow, especially in field growth.

We are our roads are only going to get tighter.

Traffic's only going to get worse.

You just had not long ago, and you know, folks are talking about traffic being a problem.

And you know, we we can't make any more new roads.

Uh they'll probably recall as fast as we can blink.

But I think this does stress the importance as we are moving forward.

How do we support public transit in a way that makes sense in the south where everybody has a car, and it's easy to just hop in a car, but then you know I'm gonna run into traffic.

So I'm really encouraged by you guys, but very creative about how we figure out funding and also being intentional about cross intersecting this with um planning as well.

So thank y'all.

And I want to say that, and for your your team that's here.

Thank you all for being here.

And ATU, thank you for uh being a part of this.

You know, I'll love to hear from more folks and employees.

So thank you guys for taking that step and engage in this process.

That's holding that.

Thank you.

Um, related to plan chat and you guys, Karen.

Um, knowing that you guys are gonna uh you're aiming to get in front of Planning Commission in May.

Yes, um, can you provide Nicole a link to the most recent version of the document so that we can all know which one we should study?

We do um we have it prepped and ready to go.

They had a few, as you know, um, well, many of you or some of you received an email saying um we we updated we finished the plan in May 25.

You all moved into um budgeting, and then we had another project that took quite a bit of time up.

We um as staff went to and looked at every single road, and I mean almost every single property, and really real narrowed down just to make sure you all have made zoning changes since then that might have changed the policy a little bit, or you all have made comments as we went along to say maybe that doesn't sound right or not.

We also um we are sunsetting all the plans and policies, however, there are some plans and policies you all have identified that were adopted by um council that said I think that still holds there.

So the council person said I would like to, I think that still holds.

We did put those back in the plan.

Um, a couple people we said, hey, just as planners, we feel like some little extra work needs to be done here, and we've drafted text to reach it out to you.

So we have added that in the plan.

We're kind of holding off to hear if we were go or not, because we don't want to assume that's the correct text.

But we will try to get that out to you.

We have it ready to go.

Um we'll add the language for the information about commuters coming out from other places showing where they're going to, and uh make sure you have the link to the CARTA transit vision and put that all in one email by the end of the week.

Okay, thank you.

Um I'll put it in writing, but uh the plan for actual carriage makes sense to me.

Great, thank you.

Yeah, so it's there's just it was kind of a planner.

It's like, okay, this is an area, there's an opportunity, and then also just um we did look for opportunities for increase and diverse housing.

Was just an extra scan we did.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Any other questions on this particular topic?

Council.

Good.

All right.

Well, thank you all again very much.

Thank you, really appreciate your support.

Thanks, Joel.

All right, so next up, um, Councilman Harvey.

There's a project to talk to us about.

Councilman Hart.

Thank you, sir.

I don't know.

I was talking about time to you, please.

Don't worry.

Just real quick.

All right.

Thank you, Council, for your time today.

Thank you all for being here.

I see you this weekend.

Trying to eat some restaurants this weekend.

All right, uh, America's 250 is this year.

And uh I've actually had this idea for several years now after seeing this project uh in other cities around us.

For example, Cleveland, Tennessee does this, Cookville, Tennessee does this, and I thought, why not Chattanooga, Tennessee, uh America's most patriotic city, uh, which we have been named uh because of our longest running Armed Forces Day parade.

Um, but uh you know, I thought what uh a better time to do this than this year on America's 250th birthday.

Uh so essentially uh what my idea is here is to um it's similar to the Veterans Bridge project where somebody somebody gets to uh honor and sponsor a veteran and honor them by putting a flag on Veterans Bridge.

But in this case, it actually features their likeness.

Um so uh for example, uh, if I wanted my grandfather to be featured and to put him on a banner on one of the city-owned uh light lamp posts downtown, I could fill out an application, send in his photo, and have it uh placed somewhere downtown where he can be honored with his likeness, um, what branch of service he was in, uh, what years he served, so on and so forth.

Um so that is the premise of the idea.

Um, but how would it work?

Um so my idea for this is just to streamline it under one uh department, and that department would be the city council office, um, especially since uh councilman um Elliott is presenting to us uh another position, the legislative aid or whatever we were going to determine to call that position.

Um I feel like would would be able to run point on this, um, but of course uh the council clerk would oversee uh and make sure that this is uh taken care of.

Um so again, how is it funded?

Uh how does this work?

Um how Cleveland does it, how we actually do it with Veterans Bridge, is there is a fee that the citizens would submit to cover the cost of the banner.

Um the timeline for the banners, uh so I've talked to multiple organizations about this, one of them being the Chattanooga Area Veterans Council.

Uh Mickey McCamish, uh he he had the idea of running this project uh from Memorial Day to Veterans Day starting this year.

I know we're getting close to Memorial Day, so we'd have to get on the ball.

Uh, but this could even uh turn into an annual uh project during that time, which I think would be really neat and something that we have an obligation to our veterans to do.

Um how would it work uh logistically?

Um I've talked to Gerald Neald with DTS.

Um he indicated that uh there could be a dedicated application on the council website uh where citizens would go to submit payments and applications online.

Um he is still looking at that with the Department of Technology Services to see how that could be done.

Um so then the submission would go to um the either the legislative aid or the council clerk.

We'll get into that in just a minute.

But I've also talked to Weston or City CFO.

He also indicated that a cost center could be created to track and manage these funds as they come in to cover the cost of the banner.

Council staff would review the applications, order the banner and coordinate with public works for final installation.

I've talked to Jeremy Wood, who is also a veteran and somebody that we obviously could honor, and he is uh absolutely in favor of this, and he feels like it's something that public works can handle, no problem.

Um this is an example of a picture I took just outside of EPB.

This is one of our uh City of Chattanooga logos that has been put up on a banner.

Um this is already existing throughout the city.

Um and I think something that could be easily done is replacing these uh with the veterans banners and using the brackets uh that are already in existence uh for the the duration of the time that the veteran banner are placed throughout the city.

There are numerous, I mean countless uh stations throughout the city that already have this up that I think could be easily uh replaced uh at least from Memorial Day to Veterans Day.

Um again uh nearby cities that uh already have this going on, Cleveland, Tennessee, and Cookville, Tennessee.

Any questions?

I have a couple if nobody else does.

So in terms of um the the cost and I guess the the lifespan you what are your thoughts?

There would it be a like a one-time fee and the banners would be reused year after year, or that's a good question.

So another couple things why I wanted to bring it to the council is is one to discuss this and see if I'm missing anything and two is to have your support maybe behind a resolution authorizing the the city uh council um clerk to do this.

Um course there's some logistical things that still need to be worked out.

The cost, you know, obviously I'd like to keep it as low as possible just to cover the cost of the banner.

Um and that's still to be determined.

I am reaching out to several different print shops to see what the best price could be on that.

Um so obviously I'd like to keep it you know as low as possible, but correct me if I'm wrong, I think flags are 75 cellus-ish, something like that.

Um costs are more in mass production, they can be as low depending on the size and how they're having this additional gravity, but one-offs I do require a little extra attention.

Okay, okay.

Um I I think it's something that would be a renewal process if somebody wanted their veteran to be featured year after year, they would need to renew it, but I think we just in my view just starts fresh every year if we do it on an annual basis.

That way we've got more people who want to be uh featured can be featured instead of just the same folks over and over again.

Okay, and then would the cost just cover the expenses, or do you envision some sort of extra to donate to veterans' causes or I mean that's something we can certainly look at.

I I think I lean on preferring to keep it as low as possible so it incentivizes anybody who wants to do it, and so it's it's as low as possible.

Um again, I I think one of the other things uh talking to these organizations like C V A C C A V C A B C is you know, we can get up in front of them, there they can market this for us and have their support, but yeah, I mean keeping the cost as low as possible.

Just one more.

Do you have any idea how many banners would be at play?

I I don't uh you know, Cleveland uh when I talked to the city of Cleveland and the museum at Five Points are the ones that actually uh are partnering with the city in Cleveland uh explained to me that they wish they'd done a little bit better of a job of marketing this to begin with because a lot of folks would have uh come to them and be like, oh, if I had known I would have absolutely featured my grandfather.

Um so I think it depends all on the marketing.

Um, I think a city the size of ours, I think we will probably get a pretty good response.

So I you know, I don't know, it just depends on how many orders we get.

Uh maybe we limit the first batch of 50 to 100, something like that, um, and then go from there.

Okay, yeah.

Sorry, I know vice chair had a question and then council in the hill.

Um I think it's puts our potential position to good use if we do get it, but you know, um personally I'm all for it.

Here's what I will say.

I think there's um I think there is a pretty much a process for how I forget who does it, but whoever uses the veterans bridge, they have a process pretty much already laid out, and so we may not need to reinvent the wheel too much on this, it may just be pretty much taking one SOP and putting it over somewhere else and then kind of just plug them and chugging.

So that's small exits on that.

Yeah, that's a good point.

Um IT thought the same thing, but uh huh.

The size may be different.

Size is there, yeah, size is different, but um they recommended a new policy procedure for this.

Well, go for it.

Yeah.

Yeah, councilwoman.

Um, so I think this is a neat uh America 250 um uh project.

I I like it a lot, and um I imagine that Chat GPT helped with some of these banner designs.

It absolutely did.

I think it would be good to have um a local designer put together um something lovely that that we all like.

Um and that would be obviously standardized, there'd be one design.

Um, and so to keep it simple for what people need to provide, um, so they all look really great.

Um I I would suggest um identifying a a location where all these are gonna go so they have a real visual impact um because that that's something for me when I drive over the veterans bridge and the sky is blue and those flags are waving, there's just such a sense of pride and patriotism and gratefulness that you feel.

Um and have you thought about a corridor where you where you think these would would really shine?

That's a good question.

Um yes and no, I've not really determined exactly how large or small that would be.

I I think the real question lies in how many of these lamp posts do we have the authority to put a banner on.

Um obviously I think the the quarter with the most of those would make sense.

Um, but that's a good I'm willing.

I'm open to suggestions.

Well, um I I feel like when you choose the corridor, that will dictate how many, right?

And then to say you've got X number of slots first come, first serve.

Yeah, um it might and I'm not completely versed on how the banner placements work now if it's a if it's a river city um tourism implementation, you know, because obviously we have banners that describe different parts of town, we have Mayor Kelly's uh logo roll-out banners, um different things around town.

So um it does seem like that corridor where the the parade, the armed forces day parade goes down there, that could be a really neat place for those to live.

Um but that isn't it is in the heart of other things that sometimes get banners, you know, certain festivals get banners and things like that.

So um, yeah, the fine-tuning of because that Memorial Day to Veterans Day is about six months, is that right?

Give or take May to November.

June to November, really.

Okay.

Um, yeah, so I guess we need to find that part out before we bump somebody that has already paid to put a banner up for a given festival or something.

But thanks for the idea.

Yeah, of course.

Yeah, good thoughts.

Okay.

Councilman Henderson and Clark.

Yeah, so I think this is one of those things that we do, we just figure out how we do it.

Absolutely.

I mean, I guess the first thing we do is take inventory of how many poles like that that we have, and I just I mean whether it's a corridor if we just scatter them downtown just wherever we've got a pole that we could that we can use.

I say we get a database of how many of those are and that's what we limit it to, at least to begin with.

And the dimensions for them that we have there may be some, yeah, and I don't know, even out in the the Hickson area, like you know, if you know 153.

I mean, don't we don't have to limit it to downtown?

We might even want to look at you know, there may be people in the area that would like to see it out in their area.

So I mean, we might look at locations that we're able to put them and place them and then link those with the people that are asking for them, like can you can we accommodate it in their area?

The other thing, are we set up in the council office to receive money to receive payments?

It will go to the council.

Well, so when I asked Weston, he said a cost center could be created for for specifically this.

And would Gerald's application take payment?

Yes.

Well okay.

When you say, so when you say cost center, I'm assuming for buying the supplies.

Well thinking about receiving the money.

Yeah, that's what I mean.

That's the same.

So that's the same.

Yes.

Yeah, so they could you know my my vision is uh they could you know correct me if I'm wrong.

I think you can do this on the Veterans Bridge flag program.

You can pay online and it goes into that cost the funds go into that cost center and then out of that cost center.

That call center would be at city council correct budget line item.

Correct.

Okay.

And I'm assuming you've talked to Nicole about having this.

Where's the goal?

Hi Nicole, surprise.

Hey Nicole.

That would have been a good comment.

Is that something that's gonna talk to Nicole before you?

I'm sorry, I should have talked to you before.

I apologize.

Um hey, we're giving you another staff person, no problem.

Well that has not been decided.

That's true.

Yeah, and we're down the road from that too.

So anyway, maybe have a have a conversation with Nicole about what that looks like.

Okay.

I get with you, Nicole.

Oh, I do chalk it up to I'm still new.

Council McClure.

Uh thank you, Chairman Davis.

I got a couple questions regarding the usage of which light poles.

Are we just limited to these lamp posts, or can we actually um have a conversation with EPB about expanding the diet the diameter of those clamps to actually put on some of the EPB light posts?

Yeah, I think it's okay.

Uh just ideas because we don't have these everywhere.

Right, yeah.

So um district five.

We do, but they're they're only on my shallow for road corridor.

Okay.

I mean, which is gonna be in my second.

That's that's uh that's not I thought I do need more in district five.

Sorry, go ahead.

That's something I thought I can.

Okay.

And then the second thing uh going to the corridor question, um, is would it would you be asking us as each council person to maybe identify one corridor, like kind of like veterans way district nine?

I mean I like that.

I don't know.

I I think that would be appropriate because what could happen is is that if there are veterans in my area, I can help push for sales of this and and for those people who live in that community will who frequent those corridors, will see their loved ones versus if you live in district five and you're not in the banner is downtown.

So maybe we could identify in coordination with each council person what would be maybe like a one or two mile stretch corridor that we could temporarily label veterans way.

Um and I liked your chat GPT pictures by the way.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

Yes, Mr.

Just briefly on there, um need to make sure at least the specs are fairly the same, the standard spec on here, and if it's gonna be up and down on there where it will actually fit on the the thing whenever it's developed in that same size on there, so wherever it goes on there, as long as you can get a uh some type of uh holder that will fit it on there, and then we need to sort of get a uh I guess a numbering system for uh which ones are available and which areas here because this becomes a hot topic on there, you want to tell them that we've got you know three spaces available.

I hate to get into the point of being like memorial auditorium on how many seats you got left, but you're gonna have to deal with that somewhere.

Right, sure.

And then after uh uh something is placed up there, how long does it stay?

And there needs to be a specific time frame that people understand that it'll be up there for that time for no longer.

So I I mean I go ahead.

What do we do when we take them down?

Like who stores them?

It is this uh is this something that we reuse.

I mean, in other words, they could they could pay renewal fee without having to buy the without having to buy the banner.

Yeah, well, I mean I would assume that, but yeah, but but what do you do with the ones we use?

I was gonna say if anything we just give them to the families and throw them away if they don't.

I mean you take them to your homes too.

Well, I guess my point is you've got to have a location for them to come pick them up.

Where would that be?

We're gonna take them down storm somewhere and then ask the loved ones to one week my garage.

I gotta have a we when we pick up.

We gotta have a location for them to come get them somewhere.

That'd be the easiest place on a Lilith.

Okay.

If it's public or it could be uh um if if our staff ends up having to manage this, then our staff's gonna have an organized way that like they're gonna have everybody's name on a banner and somebody's gonna come here and have a one-week span during business hours where they can pick up their banner.

Or could a VFW pitch in and yeah, yeah, that's a good point.

I mean like that's a good point.

We could get VFW or C A B C I mean there's one there's one VFW on um Abacola that might be willing to or if we're doing it on a district level, you know, like for example in Hickson, you could pick up your flag at the Hickson branch of the public library on a certain you know or the community centers, yeah.

Yeah, or community center.

Well that's a great idea, great project.

I look forward to seeing it come to fruition.

This is great.

Thank you, Cody.

All right.

Well that is our agenda for today.

Um of course we have our upcoming presentations listed on here, and as always, there are uh board appointments listed.

So if those apply to your district, pay attention to those.

And unless there are any other comments or announcements, we'll adjourn.

Move to adjourn.

All right.

Second.

We're adjourned.