Welcome to all of our guests and thank you all for being here with us today.

Council, as we get started, could I get a motion on our minutes from our previous meeting?

All right.

The minutes will stand as published.

We do have a couple of discussions today, and as we um get ready for those and for our meeting this afternoon at 3 30, which is quite busy since we were off uh last week.

Um I look forward to having a good discussion and debate of ideas um in which we just treat each other with uh respect and courtesy and I hope that's something we'll each of us uh commit ourselves to each time we gather together.

So in that spirit, uh we will get started here.

Our first topic this afternoon is a discussion of the allocation and reallocation of ARPA funds.

Um we have Weston and Kevin here for that.

I know that um over the past few months several of us have had questions about different aspects of uh ARPA funds and who they went to and how much is left and have they been reallocated and all those sorts of things.

So um I've asked them to be here today to kind of answer some of those questions and to give an overview of where we are in terms of uh spending those monies in general.

Absolutely.

Well thank you uh Chairman Davis for the opportunity.

Well we have prepared for uh to get us going in the conversation just a high level presentation that finance put together.

We also have um Shelby Glover here with us who um can help answer any questions as they come up, but I'll let Weston get us started.

Sure.

So just a kind of a like Kevin said, a quick high-level overview of ARPA.

So original ARP award was 38.6 million dollars.

8.6 of that went to some specific things like the airport and um some COVID-related uh health things, um, some administrative compliance type costs and and some specific nonprofit allocations, but then $30 million was set aside um for the one Chattanooga relief and recovery plan.

And with that set aside was eight eight priority uh areas uh with a number of different recipients and some internal programs.

Uh those eight areas were uh homelessness, workforce development, affordable rental, affordable homeownership, entrepreneurship, mental health, public safety, and early learning.

And just as a quick aside, uh if you go to the city's website, there is actually a webpage dedicated to that.

So if you want more information on it, you can kind of drill down into each one of those uh different buckets, and there's some additional resources at the bottom of that too.

So um if you want more information on that, that relief and recovery plan uh there are on our website.

Um all those programs of the 38.6 million dollars.

We have a few things that are still hanging out.

Most all of that money has been spent um and it's been put to put to put to work.

Um but these these few things are still outstanding.

So um the 1.5 million, I think we had some questions around this, uh allocated to the enterprise center to expand the Hamilton County School's Ed Connect program.

And so the Ed Connect program was originally set up to provide connectivity to students uh when we were during COVID in that that um digital learning environment that we were in where folks were having to do Zoom school and it was a kind of a crazy time.

That Hamilton County Schools, EPB set up this program to connect um lower income neighborhoods to the internet in order for them to do schooling uh in in the right way.

And this 1.5 million is an extension of that that is intended to fund connectivity at the west side developments that is is underway across town.

Yeah, and point of clarity on this, which um the Enterprise Center and EPB helped me come to appreciate is that while this is modeled after um HCS Ed Connect powered by EPB, it is it's not the same program.

It's just it's it's digital connectivity for these targeted communities in the West Side.

Um, and I have some stats here about who is um who's gonna be the beneficiary.

So it's 566 units um in in one west side.

Uh it's public Wi-Fi access at James A.

Henry Hub and in other public locations at one west side.

It's in-home access for approximately 876 units in the Emma Wheeler homes, Dogwood Manor, and Mary Walker Tower, supporting older adults and um Chattanooga Housing Authority Managed Housing.

And then it's also expanded public Wi-Fi access in um in other neighborhoods and bus stops and community informed locations in Chattanooga.

I can get that full list from the Enterprise Center, but I don't have it in that write-up.

And so that's what that 1.5 is.

We are um we do have an agreement with the Enterprise Center, and that is they're actively working to spend that money right now.

So that project is is underway.

Um they haven't spent it yet, but they are working on it.

Um the 2.8 million for the low barrier shelter.

Um that is money set aside for that that purpose.

I don't, as far as I'm aware, there is no set plan for what that looks like.

I think actually I saw on the agenda today that you guys may be discussing that in a meeting coming up in August.

Um, but that was money set aside for the purpose of a low barrier shelter.

Uh the Chamber Foundation Chat 2.0, Chetnuga Future Fund, that $900,000.

That's actually on future considerations this week, so you'll see it.

Um if you I think it was added today or yesterday, it was it was a late edition.

So uh you should see it if you haven't already.

That money is um for the savings accounts for kindergarten, first grade, and middle school age uh students, I believe, through chat 2.0 and the uh chat future fund.

Um and so we that was supposed to be paid out over a number of years.

We've decided let's just go ahead and give them those funds so that we can kind of clean clear the books of it and just go ahead and get it out into community.

And then 125,000, that was related to the extended hours at James A.

Uh Henry.

So that that was taken care of in the 27th budget.

So that's where we're at on outstanding items.

There we go.

So again, the original award was 38.6 million.

We accrued interest on money that was sitting in savings account, just not spent yet, three and a half, so 42 total.

Could we possibly oh sorry?

I just had a specific question about um the digital connectivity.

How long will that does digital connectivity last with this money?

How long will it last?

You mean how like once it's stood up?

The original plan was a 10-year commitment.

So what is this?

That's a great question.

I don't know the answer.

I'll find out.

Okay, thank you.

That's all, Mr.

Are there other questions?

And we can take questions as we go along with that.

I know we're kind of digesting a lot of information here.

So this is go ahead.

This was the reason why we requested this was to talk about the HCD, the HCS which stands for Hamlin County Schools, correct?

But you just said that it's not an actually Hamilton County Schools program, is that correct?

So it did say that, and I didn't know that, and it has been called in all of the documentation all along the HCS EdConnect program.

But I was I was corrected last week when I was following up with Enterprise Center and with EPB that while it is modeled after and came in the context of the broader HCS EdConnect program, it is not actually part of that program because this is going to be providing digital connectivity to non-Hamilton County school low-income residents.

So the HCS is oriented towards qualifying families with Hamilton County School System school um pupils, pupils, school children.

There we go.

Students, thank you.

Pupils.

Sure, go ahead.

This new version of this program is going to be administered by EPB, but it has a current sister program with eight COs.

I'm assuming that most just my knowledge of the housing authority and who qualifies for some of the houses at the for this project, a lot of those homes already have children in them.

Um so we talked about I think 800, I think you wrote it out.

I didn't I couldn't access my email on the phone, but it's 876 units.

Do we know how many of those?

And I think that's just for one site.

That's for it sounds like those are all like elderly uh towers, Mary Walker.

Mary Walker, okay.

Um so I'm just curious to know how much overlap I think.

There's not gonna be any overlap.

Okay, and while it is distinct from it is it's pursuant to, and it's kind of like um it's an incremental number of folks who are gonna be impacted by the same digital connectivity initiative just under a different branding because the funding sources and how many of these units?

So we've had they've had this money kind of in a hold exale for I think what five or six years now.

Have they implemented any of these units?

And I know the one West Side project is under construction, but the other sites are not right.

So have they no, they have not fully implemented um because there for a number of reasons.

One delay in construction over there, but two, there were uh some uncertainties related to broader funding for the enterprise center and as it related to this being able to do this that for a minute were in question in conjunction with a delay in construction that led to just this lag, but we are in uh ongoing conversations with them.

The contract is executed and they are committed to to leveraging and deploying spending down this money by the end of this year, this calendar year.

So when you say RPC.

When you say deploying and spending down the money, does that mean that 876 units will have the installation of EPB fiber optics?

That is that is my is that their understanding of the call?

Okay, well, that's good to know because that's yeah, that's in a short period of time, considering they've had the money for a long period of time.

So uh, so that's good news.

Is you know, I think our initial question was about utilization.

If we need to move it, if they were not going to use it, then surely I'm sure some of us could come up with better ways to spend 1.5 million dollars if it's not being used.

So, but it is being deployed and implemented by the project was delayed, but it is it is now on track and it is scheduled to be deployed within the um original parameters set forth in the contract.

So, according to the contract that's executed, it's going to be deployed and implemented by the end of this year.

Yes.

All right, thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Sure.

Any other questions at this point, council?

Get back to the presentation.

Um so in FY27, we use some of the the interest earned on on these monies for for these purposes.

Uh you guys also have access to the the Google sheet that outlines everything, it's got all of it, but these these were the 27 items um on that on that list.

Uh they showed as proposed, uh, but these obviously haven't been spent yet, so you'll see them as unspent, but we're gonna get that taken care of this year.

And then again, uh kind of just funding overview.

Original award was 38.6 million.

We had earned interest since we received that money at 3.5.

We've spent a total of almost 42 million of it with the remaining uncommitted interest earned of 200,000.

That was as of the end of May.

So there will be some small amount added to that in June.

And that is all up, yeah.

I think it might be helpful.

Hopefully, it's helpful to explain um the following, which going back to the conversation that we had a couple weeks ago in the chamber.

So we can't spend any money without council approval.

You guys control the purse per strength.

So when when this federal money came down, it was a non-competitive grant.

There was some formula allocation, and so we were the recipient of these dollars that we're talking about, and then in the form of the one Chattanooga recovery plan, there was a whole list of things that uh that would be funded through it, and so via resolution that adopted the one Chattanooga plan, you guys authorized that that money be spent according to the plan over the course of time.

Some of those projects did not materialize.

Um, and there were some changes.

So, any time that we have since wanted to have an alternate use of those funds, we've had to bring forward resolutions, which is why we've had kind of this ongoing like bank and dunk of all these different resolutions, is because we have to seek your permission to go and spend the money in a way that deviates from what you had already passed and authorized.

And so, as we said during the budget process, I'll reiterate now our intent is to go ahead and get rid of all of this ARPA money so that we no longer have to do these resolutions.

And so that is all spoken for.

So I hope that was helpful.

Okay.

Council, are there any other questions about the ARPA presentation this afternoon before we move on?

Okay.

Great.

Thank you.

Thank you, Kevin and Weston.

Um our next presentation this afternoon will be on the historic preservation process.

I will turn things over to Councilman Clark and Cassie Klein.

Um let Cassie introduce her crew, but thank you, Council, for and thank you, Chairman Davis, uh, for letting us uh discuss this with strategic planning.

Uh, as you all remember, we had a very successful town hall that was co-hosted by myself, Vice Chairman Elliott and Cody Harvey, who's upstairs by the way, he's working on another project in preparation for our council meeting at 3 30.

Uh, very successful.

We had representations from several council districts.

Um, and we have a desire, as you know, that we did fund uh preserve Chattanooga to the tune of about $30,000 uh to conduct studies to utilize consultants uh regarding uh preserve how do we preserve Chattanooga's more precious historic landmarks, and we have a uh staff person um who's amazing uh who works with the historic zoning commission, which we have not.

I think the last time we deferred something for historic zoning was in the 90s.

Uh so the council, I believe has worked to do as our city is aging, America 250 years old.

Uh so we've got a lot of things that we want to make sure that's preserved for the next generations to come.

Uh joined in strategic planning today, and thank y'all so much for coming.

Of course, we have former councilman Russell Gilbert, who is a dear friend of mine who actually uh spoke at the uh preservation town hall meeting and told me something I didn't know, which is the purpose, right?

Of town hall meetings is to learn and be informed and then to act accordingly.

Um and that was the information about Turkey Foot Hollow, uh, which was an African American unincorporated municipality in the county.

Um, and I had the pleasure of uh being with his daughter, Skyree, which I'm I'm wearing my glasses today, so I cannot see I don't see uh Sky Reg and Councilman Gilbert are chairing the efforts of with the descendants of the who are all here today.

If y'all could just say it so we can recognize your clap for you, please.

These are all and as I introduce them, I cannot their their families are all represented today, but in Turkey Foot Hollow, there's a cemetery called Johnson Cemetery, which is a historic African-American cemetery of uh indigenous uh people.

You can be seated.

Thank you so much.

I just wanted to be recognized.

Um, of indigenous people, African people, uh, after uh we won the war.

I think World War II, a civil war, excuse me.

We still were not able to live in portions of the city, and so we were put in places, including where our cemeteries are, but they have not been preserved uh for protected.

There is a and Cassie's gonna talk about this.

There is a misnomer that when you register a site that that protects it and it does not.

We have a legal process through the state, which Cassie is going to discuss that as a council we must act to actually protect this site from any future development or any encroachment of any type that would interfere with the historic integrity of the property.

In this case, this is Johnson Cemetery, and then afterwards, after Cassie's um presentation, I'll also uh prepare the council uh for piece of uh resolution that we hope to introduce um introducing some of the sites, including Turkey Foot Hollow and uh in Johnson Cemetery.

So I just want to give you guys that quick overview, and Cassie, I will turn it over to you.

Okay, great.

Thank you so much, Councilman Clark.

Thank you, everyone, for having me today.

Um, good afternoon.

We're gonna discuss local historic designation processes with you all this afternoon.

So we're gonna look at an overview of historic zoning and historic designation.

We're gonna look at who can make an application, and then we're gonna look at the public process, and then I'll leave some time for questions.

If you want to ask questions as I'm going through it, just let me know.

Um, an overview of historic zoning and designation.

You all might remember this from the guidelines presentation that we did, but just to kind of bring everyone back up to speed, there's two different types of historic designation in the city of Chattanooga, local and national, which Councilman Clark talked about as well.

So we have historic zoning, which is our local historic landmarks and our local historic districts, and then we have the National Register of Historic Places.

Local historic districts and landmark overlays protect historic properties from demolition and inappropriate alterations.

The city currently has four local historic districts, and we have one local landmark.

So Fort Wood, St.

Elmo, Fergur Place, Battery Place, and the Frank Lloyd Wright Shaven House on Missionary Ridge.

And then the National Register is a national designation that mostly functions as an honorary distinction.

The National Register does not protect historically significant properties from demolition or inappropriate alterations.

There are some benefits that you can get from being listed on the national register.

If it is an income-producing property, you can apply through the state historic preservation office for federal rehabilitation tax credits, but again, it doesn't have that additional layer of protection that we see with the local zoning, historic zoning designation.

So looking a little more closely at our local landmarks and districts, you can see there are five criteria that a property or a district must meet to qualify.

You only have to meet one of these criteria in order to be eligible for local historic designation.

These are essentially the same, they're worded slightly differently, but we have the local historic landmark on the left and the local historic district on the right.

Basically, those five criteria are is it associated with the site or the district associated with a historic or significant event?

Is it associated with significant people?

Does it embody distinctive characteristics of an architectural style?

Um, a work of a specific designer or an architect like R.H.

Hunt is one that we see frequently in Chattanooga.

Does it have archaeological significance?

And andor is it already listed on the National Register of Historic Places?

So that one's there because someone has already done that vetting process all the way to the national level, and we can say, okay, this has local significance as well, so we'd like to designate it.

So thinking about who can make an application to make a property locally designated as a landmark or a historic district.

Four types of eligible applicants for local historic landmarks or districts.

These include city council, so you all by resolution could make an application for a landmark or a district, neighborhood associations can apply, property owners within a district or an individual landmark can apply, or a civic uh historic civic or professional group.

This could include organizations, obviously like Preserve Chattanooga is our local preservation nonprofit, maybe the American Institute of Architects, or another organization focused on architecture or history or preservation.

And then next I'm going to go over the public process.

So once an application has been submitted for local designation, that is when we get into the weeds of getting it through the wheels that are local government.

So once a complete application has been submitted, the proceedings are as follows.

And if you have questions about what a complete application looks like, we can definitely discuss that.

But staff's going to coordinate a public meeting with the applicant, and that's going to allow public to come in and do comment on the proposal, including seeing the maps of the boundaries, other materials, ask questions of the applicants and of the commission.

This meeting is separate from our regular historic zoning commission meeting where they're going to review and vote on the proposal.

So this is truly just an informational public meeting, public gathering.

This meeting shall be held per the ordinance at the development resource center or city hall for local landmarks, and then for historic districts, the meeting would occur in the proposed district where they're asking to become a local district.

The application will then be added to a historic zoning commission agenda.

So this is where we get into the kind of formal process.

And the commission will review the application for completeness and ensure that it meets the applicable criteria.

And it's going to look at the boundary and the proposed historic guidelines that the applicants have come up with for the district or landmark as well.

The commission is then going to make a recommendation to city council via resolution to either approve or deny the proposed district or landmark based on the criteria that we have in this historic zoning ordinance.

So this is going to function similarly to the way Planning Commission makes a recommendation to you all, but it's just coming from a different body, so from that historic zoning commission.

Upon receipt of that recommendation, Historic Zoning Commission from the Historic Zoning Commission, excuse me.

City Council will review the request using that same procedure as rezoning.

So we would do a presentation and then it would have two readings.

And then City Council, you guys ultimately make the final determination to approve or deny the request.

If it's approved, you would adopt the district and/or the landmark, the boundary that's applicable, and the historic guidelines.

And then at that point, the subject property or properties would then be required to follow the certificate of appropriateness procedures laid out in the trap in Chapter 10, Article 2, which is our historic zoning ordinance.

So when we're thinking about Fort Wood or St.

Elmo, those folks have additional permit requirements that they have to go through before they get a building permit or a land disturbing permit to ensure that they are in compliance with the historic guidelines.

So adopting a new one would then put those procedures in place.

And then the other big item, um, another important component of the local landmark or district application process is the moratorium status that's put into place once an application has been made to designate a property or a district.

The moratorium begins upon application for a local historic district or a landmark, and it stays in place until a decision is rendered by city council for approval or denial.

And this moratorium is for all permitting, including demolition, repairs, new construction, grading.

So once you all make a decision whether that is to approve or deny that moratorium would then be lifted, and either the certificate of appropriateness process would go into place, or if it didn't pass, we would just go back to kind of business as usual.

So it is uh temporary moratorium, but it's part of that process.

And that's everything I have on the process for you all today.

So just let me know if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them.

Okay, see that was great.

Um, I do have and if it's okay, uh Chairman Davis, I'd like uh Councilman Gilbert uh speaking for the group.

If is it okay to take a question from the floor or sure?

Okay, there's not any I don't see any council questions, I think that'd be okay, sure.

But councilman Gilbert is do you have any questions from the floor or um I know that was quick, but it didn't anyway.

So I'll just I want to make sure that uh then councilman gives call answering to you for all the history history and uh forest going back before Tennessee was Tennessee within this particular area, all they need to be given to him to give you, correct?

Can you repeat the question?

The application process the application, yeah.

He will give her the information and she will help work with him to make sure the application works.

Yeah, and so when we're thinking about what makes an application complete, you know, we would get a map of whatever the area it is that you want to propose to be that local district or landmark if it's the individual cemetery, uh, we would do a write-up of a narrative of the history, and then we would look at the guidelines that you would want to impose on the local landmark or the district.

So you would come together and I could work with you all and councilman Clark on this to see what makes the most sense for what kind of redevelopment may be allowed, what kind of preservation techniques you do want to happen to ensure that you know demolition doesn't occur, certain kind of plantings maybe, or landscaping, like um retaining walls, that kind of thing.

So we would look at all of that as part of the application, but I would be there to kind of guide you through that process along with councilman clerk.

So our point of contact as far as what the actual physical application is, would now be with because we are now now that we are discussing this publicly with the council, we'll take questions from the council, we will start that resolution process if that is a desire from council to do that.

Um, because I'm sure there'll be some recommendations from them as well.

I have not, I have seen the physical application itself, and I can get a copy of that of you all, but it does include some mapping.

Yeah, and if it's one of those things where we're ready to move forward, we're doing it via resolution, you're doing it as a property owner, however, you all want to move forward with it.

We could set up like a pre-application meeting, we can look at everything that's required so that we can help gather all the materials so that we have a complete uh packet to move forward whenever you're ready.

Okay, you got a time for start to finish or so.

So we have a filing deadline every month.

It's the third Friday of every month, you would make a filing deadline, and then you would be heard at the following month's meeting.

So it's a ever going throughout the year timeline whenever you guys get the materials together.

Once we start the process, it's gonna take probably about 60 to 90 days in total just to get from the first public meeting, historic zoning, and then through city council.

There might be a little more time on the front end too as we're gathering kind of the historic resources and get the map together and that kind of thing.

So it can take a little bit of time, but the more complete the application is on the front end, the quicker we can move through the actual process because we'll have certain dates that we can and my last question uh for Cassie is that if the property is owned by the state, are there any regulatory state laws that supersede our historic zoning process?

And can you speak to that just a little bit?

Yeah, and I might defer to law on this one as well.

But this may be similar to what we saw with the um School of Arts and Sciences was the Hamilton County is the owner, and they said that we could not impose restrictions on them.

So I don't know if it would be a similar situation with the state, but we could definitely confer with the state historic preservation office as well as legal, but I don't know if you have any other I think we do need to confer with them and just determine what they say or in their rules and uh we are a subdivision of the site and board and we have to come along with what we have to expect.

And we have to complain where it is like cool.

All right, thank you.

I do have a question from Councilwoman Dodley.

Yes, thank you so much, Mr.

Chair.

And uh thank you, Councilman Clark for bringing this uh any time we can preserve the history of all Chattanoogens.

That's what's most important.

Um so I had a question about uh I had never heard of this, and I was like, okay, so can you tell us exactly where roughly where Turkey Foot Hollow is and what the cemetery is?

So Turkey Foot Hollow is off of Champion Road, and if if you guys portions of it is in the city and portions of it is in the county, uh it was property that was owned by the Johnson family at some point and was sold to uh the state of Tennessee that is now being managed by Booker T State Washington Park.

So there are people currently being buried in the site uh to like currently like now 2026.

2026, there are their descendants who have probably buried families as late as last year or this year.

Wow, possibly like I thought there was maybe like two to three years since the last can't remember.

And the in the in the circle where the new is the McKinsey family, I can't remember.

It's it's been a few years.

Okay, but a few years, but it it is still an active cemetery.

Um, and by state law, um they are allowed to go and visit the cemetery at any time.

Uh we actually went on a hiking excursion about three weeks ago.

Um, a lot of it is overgrown, a lot of the um sites, uh the grave sites are caved in, and a part of this historic preservation process is actually to do a cleanup uh and to work with the state about restoration of the site.

Uh we had a town hall meeting in Washington Hills last week about uh some of the technology that we use to survey the site.

Uh but the first step is to have the conversation with the state to preserve it.

But this uh portions of Turkey Foot Hollow is in my district.

Um and thanks to Councilman Gilbert, we were notified about it uh during our town hall preservation meeting.

Okay, thanks so much.

Uh Council McClark, thank you so much, Mr.

Chair.

Councilman.

Yes, um, so Cassie, um can it uh an organization can apply, can they just do the whole application themselves and then submit it to you?

You offer your support if needed, but it's okay for them.

And where did they find the application?

Yeah, absolutely.

So you can do the application on your own, especially if you're coming from an organization like Preserve Chattanooga that maybe has the staff and the knowledge to get that application prepared.

Um so you can find the instructions for that on our City of Chattanooga Historic Zoning website.

Okay, and then um the actual application itself is on our permit portal, the same place that you would go get a building permit or a land disturbing permit.

Um, if someone is interested or someone in one of your districts is interested, I highly recommend they reach out, do a pre-application meeting.

Okay, um, have recently been working with folks in Luckton City, and I think we've had five meetings where we went out, um, we did survey work together, we've had multiple public meetings, and they haven't even submitted yet.

So we've been doing kind of that front end.

Yeah, okay.

It's gonna obviously depend, right?

A district versus a landmark, we're gonna have to get a lot more people together versus maybe only a couple of owners or one person.

So it can be site specific.

Um, but if you are even a little bit interested, definitely reach out to staff and we can kind of get you pointed in the right direction.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

And last but not uh Vice Chairman Elliott, would you are you were at the town hall meeting?

Would you like to comment or I'm about to close out this portion?

I didn't know if you wanted to the shaman house is for sale.

Oh, that's right.

And China's rest pieces of history.

Love to have you in district nine.

You can buy it, right?

I heard it you're according to your neighbors and they buy it.

So speaking of money, I do have a question along those lines.

So if property is designated as a local historic landmark or a local historic district, does that unlock some grant funding or other sources of funding if property needs to be renovated?

I'm thinking in district three, we have an auditorium on the side of our community center.

Um that's an RH Hunt designed um auditorium back in the depression area, I believe.

Um so I'd be interested if there's funding available um to redevelop that space or any other space.

Yeah, so we currently at the city we don't have a specific grant program for historic preservation or historic rehabilitation.

Um if the property is also listed on the national register, like I mentioned, they could apply for the federal um tax credits for rehabilitation, and that would just go through the state historic preservation office.

Um Tennessee, unfortunately, is one of the states that does not also have an additional state um tax credit for historic preservation, but you can't apply for that.

I think it's a 20% crack uh tax credit if it's an income-producing property.

So basically anything but like a single family residence.

There are other cities, I think Knoxville, I don't know that they're still doing it, but I know I've heard Todd at Preserve Chattanooga talk about it before, have provided um kind of grant opportunities for folks that are in historic districts, but we don't currently have that tool in place.

Okay.

Yeah.

Okay.

So to close this out, I do want to uh put into the public record is as Cassie mentioned, there are two types of designations.

There are there are landmarks and there are districts.

Um speaking of RH Hunt, uh, who is an international acclaimed architect right here in Chattanooga, including the medical arts building, several churches, both African American, you know, traditional churches.

Um I will be moving forward with the support in the discussion of the council and any of you as you've anybody could do a resolution.

We could I would prefer us to do a joint resolution or if there's an organization, um, which is why I wanted to discuss this with you all to see if what the desire was to add.

Um, I do would like to hear from the attorney uh regarding the uh the rules or the laws that prohibit us from imposing historic designation on state and county property that's within the city.

Uh I would like some clarity on that.

Uh, but I do like to go ahead and read into the record that uh the the first I think there should be two phases of this.

The first phase should be landmarks.

Uh the second phase should be districts.

I know uh missionary ridge has had several conversations about adding districts.

I think that's a little bit more you saying no.

Oh, I was I thought you were disagreeing what I was saying.

They have had several discussions about their districts, their neighborhood.

Um I would prefer to reserve that for like a phase two of this, and I think Cassie would agree.

Uh, we are currently working with uh preserve Chattanooga and their consultants from Nashville about what that process should look like.

But there are some low-hanging fruits that we I think we should move expeditionally on.

Um, and that includes Civil War historic sites, maybe some Orchana, uh sacred indigenous African American and Jewish cemeteries that are not currently protected, uh, tourist landsmark, tourist landmarks, which you'll be surprised, such as the Tivoli and the Choo Chu are not preserved, uh, meaning those owners could do what they please to the interior and exterior of the buildings.

I would like to report that Tiboli uh independently hired historians and did the historic preservation beyond probably our own design guidelines.

They use the tax credits, they use the tax credits.

Um I mentioned the sacred indigenous African American cemeteries, Jewish cemeteries, along with uh Johnson Cemetery, and last but not least, all R.H.

Hunt design architectural buildings, uh, which does include the medical arts building.

Uh, as you know, it could be very controversial.

There are some buildings that currently have demolition orders on them.

Um, and if this through the application process, this creates an immediate moratorium on those uh demolition uh permit requests.

So I just wanted to put that into the record for the council to kind of think about over the next two to three weeks as we prepare a resolution to add specific historic sites and to begin the application process with Cassie.

Okay.

We do have a few more questions or comments.

I saw Councilwoman Dotley first, and then we have Vice Chair Elliott and Councilwoman Burrs.

Well, thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you again, Councilman Clark.

This is really good.

I do support this.

This is a really, I think the piece of legislation.

I appreciate you bringing it so we can all discuss it as well.

Um so I guess the question my question is when we talk about putting them into the um, you know, making all these kind of local landmarks, uh, would they be able to will the property be able to be exempt from it?

Let's say like the ones that already have demolition orders or things like that, would they be able to decline being a part of the local uh historical landmark?

If I'm not mistaken, once it once we make an application, because the resolution, all it does is activate the application process, which then goes to the historic.

If you could answer your question, it will go before a public meeting.

Okay, uh, which that property owner would participate in.

Okay.

Um, but that's kind of the con.

I'll be honest and just be frank with you, is that when we and Cassie shaking our head, and this is where the controversy comes in, and that's a great question, is that we do preserve some of their private property rights uh in historic and in preserving that property similar to the shaven house.

Like the shaving house is a private, privately owned home and the only landmark in the city of Chattanooga.

And as private property owners, they are not allowed to make interior and exterior changes without without going to the Chattanooga uh historic zoning commission for permission to make those changes.

So uh I do want to clarify it's for the city for our local designations, it is exterior only.

Okay, exterior.

Folks like Preserve Chattanooga could have interior easements, so that could exist, but just for our sake, the city does not go inside the four walls.

Gotcha.

So the exterior for the local landmarks.

Yeah, and for the district.

So that that is the controversial aspect of this, Councilwoman Dodley, is that it would be helpful if there was owner buy-in.

Um we should consider that as we do with any zoning, right?

Because this is a zoning change or designation, so to speak.

Uh, but if at the pleasure of the council, if we decide to add a private property to the historic landmark registry, then they would have to fall within those guidelines monitored by your office as far as what they're allowed to do to the exterior of their home.

Okay, but they would have to apply.

It wouldn't just be a is it an automatic, we'll make it out.

So the property, so we would be applying as a historic site on behalf of those property owners.

Oh, okay.

Property owners, there are four ways.

We could do it, property owners can do it, associations could do it.

Um if you as a council did it, if you didn't have the owner buying that may be part of the problem.

And then it um, which is just part of the process, and that's up for you all to decide, right?

Um as far as the moratorium piece goes, say you do move forward, we get through the whole process, then it gets back to you at city council, so it starts with you and ends with you.

That's right.

Um, it gets denied the moratorium's lifted, they don't have those extra regulations.

But if it gets approved, that moratorium would be lifted and they could get permits, but they would be subject to more like design review criteria related to making sure that we're retaining historic materials and architectural features and that kind of thing.

And demolition as well.

Okay, and then it would be more like how like when St.

Ammo comes and wants to do something, the part that's in the historical part when they have to come and get windows and things like that.

So it'll be applied to all the the uh entities that Councilman Clark mentioned, right?

If it was approved, yeah.

If it was approved, yeah.

Okay, that's okay.

Part of that process uh is the community input, and which includes the property owners.

If property owners own property uh or vertical or physical, in this case, a cemetery, you know, it's it's not there's not any verticals, right?

But for buildings that could be controversial, like CSAS, I would like to add CSAS back to it.

Clearly, that is going to be a legal battle, and we know that but it's okay, we're putting them on notice, and that's the beauty about the legislative process, right?

To have that conversation, uh, but to invite them into the public domain, because part of this process, which is required is to talk to the public.

If you own a uh historic building, we would like to know what your desire is for it and to have that conversation with the community.

And so that's why I like about this process, is that it just it allows us, we to vote and to determine, but to actually have the conversation first before we just come in and say, hey, we're gonna reserve a piece of your private property rights.

Because I know we as a council, we do not like to encroach on people's private property because we want it happening to our private property, but in this case, because I believe that it is historic.

If you own a historic piece of property, such as the shaving house, I think you should be subjected to a public meeting to discuss what that preservation looked like.

And if there's pushback, then you know we won't move forward with it.

So and I'm okay with that.

Thank you so much, Council McLarkine.

Thank you for bringing in my pleasure.

Yes, thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Cassie, I have a question.

So on Missionary Ridge, I have parts of the old battlefield up there with the Department of Interior.

What type of historical preservations does that create for some of the homes?

It's like I have some of my uh constituents who have old cannons and landmarks in their backyard.

Does that impact what they can do with their property?

Currently, or if it were locally designated, it would currently.

Oh, yeah.

That would be a question for the National Park Service folks, and I'm not sure if they retain any sort of easement on those like cannons and statues and that kind of thing.

I can definitely follow up and see because I really am not sure how they kind of manage that.

Um, but it would go back to them.

Yeah, I'm just curious.

Yeah, me too, honestly.

That's a good question.

I was yeah, the same thing on my end.

We the part that goes up Glass Street, and I'm sorry, I just went out of order.

No, I just raised my hand.

I'm so sorry.

Um that's a good question again about the overlapping authority because again, that bat Sherman reservation is part of my district as well.

When you go up Glass Street, Campbell, it's on the back side of Towerway of Tower Four's neighborhood and you know what does preservation look like for that, because it's also within the city limits.

So I just be curious, feel if we could have like a really good one pager about what our rights are as a council to actually impose these types of things on county and federal, I guess federal property.

Yeah, uh that would be a really good homework assignment that I would I'll get with the Chapeau and then I can get with um Bill Moblet as well.

Okay, we can get you guys some answers on that because those are really good questions because we have so many.

Yeah, so many office.

I'm not sure you can regulate with the right.

And they may already have some protections in place outside of the national register because it's you know, it's it's different.

I don't know, but I can definitely find out and then specifically for cemeteries as well.

I'd be I don't cemeteries have a different regulatory what you can and how you can't access it based off who owns it.

So sorry, councilwoman.

Councilwoman Burrs and then councilwoman.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Councilman Clark, I have a question about the resolution.

Tell me what you have in mind for the resolution because you mentioned you kind of hinted towards grouping you I can't remember if you use the word grouping or something.

Tell me what what that's gonna look like.

Basically, yeah.

So what are the of course one of the processes that council can do, which we don't have to um I just I think it's to work in solidarity to have a conversation like through strategic planning or through council because every district uh I believe I know you've mentioned some historic sites.

Um I think I just thought it would be more efficient and easier for us to do one application with those historic landmarks.

Gotcha, okay uh it's just efficiency.

Um and I again I listed there's five that I'm totally that I'm interested in just in groups as far as the uh civil war historic sites uh the African American Jewish cemeteries, which you know are next to each other, um, and some are local tourist landmarks that are not on that are not protected, which I think is wild, and of course the RHUT buildings, which I cannot remember how many we have currently in the city of Chattanooga, but I do know there are areas that are looking into local historic districts, which I am not uh touching at this time because it's more of a belabored process.

Designating a landmark, I think is a little bit easier to send through city council um as a resolution to start the applications.

That was all that was the only intent.

Okay, so you would be looking to compile a first round list, first days list of those, like you said, your low-hanging fruit that's right of landmarks.

Which any council person can amend that's right.

Okay, any council person just so you know you can do your own resolution.

Yeah, thanks for this.

Because I know we've talked about often about some of the things along Brainerd Road that's that's right, that's absolutely right.

Anyway, thank you for bringing this up with thinking.

Sure.

Councilwoman Hill.

Thank you.

Um, I think it's it's interesting to consider how to start building energy towards uh historic preservation in our community.

So thank you very much, Councilman Clark.

Um I'd like to um understand Cassie, when something is uh receives a local historic designation, um that does not come with any uh responsibilities on the part of the city of Chattanooga for maintenance, correct?

Correct.

Okay.

Um I I asked that um in particular because we have a really um historically rich um it's the first African American cemetery in Chattanooga Becknob and District 2, and um or a first official um and uh you know preservation has been a question um historic designation would help, but it doesn't actually provide uh any sort of funding to preserve, and we as a city have had some challenges because it's private property, we're not actually allowed on private property.

You know, how far can we go?

So um I as you asked some questions about grouping, council members.

I think my head went um in a similar direction.

Um and also when councilwoman Dotley's little radar went up about private property rights.

I I would encourage you to consider in the resolution uh starting with not only um very clearly historically relevant uh um landmarks, but also those that might not cause um uh real consternation within the ownership, um, so as to get some wins under our belt.

Also, my understanding just from what Lepton City has done with their application is it's very place specific.

And so I would expect that if we put a resolution that had 15 different things, that then becomes a pretty major scope of work for our staff to produce all at once.

And so we might start feeling a little bit bogged down.

So just something to consider, you know, what are the what are the three or four heavy hitters that you want to get that are not going to be controversial and let the staff work through those and bring them through.

Um because I I and I've been I've encouraged my folks in Lepton City, they've had uh five meetings, they've Cassie's been really helpful, they're really getting their heads around it, they're thinking through what's the next good step for this application, and I've advised them as we have all experience.

We can open things up for public input and until it gets to the point that's about to be ready to vote on, a lot of people don't pay any attention.

And then they say, well beyond to me, you didn't tell us anything about this plan, Hamilton.

Plan chat and you're gonna, you know, been in the works for how how many years.

Um so I think if we can avoid some of that as a council, um, and help the community see this is can be a really positive thing.

Yeah.

Set us up for wins.

That's right, because we don't want to traumatize people.

No, we want carrot, not exactly.

And you know, again, a part of this process which I really enjoy is that it allows for the public conversation.

Even if it's controversial.

That's a good point.

You know, but I will tell you the desire for me.

Um it is as you mentioned African American uh landmarks which have often been left out of the story in the history.

We know that.

Uh Beck Nob, uh, Johnson Cemetery.

Um, I think those are some things that they're really good, needed, but feel good, less controversial things.

I don't have a a laundry list.

I do know there is a lot of talk about the RH Hunt architectural buildings, which I'm very interested in.

But for me, I will probably, and I will send this out to the council.

The there's five sites that I'm particularly interested in, uh, which includes Turkey Foot Hollow, uh Lincoln Park, uh Becknob, and some of the historic African American landmarks that we have not preserved as a starter.

I do believe that some of the RH Hunt buildings will bring us controversy, but I think it's worth the conversation in the public domain.

But doesn't mean we have to move forward with that.

Thank you.

So council, any other questions or comments.

Okay.

Well, thank you, Councilman.

Thank you all for being with us.

Thanks for having us.

That's cool.

Is that it?

That is our agenda for today, Council.

Uh, before we leave, just uh please note the upcoming um strategic planning presentations um in particular on August 18th.

Um that's a day that I've kind of set out um to do much of what we've done at the end here with councilman Clark's presentation, just any council members who have um policy ideas, legislative ideas just for us to discuss those openly.

Um I might have one or two of my own related to traffic in District Three and our deer population.

Um so if you have any ideas, please get them to me.

Um let me know about them so I can get them on the agenda.

Um I'd like that to be a time where we just discuss each other's ideas and um and work on moving them forward.

So for anyone who's interested in that.

Um also we have several lunch and learns upcoming that you should have received um for council field trips, however, you want to think of them.

Um you should have received uh calendar invitations for those.

The first one is coming up next Tuesday.

We're gonna go out to the Wilcox Bridge and hear from public works um about what the the plans are for fixing that bridge if you've been over it at any point um you're aware of the issues.

So hopefully we'll we'll learn and hopefully it'll be helpful to be out there and see um kind of uh put our our boots on the ground to understand a little bit better about the issues that we're addressing there.

So thank you.

All right, any other comments or announcements, council, before we adjourn our strategic planning meeting.

Okay, well, thank you all, and we'll be adjourned until our 330 meeting.

Thank you.

Are you gonna put those here?