Collegedale to Annex in Advance of V-W Boom

While Chattanooga and Hamilton county leaders debate annexation and consolidating government services, the city of Collegedale is quietly positioning itself for growth on the doorstep of the Volkswagen complex.

And that includes doing some annexing itself.

LARRY HOBSON, ANTIQUE STORE OWNER "It's all about the money..they want to annex Collegedale and Ooltewah ..So they've got that many more pockets to get into."

Larry Hobson admits he hasn't paid a lot of attention to Collegedale politics since he set up his antique store on Lee Highway a few years ago. But his business is part of a 17 acre site that will soon be annexed into the city.

TED ROGERS, COLLEGEDALE CITY MANAGER "We anticipate that there are some of the property owners that are not going to be very pleased with this annexation..but to my knowledge, this does not involve any residences."

Collegedale, like Chattanooga is looking to increase revenue by setting up prime real estate for purchase..and then annexing those revenue sources. The V-W plant over at Enterprise South will likely result in man new homes and apartments and auto supply companies.

TED ROGERS, COLLEGEDALE CITY MANAGER "The bulk of the city of Collegedale is certainly within 5 to 7 road miles of the Volkswagen plant...so I think it's inevitable that the city will continue to grow."

The city of 8-thousand already has a good start. It's 22% growth rate is largely thanks to Little Debbie/McKee Industries--a billion dollar company. And Southern Adventist University is another major factor.

City manager Ted Rogers says to not annex and grow , is to stagnate.

TED ROGERS "We're eyeing any property in the Collegedale growth boundary...that is commercially developable."

Larry Hobson's Antique store is already surrounded by the incorporated area. It's a given! But the focus is now shifting to Apison Pike to provide space for Collegedale to maintain its double diget growth in the eastern end of Hamilton county.

Collegedale and Chattanooga are not in competition for the same county real estate.

Those boundaries for regional growth were set almost 10 years ago in regional planning meetings.