Northshore apartments cause disagreements at City Council

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – Joseph Wingfield’s new complex asked for an additional story.

Jeremy Cothern the attorney representing the developer said, “Adding the 7th story changes nothing about the dimensions of the building. The width remains the same, the depth remains the same, the height remains the same, and the density remains the same.”

This concerned the Mill River complex.

Harry Cash the attorney representing Mill River operating company said, “It’s pretty clear with what you all were provided that this is not going to provide scenic views of the river, in fact it’s going to prevent views of the river. This property is going to be blocking views of the river.”

Residents of One Northshore were concerned of an increase in traffic.

Helen Burns Sharp with the Downtown Owners Collective said, “this is not a no growth, we don’t want apartments there whatever. The real concern is and I think we are all familiar with that area, is the transportation system, the traffic today.”

Harry Cash thought the new project was not following code.

He said, “providing a diversity of housing options, that’s got to be followed and this does not comply with that. Consider the public and private benefits of scenic views along the river.”

The additional story was to accommodate parking, eliminating a surface lot.

Cothern said, “there will be a potential surface parking there to the right, behind one Northshore, and it is our sincere hope that we can avoid the hardscape parking lot behind one Northshore and integrate it into the building.

Despite the concerns, the additional story was granted.

Councilman Henderson of District 1 said, “We’ve already heard from Mill River that they testified that it did not negatively impact their development, so therefore I move to affirm the decision made by the form base code committee.”

A traffic study will be conducted.

There wasn’t mention of when construction would occur.

If it would begin immediately or if it would wait until the traffic study was conducted.