Future of Montague Park discussed at Chattanooga City Council

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – Planners of the future Montague Park took their vision to Chattanooga City Council on Tuesday.

At the City Council meeting, Chattanooga Parks and Outdoors and architect Chattanooga Design Studio looked to assuage certain concerns on Montague including its environmental status.

Plans for Montague Park (City of Chattanooga)

The property was made into a landfill in the 1940s and became a brownfield.

Developers look to flip this history and turn it into a garden with many more trees and plants.

The executive director of the Chattanooga Design Studio Eric Myers said, “What we have is a separation cap, we have 36 inches of soil that is to keep every single one of us here in this room separated from the potential environmental contaminants below. Those potential contaminants have been lying now for decades that have been organically decomposing.”

The final vision for Montague Park is far from the current reality. The Sculpture Fields and other park areas do not that many trees. 

In order to change this and install the other features, organizers say it’s going to take a heavy price tag.

The administrator of Chattanooga Parks and Outdoors, Scott Martin said, “Preliminary estimates right now look at about the 80-million-dollar price tag with an inflator put in. We right now are going to put in our capital stacks to see how that would be stacked out and how phasing would work.”

Martin says they are still looking at how to raise those funds and what the timeline would be on this project if approved.

One council member, Ken Smith of District 3, expressed their surprise at that price tag as he said, “It’s also the biggest price tag I’ve ever seen for parks too.” 

Another concern raised was availability of parking in the area, as renderings of the parks do not include large parking lots, but Martin says this is intentional as they want to use Polk Street for that purpose.

Martin said, “You pick up 350 plus spots up and down Polk which is more than we have right now. It’s just an overwide street so it’s dead space without it, and it’s also the stormwater solution as well.”

Martin also mentioned for larger events such as Fire Up the Fields and potential youth soccer tournaments, parking could be made available at the nearby National Guard Armory.

No date for a final approval on this project has been given.