Friends of Hamilton formally kick off petition drive to incorporate the Ooltewah area

Friends of Hamilton officially kicked off a petition drive to carve out a city in northern Hamilton County so residents living there can control the future of their community.

"This is phase 1," Chris Matthews said while attending a Pachyderm Club meeting Monday. "We finally have a petition approved. We had a number of processes we had to go through, that the state required, and we've done them. The time is now."

The movement partially started in response to annexations in other areas by the city of Chattanooga. A move to reopen an urban growth plan that set boundaries for the spread of Chattanooga and other municipalities into unincorporated areas of the county, such as Ooltewah, also fueled the effort.

The plan was to be in effect until 2020 but Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield asked that it be reopened. It must be a unanimous decision by mayors of every incorporated city inside the county, plus the county mayor and other representatives from the business and education communities.

"We saw the hand writing on the wall," Matthews said. "We wanted to put the control of our future in our hands. When we started this, we heard many people saying, 'Why didn't we start doing this a year ago?'"

The group needs about 4,000 signatures, representing 33 and one-third percent of the registered voters in the area, to get the question placed on the ballot. Matthews said the goal is to get on the November 2012 ballot, with an expected greater turnout than local elections in March and August.

Hamilton County Trustee Bill Hullander, a former county commissioner who represented the Ooltewah area, asked why a new city should be formed since the urban growth plan stops Chattanooga from expanding its boundaries into the area proposed for incorporation.

Matthews said the timing to create a city with a plan of government and services is now, regardless of what happens with the urban growth plan.

"This is the only time we will have a chance to have a voice in what happens in this area," he said. "If we wait five years, we won't be able to do it."

Initially the new city was going to be called Ooltewah but residents from other areas such as Birchwood, Harrison and Georgetown asked to be included, so the name needed to unite the communities, Matthews said.

Brendan Jennings, media relations coordinator for the group, said the petition is not a statement against Chattanooga or its mayor.

"Any mayor of Chattanooga would want to annex," Jennings said. "This isn't against Littlefield. In this case, the residents don't believe Chattanooga can provide services the area doesn't already have or that we want."

Plans for the new city call for a tax rate of 1.25 percent, per $100 of assessed value. The government will be a part-time mayor and possibly a full-time, paid city manager. There will be elected officials, called aldermen. Services will be at a bare minimum and some paid for by residents themselves, such as garbage service, which the county does not provide. The new city will contract for services such as fire and police, according to the plan. Roads will be an expense with 93 miles of public and private roads in the proposed area that will have to become the city's financial responsibility.

A Pachyderm member asked for the opinion of the elected officials, Commission Chairman Larry Henry, City Councilman Manny Rico and Sheriff Jim Hammond.

Rico said he supported the rights of Americans to exercise their opinions and their legal rights.

Sheriff Jim Hammond said he is keeping an open mind and he will be ready to negotiate a contract to provide services for the area, as the department does for the towns of Walden and Lakesite. The sheriff's department does not provide services for Ridgeside, the small incorporated neighborhood on the east side of Missionary Ridge.

"They are surrounded by the city of Chattanooga and our nearest officer is 20 miles away," he said. "It would be too expensive for Ridgeside."

Henry said he had just learned of the effort a month ago and he is gathering information.

"You know it's going to be quite expensive when you start to do this," Henry said. "I do support the people in the unincorporated areas having a voice."

There will be more public meetings as the process moves forward, Jennings said.

Phase two will provide adjacent areas the opportunity to self-annex into the new city.