Area growth continuing quickly

Early in the year, local government set about determining how to deal with anticipated growth in Charleston, Cleveland and Bradley County in January 2012. Now that the economy is developing, officials have been looking at planned growth.

Planning consultant Greg Dale, McBride Dale Clarion, of Cincinnati, explained the process to more than 50 people registered for the continuation of a look at the future they saw in the BCC2035 Strategic Plan.

Bradley County, Cleveland, Cleveland/Bradley Chamber of Commerce, Cleveland Utilities and Volunteer Energy began working on planning in October 2009, when it was announced the U.S. Economic Development Agency awarded the city of Cleveland a $50,000 grant to assist in the development of the BCC2035 Joint Strategic Plan to address anticipated regional growth.

The total cost of that study was about $221,720. The local share was paid by the participants. The end result of that six-month effort ended in the regional plan that looked 25 years into the future. The BCC Comprehensive Plan is paid for by a 50 percent matching grant of $125,000 from the U.S. Economic Development Agency. Bradley County and the city of Cleveland each contributed $60,000 and the city of Charleston contributed $5,000.

The BCC Comprehensive Plan takes a closer look at Charleston, Cleveland and unincorporated areas of Bradley County than the more generalized strategic plan. It includes a detailed look at the northern corridor around Mouse Creek Road and Interstate 75 Exit 33; the southern corridor around Exit 20, APD 40 and McDonald; the central city of Cleveland, and the soon to be vacated Whirlpool manufacturing plant.

According to Cleveland Development and Engineering Services Director Jonathan Jobe, the team of consultants is analyzing collected data for a draft presentation to the public by March 1.

McDonald residents considered zoning changes and zoning overlays as methods to stop development from swallowing up their rural lifestyle and polluting Brymer Creek.

In Charleston, discussion centered around ways to encourage truck drivers to use the interstate instead of passing through two school zones to get to Bowater, and discussions and in Cleveland, the topics were redevelopment of old industrial sites and infilling older neighborhoods.

Five guiding principles serve as overarching themes for all elements of the planning process and as a foundation for the goal statements:

n The community highly values private property rights and responsibilities. Tools to help the community manage the demands of growth will need to respect this value placed on private property rights;

n The community enjoys a relatively low-tax environment and the plan and recommended tools should be designed to maintain a low tax structure, while adequately providing for the safety and well-being of the current and future citizens;

n Given the strong possibility that the cities and county will continue to face a fiscally challenging future due to national economic trends, as well as the low-tax environment of this region, decisions about the issues addressed in this plan should be made with careful consideration of fiscal impacts;

n The community highly values citizen-driven initiatives, private investment, a market-based economy, and nongovernment approaches, rather than a focus on government-oriented approaches to community development;

n As a result, these multiple considerations should be balanced when making public decisions.

There are different people with different views, but that is the purpose of taking the time to go through a planning process. While there are concerns unique to each area of the county, there is concern the comprehensive planning effort is agenda-driven by outside consultants with “cookie-cutter” solutions to growth.

Local business owner Dan Rawls, who is with the Liberty Coalition and a member of the Bradley County Tea Party said, “My main issue here is that it seems to be an agenda-driven meeting. No matter how you answer most of these questions it always leads you back to their agenda.”

He said the county should not have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to bring in outside consulting firms loaded with bureaucrats “to give us a cookie-cutter plan that doesn’t fit Bradley County. I think these plans should be drawn up by the County Commission so we have elected representatives, people we pay and that we have the ability to deal with from an electoral standpoint. If we don’t like what the County Commission does, we can vote them out. If we don’t like what these guys do, what do we do there?”

Rawls said people think he is against planning, but the Florida native said he has seen unplanned growth. He simply thinks it would better if the plan was from within rather than from without.

Planning discussions continued throughout the year. Cleveland City Planner Greg Thomas reminded the Economic Development Council why planning for the future is important to local government and the people it serves.

The EDC is a selection of leaders from government, education, utilities, business and industry that meet bimonthly at the Cleveland/Bradley Chamber of Commerce to discuss development issues in those areas.

Thomas urged them to take an active role in the discussion because he said growth — planned or unplanned — is coming to Bradley County. Bradley County will grow by an estimated 33,000 people, 14,000 new households and 19,000 new jobs by the year 2035.

Bradley County growth is part of larger trends and patterns identified as “megaregions.” The county is part of the “Piedmont Atlantic Megaregion” anchored by Atlanta. However, it stretches east to Raleigh, N.C., and west to Birmingham, Ala.

“It has fingers reaching out to Chattanooga and Nashville which take in Cleveland,” he said.

The low cost of living and high quality of life in the Southeast are but two reasons for this region’s booming population growth. As a result, the area is facing traffic congestion, runaway land consumption and inadequate infrastructure.

Between 2010 and 2050, the population growth in the megaregion’s principal cities of Atlanta, Birmingham, Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte, N.C., is expected to increase from 17.611 million to 21.687 million in 2025 and 31.342 million by midcentury.

But not all of the discussions were pleasant. A flier anonymously distributed in June in neighborhoods south of the old Whirlpool Plant in downtown Cleveland warned homeowners of the impending loss of their property rights, if they didn’t immediately act.

The flier, written as an information handout by an unknown author, stated homes in the area around 18th Street S.E., between King Edward Avenue S.E. and Wildwood Avenue S.E. were targeted for demolition and redevelopment.

“That’s crazy,” Thomas said during an interview in June. It would make no sense for the city to move into a neighborhood and force everyone out. “It’s not true that we’re going to take people’s property. What is true is there will be a redevelopment of that Whirlpool site at the right time. It’s a large site. There will be a lot of change in that area.

“What I would anticipate is more infill type development — housing in that area with maybe some housing rehab.”

Some privately funded housing rehabilitation is occurring now, but other (public) rehab programs might be looked at in the future. However, that depends on needs identified by neighbors in the area and ongoing code enforcement.

“There are some rundown properties in the neighborhood. They are a source of complaint by neighbors and those neighbors have an expectation something will be done about it,” he said. “I think that kind of thing will happen going forward, but as far as the city going in and taking a whole bunch of houses away from people and them having to move — that would be crazy.”

In those three sites, there are 11 different floor elevations, which renders the property unsuitable for future manufacturing applications since most companies desire to be on one level.

Cleveland/Bradley Chamber of Commerce Vice President for Economic Development Doug Berry said the old plant was so widely spread that some parts traveled seven miles before they became an assembled stove. That was one of the reasons for moving to the new facility on Benton Pike.

Cleveland Mayor Tom Rowland established the Southside Redevelopment Task Force in 2011 to help lead the discussion and decision-making process, because he realized then the biggest issue facing the city was raising public awareness and participation.

That was also the consensus of the task force members who recognized that before redevelopment could occur, there was a need to establish a connection with adjoining neighborhoods.

Berry said at a MainStreet Cleveland meeting, “The first thing I would say is nothing is fixed. The city of Cleveland has not issued a directive to the housing authority to establish a redevelopment plan for a specific area, which is the first legal step. We will not be taking 300 homes. We will not be bulldozing them and that was never the intent — ever. I will tell you where that number came from because I’m the one that [originated the] 300 ‘lot’ number.”

When talks first began with Whirlpool about replacing its century-old manufacturing facilities, the company wanted to remain in the downtown area where there is historical linkage. It is a big issue for a company to break that attachment.