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You are here: Home / FEATURED POSTS / Council Approves Red Wolves Rezone

Council Approves Red Wolves Rezone

June 28, 2019 By Dick Cook and Contributed Article 4 Comments

On Thursday, the East Ridge City Council voted unanimously to rezone 60 acres adjacent to Spring Creek Road allowing the construction of a soccer stadium for the Red Wolves surrounded by a mixed-use development.

Bob Martino, the owner of the Red Wolves soccer club, intends to invest $125 million to build a 5,500 seat stadium, 400 apartment/condominium units, a hotel, and 475,000 square feet of commercial space on the low-lying property near where Interstate 24 and Interstate 75 converge.

The project would become the largest in the almost 100-year history of East Ridge, officials said.

During a required public hearing of the issue during the council meeting, citizens expressed concerns over the project. including the potential for increased flooding, traffic issues, and destruction of wetlands.

Jeff Sikes, whose company ASA was hired as engineers for the project, said the project creates challenges.

Martino said development will proceed within the guidelines set forth by the Tennessee Department of Conservation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Groundbreaking on the project could happen within the next 30 to 60 days.

The council approved the fiscal 2019-20 budget on second reading. The general revenue budget of nearly $13.9 million is about $2 million less than last year’s budget. Officials said the reduction is due to overestimating revenues in 2019 and unforeseen expense items over the course of the year. The budget keeps the current property tax rate and gives all employees a three percent raise.

Click on the link below for video of the council meeting;

:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dJZu9oLdnA&feature=youtu.be

Filed Under: FEATURED POSTS, News

About Dick Cook

Dick Cook has lived in East Ridge since the Kennedy Administration when his parents bought a house on Marietta Street. Dick graduated from ERHS in 1976 before going on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he studied Political Science. Dick worked for the Chattanooga Free-Press and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for 22 years. Free-Press Sports Editor Roy Exum plucked him out of production in 1989 and gave him a job as a sports reporter. Dick covered everything from prep sports to the whitewater events on the Ocoee River for the 1996 Olympics. When Chattanooga's two paper's merged, he became the Crime Reporter covering both the Chattanooga Police and Fire Departments. He was among reporters who were honored by the Associated Press for the TFP's coverage of the 2002 fog-shrouded crash on I-75 in Catoosa County, Dick and his wife, Cathy, live on Marlboro Avenue where they are seen frequently chasing around their three grandsons.

About Contributed Article


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