Future development starting to catch the eyes of Bradley County

[HABANERO7]

The Bradley County School System and Cleveland City School System are in a state of heavy growth. After years of either very slow growth or slowly declining numbers, the two school systems have seen a recent surge in enrollment

The community as a whole has seen steady population growth as numbers have increased from 67,547 in 1980 to an estimated 94,810 in 2005. Even with that steady community growth the school system wasn

[Rural King]

Growing school populations is a good sign of a growing city and a good economy, both things we want to see in all parts of Tennessee. Sounds like to me that Bradley County is growing nicely from this information.

Great information and news all around.

[Hankster]

These are all very clear signs of accelereating growth in Bradley County. I hear of people either comtemplating a move there or actually moving there frequently. I agree that the Enterprise South development could have a huge impact in the Cleveland / Bradley County area. If Kia is landed, 3500 high paying jobs will follow. We at McKee Foods (makers of Little Debbie products) are concerned from a labor standpoint about the Kia possibility, and the possibility of losing some good employees to that project. It would certainly tighen up the labor market in the area considerably, and attract new residents as well.

[HABANERO7]

10 day enrollment numbers for the Bradley County school system shows another jump of 367 kids bringing the county enrollment to around 9,980 students with another 4,500+ in the Cleveland City School System. Growth was expected to be around 150 students this year causing the 367 total to be a complete surprise to the administration. With federal rules limiting classroom sizes these days to around 24 kids per class the Bradley County School system just found themselves with a dilemma of trying to find 28 classrooms for all these new kids over the last 2 years.

On a side note, Lee University, which is Tennessee's 2nd largest private university after Vanderbilt hit a couple of milestones this fall. Fall enrollment has hit an all time high at just over 4,000 and the incoming freshman class is the largest ever topping out at around 850 students.

[Hankster]

10 day enrollment numbers for the Bradley County school system shows another jump of 367 kids bringing the county enrollment to around 9,980 students with another 4,500+ in the Cleveland City School System. Growth was expected to be around 150 students this year causing the 367 total to be a complete surprise to the administration. With federal rules limiting classroom sizes these days to around 24 kids per class the Bradley County School system just found themselves with a dilemma of trying to find 28 classrooms for all these new kids over the last 2 years.

On a side note, Lee University, which is Tennessee's 2nd largest private university after Vanderbilt hit a couple of milestones this fall. Fall enrollment has hit an all time high at just over 4,000 and the incoming freshman class is the largest ever topping out at around 850 students.

All indications are that Cleveland is growing at a really good rate right now. I'm looking forward to seeing Cleveland at the forum meet next month.

[HABANERO7]

Here is some information from another article in the Cleveland Banner today that I first missed. The article stated that Bradley County and Cleveland issued a combined 54 residential building permits for August which by the way isn

[Hankster]

It's definely possible that Bradley County could hit 103,000 by the next census. However, one thing that could be a negative to your logic is the longtime trend towards smaller households. This has been going on for years. If the average number per household is still shrinking in Bradley County (as it is elsewhere), even more than 54 new housing units per month will have to be added to get the population up to 103,000 by the end of the decade.

[Rardy]

Currently the Census est. for Bradley County for 2005 is 92,092

Bradley County 1990 - 73,712

Bradley County 2000 - 88,965 for a total gain of 14,253 or a 19.3% increase

Bradley County 2005

[HABANERO7]

Well one thing is for sure, Things are real busy around here these days. I have lived here all my life and I don't know if I have ever seen things being build everywhere like they are right now. I have seen times of growth where one area will see it, then it will cool off and another area of town will see it, then it will cool off and so on, but right now, there is dirt being moved and buildings going up in every corner of the city and county.