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Chattanooga Population


sunrisese

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I mentioned it in another thread, but Chatt's best shot at a tall new building was the Blue Cross / Blue Shild HQ. Instaed of multiple building on top of Cameron Hill, I think they should have built two towers where their gateway building is. There probably won't be any new high rise construction for a while since when BCBS moves they'll leave a glut of office space behind. If were lucky it will be absorbed fast.

A reason for slow population growth is that even with all of the new jobs, there are still large losses in the manufacturing sector. Chattanooga has been lucky that it has been able to offset the losses. While Chatt has lost population in the past, Hamilton County has never had any losses. Chattanooga also hasn't had any major annexations in a long time. The city could easly grab 30k people if it annexed the Middle Valley area, however running utilities to the area would be expensive.

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That's what I can't seem to understand. I mean everytime I read about Chattanooga all I hear about is the furthering of its revitalization and the continued effort being made to develop downtown and the riverfront. The new residential lofts are very nice as well as the art district. I actually like that Chattanooga is choosing to densify the area before going up. Chattanooga may never receive any new highrises, but the city is setting the pace for what a well planned cities across the nation should look like. I still attribute the population decline due to an over focus on tourism and that Chattanooga has no significant surburbs or crazy annexation sprees other comparable cities have. Cities like Clarksville or Murfreesboro are not developing lofts or riverfront projects yet they are attracting new businesses, industry, and growing very rapidly. These cities will eventually pass Chattanooga in population if the current trends continue but they still could learn very much (and I do mean very much) about planning effectively.
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  • 2 weeks later...
That's what I can't seem to understand. I mean everytime I read about Chattanooga all I hear about is the furthering of its revitalization and the continued effort being made to develop downtown and the riverfront. The new residential lofts are very nice as well as the art district. I actually like that Chattanooga is choosing to densify the area before going up. Chattanooga may never receive any new highrises, but the city is setting the pace for what a well planned cities across the nation should look like. I still attribute the population decline due to an over focus on tourism and that Chattanooga has no significant surburbs or crazy annexation sprees other comparable cities have. Cities like Clarksville or Murfreesboro are not developing lofts or riverfront projects yet they are attracting new businesses, industry, and growing very rapidly. These cities will eventually pass Chattanooga in population if the current trends continue but they still could learn very much (and I do mean very much) about planning effectively.
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Chattanooga is an interesting case. I look at demographic data all of the time and am still somewhat baffled as to what is going on. Here's what I know:

1) Red Bank and East Ridge are loosing population

2) Soddy Daisy and Collegedale are gaining population

3) In unincorporated Hamilton County,the population around Wolftever Creek has exploded since sewer expansion began. The area outside of Soddy Daisy is also booming.

4) Catoosa County and Dade County are logging large population gains. Walker is more modest

Other factors at play:

1) Chattanooga's city population was undercounted in 2000.

2) The recent growth wasn't picked up by the 2000 Census---2005 estimates are just guesses based on certain factors like building permits etc.

3) Subdivisions and building permits are running at record levels---who/what is driving this? Where are they coming from? Is the population just shifting around the county---how much of the new construction is needed for incoming residents?

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One thing I read in the Times Free Press in an article titled "Building Boom Strong" said this... "Mr. Bell estimated that hurricane evacuees from the Gulf Coast accounted for 10 percent of his sales last year." (Mr Bell's company did $12.8 million in home sells in 2006"

The Article mentioned that the county had $516 million in housing starts for 2006 and Hamilton County has seen an average of 457 jobs added per month for 2005-2006.

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As far as I know, the biggest city/suburb of Chattanooga is Red Bank, which is actually landlocked by Chattanooga. Its population is 12k. I believe everything is 10k and under for the most part except cities like Dalton, GA and Cleveland, TN. However, Hamilton County population is nearly double that of Chattanooga, so I suppose that does count.
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The biggest suburb is East Ridge with a population of about 20,000. Hixson is growing fast and is not incorporated, but has a large population (15,000 to 20,000 maybe?). Soddy-Daisy has 12,000 residents. Collegedale is growing very fast and has a population of about 8,000 and Ooltewah (Unincorporated) is growing fast as well. The Collegedale and Ooltewah areas will explode if Enterprise South lands Toyota.
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The biggest suburb is East Ridge with a population of about 20,000. Hixson is growing fast and is not incorporated, but has a large population (15,000 to 20,000 maybe?). Soddy-Daisy has 12,000 residents. Collegedale is growing very fast and has a population of about 8,000 and Ooltewah (Unincorporated) is growing fast as well. The Collegedale and Ooltewah areas will explode if Enterprise South lands Toyota.
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Hamilton County (like much of the country) has been creating more households vs. strictly adding population. How? Because households are becoming smaller...people are much more likely to be single today for longer periods of time in their lives than in years past. A single person counts as a 'household'.
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Not all of Hixson is in Chattanooga. Hidden Harbor is part of Hixson and has not been annexed yet. I don't think Stonewall Farms has been annexed yet either. Even though. Even after spending 25 years in Hixson I'm not sure where the Middle Valley and Hixson boundaries are.
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That's what I can't seem to understand. I mean everytime I read about Chattanooga all I hear about is the furthering of its revitalization and the continued effort being made to develop downtown and the riverfront. The new residential lofts are very nice as well as the art district. I actually like that Chattanooga is choosing to densify the area before going up. Chattanooga may never receive any new highrises, but the city is setting the pace for what a well planned cities across the nation should look like. I still attribute the population decline due to an over focus on tourism and that Chattanooga has no significant surburbs or crazy annexation sprees other comparable cities have. Cities like Clarksville or Murfreesboro are not developing lofts or riverfront projects yet they are attracting new businesses, industry, and growing very rapidly. These cities will eventually pass Chattanooga in population if the current trends continue but they still could learn very much (and I do mean very much) about planning effectively.
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Funny how unofficial "cities" go isn't it? To me, that area has always been known as Big Ridge, semantics I guess. Either way, when the "cease fire" on annexation is over, I expect Chattanooga to absorb a lot of that area. I also expect Chattanooga, Lakesite and Soddy-Daisy to fight over a lot of the Middle Valley area. And I expect Soddy to annex north and out towards Sequoyah Nuke.
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All future annexations have been decided as part of the 2020 Growth Plan. All of the incorporated areas in Hamilton County had to work out their growth boundaries in the late 90's. (All counties in TN had to do this, it was the after math of the toy town law, when Middle Valley tried to incorporate) If memory serves me well Waldon and Signal Mtn had issues that they eventually settled as well as Chattanooga, Soddy Daisy, and Lakesite. I'm trying to locate a map of all future municipality boundaries, but the CHRPA doesn't have that plan on its site yet.

Here are a couple images of the Urban/Suburban/Rural areas of Hamilton County and the Region.

Hamilton County

HamiltonUrban.jpg

Region

RegionUrban.jpg

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