Raccoon Mountain waterline moves step closer to reality
Raccoon Mountain residents are on track to get a $3.5 million public investment in a waterline after plans passed an initial vote Tuesday night.
The Chattanooga City Council approved an amendment to the city’s budget, funneling surplus interest funds into the project, with at least one council member opposed. The plans will need another vote next week to officially pass. The waterline would serve 27 properties on Raccoon Mountain, where property owners have said they’ve struggled with water access after wells have dried up and collapsed multiple times.
Council member Chip Henderson of Lookout Valley, who represents the mountain’s residents, has said he’s been working since he was first elected over a decade ago to get water service for their homes. It is a public safety concern, he has said, because firefighters would have to truck water up the mountain during an emergency.
Taxpayer advocates have questioned the idea of spending so much in taxpayer dollars to help fund a water project when the city is not in the water business. Tennessee American Water, a private, for-profit utility company, has long been responsible for providing water service to the area.
But the company can’t extend service to the Raccoon Mountain residents because state law prohibits expanding at ratepayers’ expense. During a council meeting in early May, Henderson said the company had agreed to provide rebates of nearly $1 million to the city over the course of a decade as more people connect to the new line.
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“I believe the council a decade from now will be glad we made this tough choice of capturing this $3.5 million of surplus and fix the problem,” Henderson said during the meeting.
Two dozen people came to speak in favor of the waterline plans during another city meeting earlier in the month, some property owners on the mountain and some not — including state Rep. Greg Vital, R-Harrison. His daughter, Tess Wentland, owns property on the mountain and also spoke in favor of the waterline.
“There are decisions we make with the best facts in front of us,” Vital said during the meeting. “Sometimes we will go back and say, ‘I wish we would have done that.’ It will probably never be cheaper. … Chattanooga is moving forward. There’s a lot of decisions we’re having to make nowadays, including in the legislature, that we wish others had taken care of before us.”
Other property owners said the labor of hauling water every day and the uneasiness about the possibility of a fire have taken their toll. Others said they were not able to build on undeveloped plots of land they own because it would be too risky without the promise of a waterline.
Council member Marvene Noel of Orchard Knob voted against the allocation of the money, saying she took issue with the amount of money going toward a handful of homes. She had previously said in an interview that those millions could go toward improving infrastructure in hundreds of homes elsewhere, especially in historically underserved Black and brown communities.
Similarly, council member Raquetta Dotley of Alton Park had said in an interview that she had some reservations about the cost versus the benefit of the project. She was absent during the vote.
Council member Jenni Berz of Brainerd Hills abstained from the vote. Berz suggested adding an amendment to the proposal requiring at least 80% of the homeowners on the mountain to agree to connect to the waterline, so the city could ensure its reimbursement from Tennessee American Water in the future.
Though the direct source of the money is interest surplus, that likely only exists because taxpayer money was put into a savings account at one point, Berz said.
“How can we rationalize how this is being spent?” Berz said during Tuesday’s meeting. “If you ask anyone, I’m a very frugal person. I think about the impact we could have with $3.5 million just citywide, versus a small sector.”
She said she was uncertain about the ultimate return on investment the project could have, including a projected increase in property tax revenue and the reimbursement money.
Henderson said during the meeting he hoped the council would approve the allocation of the money as-is, without the amendment. The plans to build the waterline are delicate, he said, involving coordination with the water company and the Tennessee Valley Authority, which would need to provide an easement for construction to get underway.
“Anytime you go to offer an amendment at the 11th hour, it concerns me a little bit,” Henderson said. “We’ve put a lot of work and effort into this. I would hate to see this thing go down in flames at the 11th hour.”
Berz did not formally introduce the amendment before the council voted to approve the plans.
If Henderson’s proposal goes through, tree clearing for the water line would start in November. That’s when bats begin to roost in the nearby Raccoon Mountain caverns during the winter rather than in the trees, Henderson said. Then construction will begin in spring 2027, likely wrapping up in spring 2028.
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Contact city and county reporter Siena Duncan at sduncan@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.
Siena Duncan reports on the city of Chattanooga and Hamilton County for the Times Free Press. She has a degree in journalism from the University of Florida, where she earned Hearst, Mark of Excellence and Sunshine State awards. When she’s not writing, she’s attempting to pet her ornery cat Soup or getting lost in the mountains.