City Council just voted for a seven-story downtown building in a district zoned for 48' height limit. Setback to the building behind will be 6'. This is to allow the current building owner access to their property to maintain it.

What I do not understand is how in the fire district this proposed building is in can a parking deck seven stories tall not have alley access for firefighters. I guess they will fight car fires from apartments on the street side.

As city planners have been ignored thus far in this process regarding height limits and ground floor commercial, what else besides prudent setbacks are getting thrown down the way to be sorted out? Letting building ends be used for commercial is petty capitulation to reasonable rules of ground floor retail space.

Once again our City Council proves themselves to be a town council beholden to the developers they cozy to as their Chattanooga stumbles into the future.

Prentice Hicks

* * *

Mr. Hicks is correct. Sad day for Chattanooga as our City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to ignore the advice of design professionals and citizens opposed to the "Albatross" Apartments. No one spoke in support of the project other than the consulting engineer hired by the Knoxville developer.

At one time, I wondered if Chattanooga might choose to rest on its laurels of being a "Renaissance City" in terms of urban design. Now I realize what we should fear is not standing still but rather moving backward.

The current sentiment seems to be "any development, anywhere," whether it fits in the neighborhood or not. If developers ask for a PILOT tax break, we are happy to throw in one of those as well. If they want to accommodate their parking with a structure, that's cool, but the Council may also allow their parking demand to clog public streets or take away public spaces in the Renaissance Park parking lot.

Maybe the Council will realize before adopting the ordinance ( Dec. 8 ) that this 7-story building is totally out-of-place on Cowart Street just around the corner from the historic mixed-use neighborhood on Market. They could still vote to limit the height to five stories on the Cowart site. I am no longer optimistic. Maybe this building is what this Council wants their legacy to be.

Perhaps the classy St. John's Restaurant across Market Street could create a new dish called the "albatross."

Helen Burns Sharp