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Council defers decision on Highway 58 liquor-store permit after councilor questions distance to nearby school
Summary
Council unanimously voted to defer action one week on a special-exception permit for a proposed liquor store on Highway 58 after Councilman Clark questioned whether the distance to Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts was measured from the closest property line and said he would abstain absent additional verification.
The Chattanooga City Council voted on Jan. 6 to defer consideration of a special-exception permit for a proposed liquor store at 4884–4850 Highway 58, giving staff and the regional planning agency a week to recheck measurements and provide additional documentation.
Councilman Clark raised concerns during the planning discussion that the distance to Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts (CSLA) may not have been measured from the property line closest to the store. Planning staff and a registered land surveyor reported a straight-line measurement of roughly 300 feet from the rear door of the proposed store to the nearest school property line, which exceeds the city’s 200-foot distance prohibition in current practice. Clark said he believed the driveway/property-line measurement could be closer and asked that the surveyor confirm the nearest property line and provide a measurement to the driveway.
Clark said the measurement mattered because of case law and state-law constraints on how the council can rule: "If they meet all of the RPA requirements, I...E. your measurements, then we are bound by state law to approve it or will be sued again," he said, and added he would abstain from the vote that night for his comfort level. City counsel told the council there was a statutory timeframe requiring action before Jan. 16 (otherwise the application would become automatically approved), which the chair and staff noted when weighing a deferral.
To allow time for verification and local deliberation, Clark moved to defer the item one week to Jan. 13; the motion passed on voice vote. Council directed staff to include the land-survey measurement documentation in the record prior to the next meeting.
The deferral preserves the council’s option to approve, deny or take another action on Jan. 13; it also creates a narrow window for the regional planning agency to supply the survey details requested by Clark and for council members to consult with constituents who said they had not been notified in time for the earlier hearing.
