April 30, 2025 Collegedale, Tennessee
Southern Accent
Vol. 80 Issue 22
The student voice since 1926
COLLEGEDALE NEWS SPECIAL ISSUE
Collegedale at a Crossroads Hayden Kobza Managing Editor Sitting at Chestnut Hall on a recent sunny Friday afternoon, Mayor Morty Lloyd and David Barto, director of the Collegedale Tomorrow Foundation, discussed the city’s uncertain future. The two men sat on the front porch of the building located at The Commons, a community gathering place tucked between City Hall and Little Debbie Park. Nearby, the sounds of birds chirping and children playing clashed with the buzz of Apison Pike, the main road that is severalhundred feet away — a symbolic reminder of a growing town. Collegedale—a place known for scenic mountain views, Happy Valley and the hum of rumbling trains—is at a crossroads, according to city officials. As a result, community leaders, such as Barto, Lloyd and other individuals, spend countless hours grappling with the competing needs of small-town, rural America and a growing demand for more housing and commercialization. From 2000 to 2020, the Collegedale population jumped by 70.54%, from 6,514 to 11,109 residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Between 2010 and 2020, it grew by 34.13%, increasing from 8,282 to 11,109, making Collegedale the fastest-growing city in Hamilton County. The city has seen a significant influx of people from states such as Florida, California and New Jersey due to lower property taxes and better living conditions, according to Barto. While talking to students in
Where are we going?
(Graphic by Ana K. Zelidon)
an Interactive Journalism class at Southern Adventist University, Barto explained that many newer residents arrived during the pandemic to escape shutdowns and the expensive cost of living. “Turns out that when you buy a $300,000 house in Florida, and you can't get insurance on it, or your insurance is almost the same amount as your house payment every month, it starts making dealing with two months of winter up here look pretty good,” Barto quipped. “If you're in California and you have to deal with fires and earthquakes and skyrocketing property taxes, it all of a sudden makes Collegedale look pretty good to move to.” Collegedale has also been attracting many people from the tech industry due to the high-speed Electric Power
Board (EPB) Internet service available here, which allows them to work remotely. “I mean, you can work for any of these big tech companies out of New York and live in a $600,000 house here that's got three times the square footage of the same house you would have in Jersey, or New York, or California,” Barto said, “ and that's why they're coming here.” Growth and Preservation Along with the population growth, the city has also experienced a proliferation of housing developments in recent years, mostly high-density projects, igniting angst among some local residents. In 2023, Jason Allin, the city’s staff planner, moved to Collegedale from Loma Linda, Cal-
ifornia. Since then, he has been trying to help the city manage growth based on a 2030 landuse plan developed in 2015. In a recent interview, he said the city plans to update the plan as 2030 quickly approaches. “We're at a weird kind of intersection right now,” Allin said. “It's, ‘Do we want to stay more rural? Do we want to stay more of a hometown feel? Or do we want the commercial businesses, which are going to bring more traffic?” Many residents want the city to remain small with less housing, Allin explained, noting that Collegedale will miss out on many modern amenities without growth. “I know a lot of the residents - they don't want more houses, but they want more commercial [developments], and you can’t have both,” he
explained. “You don't see a Buffalo Wild Wings in the middle of nowhere, right? So that's the hard part right now, it’s trying to figure out what we want to do and what direction we want to go in.” Meanwhile, the need for affordable housing “is becoming acutely evident at the local level in Collegedale,” Allin explained to attendees at a recent Monday afternoon city meeting. “Expansion of housing supply is contributing to increased traffic congestion and added pressure on existing infrastructure systems,” according to the slides he presented. Over the past few years, apartment complexes have sprung up around the city because of demand for affordable housing. However, due
See Crossroads on page 2
Dogwood Estates brings homes to Collegedale Nyah Jackson Layout Designer Eighty-two new town homes will soon exist on Ooltewah-Ringgold Road, changing the landscape as drivers head toward Main Street. Dogwood Estates is already under construction, with some slabs poured, and at least seven units sold, according to Lori Combs, sales office manager for the Atlanta-Chattanooga division of Smith Douglas Homes, the company building the development.
"So, we felt we were providing a service to the people in the area." The community will include three-bedroom, two-and-ahalf-bath, two-car-garage townhomes with four different floor plans. Apartments will feature upstairs bedrooms and nine-foot ceilings on both levels. Prices range from $295,900 to $349,990.
Combs said the builder chose the Ooltewah Ringgold Road location because of the demand for more affordable housing in the vicinity. “The location was very favorable, and there seemed to be a target market for that type of housing in that area at that price range,” she said. “So, we felt we were providing a service to the people in the area.” Among those purchasing the townhomes are parents with children at Southern Adventist University, according to Combs, as well as local workers. “We have sold to at least one or two parents who have bought for their children to live in,” said Combs, who expects the first moveins to begin in about three to four months. “And then there was an alumni that reached out to me. He and his friends bought a unit. So that’s three sales right there.” Tanya Vu, owner of the Allstate agency on Ooltewah-Ringgold Road,
not far from the Dogwood Estates location, moved to Collegedale from Orange County, California, along with her husband, in 2023. In an interview with the Accent, Vu shared her views about Dogwood Estates and other housing projects springing up in the community.
"I think we need more commerce in this area, especially on Main Street." "I love all the new development,” she said, expressing her belief that residential units will attract more businesses to the area. "I think we need more commerce in this area, especially on Main Street. That's how we bring money into the city. " Despite Vu’s enthusiasm, the Dogwood development does raise some concerns, according to her and others who work in the area. Main Street is a narrow road with occasional traffic jams due See Dogwood on page 2
Dogwood Estate welcomes potential residents to townhomes. Monday, April 28, 2025 (Photo by Andrew Boggess)