TN: Half of St. Elmo residents oppose Rock City gondola, survey shows

Around 50 residents of the historic St. Elmo neighborhood in Chattanooga gathered Monday night in an old fire hall to discuss neighbors both wanted and unwanted.

In the wanted category were old trees that form a canopy over the neighborhood. In the unwanted category were invasive plant species and, for half of residents surveyed so far, a gondola lift proposed by Rock City.

The opposition is an extension of a yearslong battle waged against the neighborhood's central nuisance: cars speeding down a 2-mile stretch of Tennessee State Route 17, better known as St. Elmo Avenue.

Victorian and craftsman homes line this picturesque segment of state highway running along the foot of Lookout Mountain. Dogs, children and pedestrian crosswalks abound. The speed limit is 25 mph after neighbors pushed for a 10-mile reduction years ago, and the Tennessee Department of Transportation planted a new stop sign last year.

All of those traffic calming measures could be threatened by thousands more cars heading down St. Elmo Avenue to board a gondola lift, several residents said. A farm just across the Tennessee- Georgia border from the neighborhood would become the main entrance to the 93-year-old tourist attraction atop Lookout Mountain.

A survey sent by the Community Association of Historic St. Elmo to residents has received 120 responses so far, and 50% said they oppose the gondola to some degree, said Nathan Bird, president of the association. Another 35% said they support the project, and 15% said they were unsure about it.

The question remains whether the opposition will mean anything, or whether it will signify a battle as futile as eradicating kudzu or Tree of Heaven.

Rock City Enterprises, the Chattanooga-based parent company of Rock City, doesn't need approval from St. Elmo or the city of Chattanooga for the gondola. But residents could show up to meetings in Walker County, and the town of Lookout Mountain, Georgia, where elected bodies have the power to stop the gondola.

"There's nothing to stop people from St. Elmo showing up and making our voices heard," Bird said. "We're going to continue monitoring the situation to see if the opinion in the neighborhood swings far enough in one direction for us to really take a strong stance on this."

For now, 41% of residents surveyed said they wanted the neighborhood association to come out against the gondola. Rock City has responded quickly to the association's questions, Bird said.

The association is not a homeowner association, or HOA. St. Elmo is governed by city rules as one of four historic districts, and residents must often get approval from the city's Historic Zoning Commission for changes.

Neighbors at the monthly meeting disagreed about what the gondola could mean.

Neighbors talk

The top three concerns expressed in the survey were increased traffic, traffic speeds and traffic cutting through the neighborhood, which demonstrates the central issue.

"I've got a 9-month-old baby and a dog that I walk with people flying on St. Elmo Avenue," said Shane Mulrooney, who's lived in St. Elmo for five years. "Maybe more traffic slows it down, frankly, or maybe it's more people that are speeding that don't recognize that this is a neighborhood because they're just passing through."

Rock City hired an engineering firm to conduct a traffic study that showed most new traffic on St. Elmo Avenue would come between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m., off the peak workday flows.

The percent of Rock City visitors approaching the attraction from St. Elmo would decrease from 96% to 60%, according to the study, as 40% are routed through North Georgia to the new valley entrance.

St. Elmo residents have not seen the traffic study, and 45% said in the survey they wanted to see it, Bird said. That was by far the most popular short-term action they wanted.

"Rock City understands our future plans are going to have an impact on St. Elmo residents," Rock City spokesperson Pepper Raper said in an email. "We are planning on sharing the findings from the traffic study, as well as suggestions to help the issue, with local governments."

There are several conservation easements around the neighborhood, said Kim Frankel Marsh, executive director of St. Elmo Stroll, a group that puts on neighborhood events like Porchfest and the Luminaria.

She hopes the gondola doesn't take away from the environmental beauty of the neighborhood, but wasn't concerned about the effect on the Incline Railway, a similar attraction that pulls visitors up Lookout Mountain from St. Elmo.

"I don't have a lot of concerns about the economic impact," Frankel Marsh said. "I think the Incline is cool and will remain cool. We live in a semi-urban neighborhood, and I think we have to figure out how to deal with traffic."

Rock City will end its contract to run ticketing and concessions at the Incline later this month, which includes closing a location of Clumpies Ice Cream Co. Rock City owns the local ice cream chain, and CARTA, Chattanooga's public transit agency, owns the Incline.

'How cool is that?'

The gondola would cost between $30 million and $40 million and would take two years to build, Rock City officials said. Construction could begin as soon as January 2027 if Rock City gets rezoning and amendment approvals from Walker County and the city of Lookout Mountain, Georgia.

"I think it'd be awesome," said Jeffrey Cross, who's lived in St. Elmo for 31 years. "I mean, how cool is that? Oh, I'm in the neighborhood that's between the Incline and the cable cars. It's just one more thing for Chattanooga."

Cross said he isn't concerned about traffic if the gondola is built.

"I don't think it'll be noticeable," Cross said. "I've seen tourists drive more slowly."

Esmé Oehmig, a lifelong resident of St. Elmo who lives down Alabama Avenue from Cross, worked for months gathering signatures from neighbors and pushing the city to add speed bumps on the street. Alabama Avenue runs parallel to St. Elmo Avenue and sees similar speeding, she said. Drivers cut through her street if the main road fills up.

"I do think that people just tend to try to find the fastest way to go to a thing," Oehmig said. "I'm happy to have my speed bumps now ... I begged them to do it before school got out."

Rock City officials say the gondola would divert 3,000 cars from Ochs Highway up Lookout Mountain on busy days for the attraction, though they haven't said how many would drive through St. Elmo instead.

Approvals needed

Rock City would cut some parking spaces on the mountain and add a fee to discourage visitors from driving up the mountain rather than riding the gondola, company leaders have said.

Rock City first unveiled its plans to build the lift on Jan. 13 at a meeting of the Lookout Mountain Planning Commission. The company will go before the Walker County Board of Commissioners on Thursday to request a rezoning from residential to commercial for a 14-acre parcel it owns on the mountainside.

The county's Planning Commission unanimously approved a recommendation to the Board of Commissioners that they approve the rezoning, with the added condition that Rock City not develop a portion of the parcel that borders two private properties on the brow of the mountain. Rock City needs the rezoning to place one of nine poles for the lift.

The City Council of Lookout Mountain, Georgia, must give the most fundamental approval to the project. Rock City has asked the council to amend zoning ordinances that prevent it from building a chair lift, sky lift or other mechanical rides.

The town has scheduled a public hearing on the request for Feb. 24, though there is no schedule yet for when the City Council will vote on the request.

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