Hill City residential lots bordering Stringer’s Ridge to be sold with conservation easements

Nearly a dozen lots in Hill City will go on the auction block Saturday on some of the last remaining vacant residential lots near downtown in North Chattanooga.

Most of the 11 lots being offered for sale by Ted Caldwell once had houses, and some of the foundations remain on the properties along Spears Avenue and Matlock Street in one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods. But the parcels to be sold at an absolute auction Saturday are now primarily wooded lots that border Stringer’s Ridge, the 96-acre ridge top trail that was saved as a public park by the Trust for Public Land more than a decade ago.

Trust for Public Land and the city of Red Bank recently completed the final phase of a new trail connecting White Oak Park to Stringer’s Ridge, and the sellers of the Hill City lots have agreed to protect the trail by donating a portion of the property along Stringer’s Ridge for a conservation easement.

“What is being proposed (in the auction sales) is an easement along the back 40 feet of the lots that are immediately adjacent to Stringer’s Ridge Park to provide a natural buffer and to protect the natural conservation values of this park,” said Noel Durant, a Chattanooga native who serves as the Tennessee state director for the Trust For Public Land.

In an interview with the Chattanooga Times Free Press, Durant said Stringer’s Ridge Park “is a long-term driver of the quality of life in the city of Chattanooga and our economy.”

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To have a protected ridge with a hiking and bicycle trail within a mile of a downtown “makes this one of the most beloved public places in our city,” Durant said.

Although buyers at Saturday’s auction will be asked to give up the 40-foot easement for Stringer’s Ridge, auctioneer Henry Glascock said he thinks the adjacent protected trailway will add to the appeal of those wanting to buy.

“These properties are near downtown but also have a protected nature area on the back of these lots and are close to the public entryways onto Stringer’s Ridge Park,” Glascock said. “These easements are along the steepest parts of these properties and won’t hurt what can be built on these sites at all.”

Durant said the Trust for Public Land will help facilitate the conservation easements with the property buyers and the city of Chattanooga.

Saturday’s sale of the Hill City sites will be an absolute auction, meaning the properties will sell to whatever the highest bidder offers. The auction is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. at the Mountain City Club.

Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6340. Follow him on Twitter @dflessner1.