UTB Madison Street Project being developed by Polestar Development, LLC

USPA NEWS - At this past Thursday´s Shelbyville City Council Meeting, where the proposed Commercial Rezoning of the highly contested location of a “National Grocery Chain with Gas Station“, several members of Polestar Development, LLC a subsidiary of the Hutton Group of Chattanooga...

“UTB Madison Street Project“ being developed by Polestar Development, LLC

SHELBYVILLE, TN, APRIL 11, 2015- At this past Thursday´s Shelbyville City Council Meeting, where the proposed Commercial Rezoning of the highly contested location of a “National Grocery Chain with Gas Station“, several members of Polestar Development, LLC a subsidiary of the Hutton Group of Chattanooga were present with Local Realtor, Harold Segroves, who is contracted with the Development Company to obtain the properties for this project.

Currently, Polestar Development, LLC is in the news across the state as well as Georgia for one fact, their main and primary developments are Walmart Neighborhood Markets.

Knox Heritage, a Historic Preservation Group is currently opposing another Polestar Development project for a Walmart Neighborhood Market which includes the Historic Howard House, and has started a Go Fund Me account to raise the funds to preserve the Historic Home (http://www.gofundme.com/rka6pk). Polestar and Hutton also are involved in the Middle Valley Project in Chattanooga, which also had many opponents, but did not include the demolition of an existing neighborhood, like it would here in Shelbyville. This project has been reported by the “Chattanooga Times Free Press“ (http://bit.ly/1DTW2Qj) as well as “The Chattanoogan“ (http://bit.ly/1JzREVj),

each time, representatives of Polestar and Hutton have not confirmed that their client is in fact Walmart Neighborhood Markets, but their history is clear. “The Columbia County (GA) News-Times“ confirmed the Polestar Development connection with the construction of a Walmart Neighborhood Market in their area (http://bit.ly/1yfWiq5). “Atlanta Tomorrows News Today“ also has written about this company and their development with connections to Polestar (http://bit.ly/1I2WlWD). And finally, in our neighboring city of Murfreesboro, the “Daily News Journal“ ran an article with the connection as well (http://on.dnj.com/1NqTVaX).

Following the City Council meeting here, Mr. Segroves was questioned by one of the local residents in opposition of the currently proposed location. When asked why “Walmart“ was not offered other options, Mr. Segroves replied to the resident “that he cannot confirm that this is the company“, and then was dumbfounded when the resident advised him that they have been in contact with the Walmart Developer for Tennessee. He seemed surprised that the entire City of Shelbyville was aware that the “Big Secret“ of who is developing this project was known to anyone other than him.

It took a total of five minutes to link Polestar Development, LLC to the Hutton Group, whose representative has contacted residents in the Alton-Deery area, and then in turn connect these two organization to Walmart Neighborhood Markets, this is the 21st Century, simple keyword searches make this type of research very easy.

The Shelbyville Time-Gazette reported on the approval on the second reading of the project before the City Council on Thursday, and misquoted and misreported information on the Vote No On Nine Organizations main mission.

This group of residents and citizens is not opposed to Polestar Development, the Hutton Group, or Walmart Neighborhood Market from coming to Shelbyville, they want the city to grow, they are simply opposed to the destruction of a neighborhood full of families with children, a daycare, and most importantly, the devaluation of their property values which has been proven to occur when these types of developments move in. A majority of reports on this show that neighboring property values fall up to 46% in value within the first year, that would impact the remaining residents of the neighborhood by decreasing their homes values to levels lower than which they were purchased for decades ago.

This also leads to less revenue for both the City and County in property tax revenues.
The residents even asked Mr. Segroves why the main source of focus has been on the Deery-Alton area, when numerous other options are available in the city with the same requirements needed for a development of this type. One resident asked Mr. Segroves why he did not suggest the vacant commercial property which he owns adjacent to the Shelbyville Time-Gazette Building, he stated that his properties “were not large enough“, in response he, and the Polestar representatives were advised that the adjacent property owner was “more than willing to sell“ for this project.

This area also has the infrastructure in place for a project of this scope as well as a traffic study complete which surpasses the developers requirements, Mr. Segroves did not respond, but the Polestar representatives verbally requested to see this location. It took a resident to give alternate location ideas for a Realtor who has worked and lived in this area his entire life?
A majority of these residents are very upset on the “secrecy“ and lack of transparency on the part of the Developers, Mr. Segroves, and the like on this project. Why must a developer keep information from the residents as well as city leaders and commissions, when it comes to a development of this scope?

In the digital age, please do not treat your fellow citizens as “dupes“ or “pawns“, remember, we all are your neighbors too.

The City Council´s approval of the project on the second reading, moves the project forward on the re-zoning front, however, after recent discoveries, residents of the Kingsley Subdivision are seeking legal advice to file for injunctive relief in the courts, for violation of Restrictive Covenants which cover all properties on both Alton and King Streets, which states that all the properties must be used for residential use only. So the battle is far from over.