The Chickamauga City Council on Monday agreed to participate in the Walker County Joint Comprehensive Plan to prepare for future county growth.

Olney Meadows of the Coosa Valley Regional Development Center explained the plan to city officials Monday night during their regular monthly meeting.

“The (Georgia) Planning Act (of 1989) requires planning over a 20-year period of time with 10-year updates” Meadows said. “Transportation is going to be a big thing between now and then.”

Chickamauga city and utilities manager John Culpepper will represent the city in the process.

Meadows warned that without adequate plans, growth can create unintended consequences, including overcrowded classrooms, traffic gridlock, underpowered utilities and inadequate infrastructure.

The county and cities are required to present a comprehensive plan to the state by Feb. 28, 2006, he said.

Meadows said the plan is an elective plan, and the city should go ahead with this update before the state’s deadline. He said acting now offers the advantage of working with the emerging state leadership, planning for a special-purpose local-options sales tax referendum in the spring and developing economic growth through tourism.

Meadows said as the plan develops, it will be presented to the public via the Internet.

“Putting the plan up on the web where people can look at it will be very helpful for public participation,” he said.

“The operation will consist of a core planning group, 14 subcommittees, and myself serving as technical advisor providing demographics, statistics and mapwork,” Meadows said.

“The timeline that we would like to work on is very ambitious,” he said. “It is doable, but it will mean a lot of work and many meetings in a short period of time.”

Meadows said he hopes the comprehensive growth plan can be agreed upon by July.

In other business Monday:

- Culpepper presented the first public reading of the city’s proposed fiscal 2003 budget of $904,300. The council will meet Monday, Dec. 9, at 7:30 p.m. in the Chickamauga Civic Center to approve the fiscal 2003 budget.

- The council amended the city’s animal control ordinance, excluding cats from the leash and animal containment clauses.

- Culpepper announced the new well housed in the new cabin at the Chickamauga Coke Oven Park is operational and should be pumping clear water 1,300 gallons per minutes by the Dec. 31 deadline.

Chickamauga City Council’s next regular monthly meeting is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 6, at 7:30 p.m. in the Chickamauga Civic Center at 300 Euclid Ave