The Regional Planning Agency (RPA) is a staff of 31 individuals having backgrounds in City and Regional Planning, Urban and Graphic Design, Architecture, Research, Environmental Science, and Business Management divided among five divisions: Administration, Community Design Group, Development Services, Strategic Long Range Planning, and Research and Analysis . The RPA operates through the City of Chattanooga, but is funded by both the City and Hamilton County. Operations are presently governed by an Executive Committee comprised of the Hamilton County Mayor, the Chattanooga Mayor, the Chair of the Hamilton County Commission, the Chair of the Chattanooga City Council, and the Chair of the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission.
Major functions include, but are not limited to setting policy for land development and transportation priorities including processes associated with federal transportation legislation (reviewed and acted upon by the Chattanooga-Hamilton County/North Georgia Transportation Planning Organization (TPO)), conducting the process for rezoning requests including a staff prepared recommendation (reviewed and acted upon by the applicable Planning Commission including Chattanooga-Hamilton County, Red Bank, Soddy-Daisy, and Signal Mountain), review process for new subdivision requests (also reviewed and acted upon by the applicable Planning Commission) and other development projects.
Except for the administration of the Transportation Planning Organization (TPO), which covers the northern portions of Catoosa, Walker, and Dade counties in Georgia, the RPA’s jurisdiction lies within Hamilton County.