IDA meeting attendees from near head of table clockwise, board members Larry Moore, George Nelson and Sharon Moore, attorney Robin Rogers, Chairman Nathan Wooten, ED William Back, board member Larry Case.
The July meeting of the Dade Industrial Development Authority (IDA), the first under its new executive director, saw a new emphasis on the northern part of the county, and particularly the Highway 299 area, as targets for development.
William Back, the new ED, said he was rewriting the IDA website "with a very huge emphasis on Chattanooga," stressing the area's inclusion in the city's 750,000-population extended metro area. That makes north Dade especially important, he explained, because: "Wildwood North Farms is 11 driving miles from the middle of Chattanooga."
He pointed out the Highway 299 area already had sewers and gas stations and would be a natural site for other Chattanooga-outskirt-type retail operations.
In marketing it, said Back: "It would help to have a brand name for that intersection."
Board members agreed. Member Sharon Moore brought up the success north Chattanooga seems to enjoys after having renamed itself the "North Shore." "That's what people want," she said. "They want it to be catchy."
So what to call the area that's catchy besides, of course, Wildwood? Back's idea was to hype the area as a sort of Chattanooga extension, a gateway-to or you're-almost-there to Choochooville. Board member George Nelson pointed out it's where three states come together; maybe that's where IDA should start. And The Planet is pleased to furnish the interesting datum that "Wildwood" in French is "Le Forêt Sauvage."
But as to branding in general: "To me, that's something that Nextsite 360 should already have been on top of," said Ms. Moore.
Nextsite 360 is a specialized marketing firm IDA hired to help attract retail businesses to Dade last year. New retail businesses so far seem to have resisted Dade's siren call rather staunchly, and Nextsite caught some serious hell at the July 25 meeting. IDA Chairman Nathan Wooten said he'd met with the firm. "I think it came down to the fact they weren't communicating well," he said. "We want to know who's looking and if they aren't coming, why."
Wooten suggested delaying approval of Nextsite 360's invoice of $7500 until IDA had an opportunity to consult with the Dade County and Trenton city governments, which are also affected. "Those guys are hearing even less than we are," he said.
Sharon Moore characterized Nextsite's presentation to IDA, local government and community representatives last fall as the worst she'd ever seen. "We are not getting any information for our $7500," she said.
Sharon Moore did not like this presentation by Nextsite 360's Andy Camp last November and county boss Ted Rumley in this file photo does not seem that mesmerized, either.
There was also some discussion on IDA's attempts to attract businesses itself. Back told the board he'd gotten a no from the Western Sizzlin steakhouse chain. "It may be worth revisiting," said Chairman Wooten. He said that an Alabama Sizzlin owner had seemed interested until: "He met with our health department and vanished."
Perhaps it was a matter of not offering sufficient incentives; Wooten said the Sizzlin franchisee had told him in Alabama he got a sales tax rebate.
IDA--in competition with other economic development bodies from other cities and counties in the rural South--tries to lure industry and businesses to Dade by offering tax forgiveness, free land and other perks to companies that might consider moving here. In the case of the new Vanguard plant, IDA pledged half a million dollars in infrastructure, the county and state have continued to pour money and labor into roads and paving for the facility, and the state chipped in a million dollars in cash.
IDA also acts as landlord to several industries, holding title to their land and buildings so there is no question of paying property taxes on them. Back brought up at the meeting that one such business, Integer, wished to receive another million dollars in a bond issue through IDA. County attorney Robin Rogers explained that in Integer's case, there was no actual borrowed money in the IDA/Integer bond deal, just "paper passed back and forth," but that IDA held title not only to the company's real property but to its expensive equipment as well for tax avoidance purposes. "It's hopelessly complicated," he said.
But back for a moment to the subject of something simpler: Restaurants are always a hot topic in hungry Dade, and here's some good news, or at least gossip or innuendo, about one, the old Randy's Restaurant: "I understand there's an offer on the table to buy that building, from a restaurant," said Wooten.
Randy and Janice Howard ran the popular 136 West restaurant from 1985 until they retired last year. Since then two other proprietors have attempted to serve food from the premises but neither operation survived longer than a few months, and the building now sits empty.
Questioned about it later, Wooten specified that IDA had no role in the sale except curiosity. He neither denied nor confirmed current tittle-tattle that the prospective buyer was the wings-burger-and-beer-intensive Jefferson's, an Alabama-based chain. "I'd prefer any press release to come from the buyer," said Wooten.
(The Planet welcomes any such and will duly relay same to its readers.)
Now, back to IDA's north Dade discussions: IDA had agreed, in conjunction with the Dade Water Authority, to extend sewer to the Leonard Nixon property in Wildwood, a portion of the old Dave L. Brown farm, contingent on the owner chipping in $300,000, to make it more attractive to industry. At the July Dade County Commission meeting, another Dave L. Brown heir from the other side of Highway 11, Katie Kasch Bien, appealed to the commissioners to help her and other concerned Wildwood neighbors preserve their neighborhood's beauty and history and to protect it from the chicken processing business her distant relation was rumored to be considering selling to.
Now the talk, anyway, seems to be swinging that way. Back said the state is requiring IDA to pay for an archaeological study of the area focusing around the creek, and that owner Nixon himself wanted a springhouse there preserved. Back said he was trying to interest homebuilders in the area, and that if any would consent to build on five-acre or larger lots no sewer would be needed after all.
George Nelson said he drove that way often and enjoyed its aesthetic. "I would hate to see that all being industrial."
"We all feel that way," said Back. He said Nixon had promised to keep the familiar long white line of fence up no matter what was put behind it.
IDA meets at 3 p.m. on the fourth Monday of the month in the Dade Administrative Building. Its next meeting is on Aug. 27.
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