DAFC gets update on Shannon projects
♦ Grading is underway on a new development parcel at Ga. 140 and Ga. 53.
Floyd County Manager Jamie Mccord told members of the Development Authority of Floyd County that grading work is underway on the 10-acre parcel that is being added to the 100-acre industrial park at Ga. 53 and Ga. 140. He also said that the county has received permits to cross a gas line with an access road to additional industrial acreage in the North Floyd Park that is home to the Lowe’s Regional Distribution Center. Mccord said he hopes both the grading on the 110-acre tract and the gas line crossing can be completed by the end of the year. Mccord also explained that he believes there may be some potential for use of an old fire department storage building next to the Rome-floyd Chamber building for economic development purposes, though not as office space for the Rome-floyd County Development Authority staff. Mccord, speaking to members of the Development Authority of Floyd County, said he could possibly see it being converted into a business incubator in the future, but that preliminary cost estimates to renovate the small building located at the corner of Riverside Parkway and West First Street were prohibitive.
“It just doesn’t make sense to put that kind of money in that building,” Mccord said.
Chamber President Jeanne Krueger said the Rome-floyd County Development Authority, now responsible for industrial recruitment, has a home inside the chamber building for as long as they need it, and her staff is working well with the development authority staff under the guidance of President Missy Kendrick.
Mccord told DAFC members the county has cut some trees and dealt with a beaver that had backed up water on some of the acreage the DAFC owns in the Floyd County Industrial Park so it would show better for prospects. Southeastern Mills does have first right of refusal on much of the available acreage in that park, but it is still being shown to other prospects when appropriate.
The county manager also suggested the DAFC schedule a work session in the near future to further hone in on its role in the industrial recruitment game now the Rome-floyd County Development Authority has been given the lead role in that effort.