INDUSTRIAL PARK BREAKS GROUND
Cloud Springs I-75 site expected to bring 700 jobs
On March 14, a chilly, windy day, more than 100 people gathered at the up-and-coming Cloud Springs I-75 Industrial Park site near Costco for a groundbreaking ceremony.
The Lakeview-fort Oglethorpe High School Junior ROTC presented the colors and led the Pledge of Allegiance and Catoosa County Sheriff Gary Sisk opened in prayer.
The park is owned by Tenby Partners and White Oak Enterprises, working together as Chattanooga Industrial LLC.
Chattanooga Industrial, says White Oak president Jeff Londis, expects to spend $100 million in capital investment in the project that will eventually provide highwage employment for up to 700 people.
Located at 4901 Cloud Springs Road, close to the Georgia/tennessee border, the park offers 1,130,000 square feet of Class-a industrial space suited to advanced manufacturing, research and development and technology-related businesses.
The March 14 groundbreaking was hosted by the Catoosa County Chamber of Commerce and the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce. Also in attendance were representatives from partners in the venture, Catoosa County Economic Development Authority,
Northwest Georgia Economic Development Authority, Catoosa County government and Fort Oglethorpe government.
Londis says that there are yet more entities involved in making the project a success, including Georgia Power, North Georgia Electric Membership Corporation, and Georgia Department of Economic Development.
All of these organizations, says Londis, are helping in the search for good business matches for the
location. “The search is worldwide. Georgia Economic Development has employees in Munich (Germany), Tokyo (Japan), Seoul (S. Korea) and Shanghai (China).”
“This is about more than chickens, we know that,” said Hullender. She went on to say the issue is about property rights and she called on commissioners to “take responsibility” and admit a mistake has been made if that has been the case.
“This is about our rights and that our neighbors’ rights are not more important than our rights,” Hullender said. “We’re still waiting for the code.”
Jimmy Gray told
commissioners, “You’ve said chickens are illegal and we’re waiting to see where that is stated. If you’re just taking somebody’s word for it then tell us.”
Donna Evatt and George Battersby, expressed consternation with past comments made by Commissioner Vanita Hullander that chicken supporters were being exploited by someone.
“All these people you think are being used,” said Evatt, “we’re not.”
“This isn’t Jonestown in Guyana,” Battersby said, “like we’re all going to drink the Kool-aid. We all have minds of our own.”
Tonya Rogers, who speaks at most meetings about chickens, expressed continued disappointment with commissioners.
Carolyn Peters, who says her father used to be a commissioner in Catoosa County, apologized for “cussing” at the last meeting after a commissioner texted her a scold for using the “s” word for “poop” and the “p” word for feeling angry, but Peters said she was impressed with the research and tenacity of the chicken supporters.
One person spoke against allowing chickens in R-1. Resident Marty Mcgee said he has built and lived in a number
of houses in Catoosa County and that he always checked before building “to find out if there was any livestock or chicken houses where I was going to build a house.” He said he didn’t feel it was fair for the rules to change after he built and he doesn’t want chickens in neighbors’ yards.
Adrianne Kittle wrapped up public comments by asking, “Where is the code?”
Commission Chairman Larry Black told the audience that the county is working on the chicken issue diligently and wants to take the time to get it right.
As of this writing, no public official or employee, elected
or otherwise, has shared the specific code.
In a telephone conversation a few weeks ago, Commissioner Chuck Harris said that code about chicken production could be interpreted to include backyard chickens.
On March 13 and 14, The Catoosa County News contacted all five commissioners through their official government email and asked for the specific code that was being interpreted as prohibiting backyard chickens. After a week, we had not received a response. We contacted the county manager, Dan Wright, via email, and did not receive a response. We contacted planning and zoning and were told we should call the county public relations officer, John Pless.
Pless told us that the code was being studied by “legal” and that there should be an answer to the question soon. He said legal was studying Georgia code and also the code and interpretation of code of other counties. He said there may be an answer by the next commission meeting.