Talks bloom on ‘outdoor themed’ resort
Operations sends measure to full commission
It seems that Anderson County might soon have a “large scale outdoor themed resort,” according to a proposed resolution to be presented by the county’s Operations Committee to the full Anderson County Commission.
The proposed resolution was presented to the Operations Committee at its meeting on Feb. 13.
Because the commission’s regular meeting date, the third Monday of the month, fell on a holiday (Presidents Day), commissioners met Tuesday evening, Feb. 21.
Therefore, that meeting is not in today’s newspaper since it occurred after deadline. However, on the agenda for commissioners’ consideration was a resolution recognizing the possibility of such a resort.
Anderson County Law Director Jay Yeager, who drafted the resolution, had sent a confidential email to Operations Committee members giving some of the details of the proposal.
At this stage of negotiations, however, he said he felt it was not wise to make public too many details. He said the developer wanted a letter of support, but the resolution did not go that far. Yeager stressed that the resolution was not a letter of support.
Because of that, the proposed resolution was purposely vaguely worded. If the process continues, specific details will be made public at a later date before any commitments are made by the county.
The first four paragraphs of the resolution touted the outdoor resources of Anderson County, such as the mountains, Norris and Melton lakes and Windrock Mountain with its “73,000 acres and 300 miles of trails.”
The last paragraph starts off by saying that the commissioners “are proud [for the county] to be in consideration for this unique resort.”
It was the last sentence in the proclamation that caused problems.
In the original proposed proclamation, that sentence read, “If chosen for this rare and exciting opportunity, we agree to partner and assist the developer and landowner with all local governmental permitting and compliance issues, as well as needed governmental infrastructure and other requested governmental services and tax incentives.”
Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank said she could not go along with that sentence.
She said she felt the county was giving too much away, even though Yeager said this was the same offer made to any industry coming into the county.
The mayor and the law director reached a compromise and the final sentence of the proposed proclamation was changed to read:
“If chosen for this rare and exciting opportunity, we agree to assist the developer and landowner with all county permitting and compliance issues, and guide them to our state and local partners for additional assistance.”
The mayor and Commission Chairman Josh Anderson were both contacted for comment after the meeting. The mayor said all she knew of the situation was what was in the proclamation.
Anderson said the resort probably would be built somewhere around Windrock, and would employ several hundred people.