County Commissioner Tim Boyd said he is not sold on a proposed $15 million sports complex at Camp Jordan in East Ridge.
The proposal by Matt and Ethan Woods and John Healy includes an eight-lane state-of-the art track, eight new multi-purpose fields with artificial turf and another six with grass. There would be four high school/college baseball fields – one in a stadium – as well as another stadium that will seat around 5,000 for football and soccer. There would also be eight softball/Little League baseball fields.
The group, whose Wolftever Development is spear-heading the nearby Bass Pro Shop complex, said the complex could be funded by taxes paid by businesses within the district.
They said it would not cost East Ridge or the county anything.
The trio said they have the backing of East Ridge Mayor Brent Lambert and County Mayor Jim Coppinger.
Commissioner Boyd said one shortcoming of the plan is that the city of East Ridge does not have funding in its budget for such a complex. He said it would likely require a tax increase by East Ridge to cover costs of additional recreational staff, police and other needed personnel.
The commissioner, who represents East Ridge, also said Camp Jordan is prone to flooding. He said he has seen most of the park under water.
Commissioner Boyd said flood waters would ruin fields with artificial turf. He said, "Then you've got a $500,000 cost and no insurance to cover it because you could not get flood insurance for Camp Jordan."
The commissioner, who heads the County Commission finance committee, noted that the developers are also looking for the backing of the county with its high bond rating.
He said, "The county already has a host of needs with limited tax funds. It would be a tough sell to be giving up more local tax money under a TIF (Tax Increment Financing) district."
Commissioner Boyd said Mayor Lambert "may be talking to the county mayor, but he hasn't talked to me. It's the County Commission that would have to approve it, not the county mayor."
He also said when he was shown plans by the developers earlier that a track was not included.
Commissioner Boyd said he is still eyeing the use of some of the county's portion of the hotel/motel tax to build a similar sports complex near Howard High School just off I-24 at South Market Street.
He said, "I've checked and none of that property is in the flood plain."
The commissioner said, "We would be financing it with alien money (from visitors) - not with local tax money as under the Camp Jordan plan."
Currently, all of the county's hotel/motel tax money goes to the Chattanooga Visitors Bureau. It is projected at $8.2 million for this fiscal year.