Charles Wood
County Mayor Weston Wamp and Chamber of Commerce President Charles Wood on Wednesday differed on whether a McDonald Farm site could have been readied in time for a $3 billion pharmaceutical plant with 1,000 jobs.
The county mayor also said the city appears to be pushing manufacturing "it doesn;t want" out into the rural county.
He said a large industrial site downtown - U.S. Pipe/Wheland - "is being used for a baseball stadium."
Mr. Wood told members of the County Commission the plant only needed 80 acres, and he said that could have been prepared at the county owned farm at Sale Creek.
County Mayor Wamp said the proposal included a deadline this December, and there was no way. He said it was cost $100 million to begin any development at the site, which he said has scant infrastructure.
"It would cost well over $200 million to get a 500-acre site pad ready," he said.
Mr. Wood said he was concerned that Plan Hamilton - the growth plan for the county - does not include any manufacturing sites.
He said the Enterprise South plant is all tapped out, and there are no other industrial parks available.
Mr. Wood said he advised the county mayor's office of the large industrial development prospect, and he said he also told Dan Reuter, Regional Planning Agency executive director, saying he wanted him to know that manufacturing space was important.
Commissioner Gene-o Shipley wondered while commissioners were not told of the industrial prospect. Mr. Wood said those matters are confidential.
Mr. Wood said with a push from the Trump administration that a number of announcements are being made about new plants involving huge expenditures around the country.
County Mayor Wamp said he is in constant contact with the state economic development director on jobs prospects for Hamilton County.
He said of the pharmaceutical plant that "this was not a realistic opportunity for our county."
Commissioners Joe Graham and Warren Mackey said McDonald Farm had been purchased by former County Mayor Jim Coppinger as the county's next industrial development site.
County Mayor Wamp said the workers at any industrial facility at McDonald Farm would mainly come from nearby Rhea County - not Hamilton County.
He said of industrial prospects at McDonald Farm, "I'm not ready to rush up to a ribbon cutting. I'm focused on the concerns of these residents and on my childrens' futures."
County Mayor Wamp said, "Let's leave Hamilton County rural as it has been for so many years."