2022 12 20 City Council Agenda Packet

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OFFICE OF THE MAYOR

December 7, 2022

Mr. Logan McCoy

ARC Program Coordinator, TN Economic & Community Development
Tennessee Tower, 27" Floor

312 Rosa L. Parks Avenue

Nashville, TN 37243

Re: ARC Pre-application — Mt. Verd Site Improvements

Dear Mr. McCoy:

This letter is written in support of the above referenced ARC pre-application for $1,000,000 to help finance
site development improvements at the Mt. Verd Industrial Park. As you may know, Mt. Verd industrial
Park is comprised of 223 prime acres of land located adjacent to I-75 at Exit 52. The industrial park, located
within the corporate limits, is publicly owned by the McMinn County EDA. The site is strategically located
between Chattanooga and Knoxville with easy access to major airports and the Appalachian Regional
Intermoda! Port. Athens Utilities Board has all utilities including electric power, natural gas, water and
sewer to the site. Ready Fiber is available from either AUB or AT & T. Adler Pelzer Group is currently the

only tenant.

As an investor in the McMinn County EDA, the City of Athens has financially supported all efforts to make
this site more competitive for business and industry recruitment. As such the EDA has leveraged funding
and partners to complete all due diligence studies on the property. TVA has completed both a Conceptual
Site and Grading Plan. Although these efforts have been undertaken to mitigate time and risk for locating
companies and many projects have visited the site it continues to be eliminated. The readiness of the site
is the number one concern. The amount of dirt that needs to be moved andl trees to take down to get to

construction is overwhelming.

In order to make the site more competitive, the City of Athens is pleased to submit this pre-application to
ARC for consideration and will obligate $500,000, subject to Council approval, towards matching grant
funds needed to complete the necessary site improvements. McMinn County has agreed to match our

STEVEN S. SHERLIN 35 815 NORTH JACKSON STREET
MAYOR ATHENS, TENNESSEE 37303