Commissioners discuss development projects
On Thursday, July 22, at 8:00 a.m., the Davidson County Commissioners held their July meeting. Commissioners Fred McClure, Don Truell, and Chris Elliott weren’t in attendance.
The information technology department was recognized for their achievement of the 2021 Digital Counties Award for Information Technology. They were ranked seventh in the population group by the committee giving the award and it was their 10 year winning it.
The Economic Development Commission (EDC) requested an economic development incentive grant of at least $85 million for Project Tower. This would pay for local expansion to build a storage area, which would create 35 jobs. This project would be finished, ideally, in 18 months, if approved, and would require five annual payments. The request was approved with none dissenting.
Rodney Thornberg presented a rezoning request in Boone Township to move .87 acres from RS/RA-2 to HC. Thornberg explained this is to expand his self-storage business. The county manager’s office was in favor of this rezoning, as it is non-residential land. This request was approved unanimously.
A Lexington business proposed buying a lot from the EDC in order to build a spec building. The business already owns a nine acre lot next to the county’s lot, and hopes to combine them so they can build on them. Separately, the lots are too small for building , but together a 200,000 square-foot spec building is attainable. They’re hoping to employ 100 people during this process. This request was approved with a four to zero vote.
The closed session on the topics of Economic Development, Personnel, and attorney/client lasted almost four hours at the end of the meeting. The attorney/client portion reviewed multiple cases and the court gave the county commissioners guidance for their decisions. There weren’t a lot of details revealed about the personnel discussion.. During the economic development section, a request was made for a public hearing about Project Speedway, which would be a partnership with a private organization and Davidson County to relocate facilities and machinery, bring in new machinery, and create 20 full time jobs. This public hearing was approved and will be held on August 10.
