Residents packed a meeting of the Smyrna City Council to overflowing Monday night and seemed to be spoiling for a fight over the city’s plan to establish a zone where businesses get tax breaks.
“That’s why a lot of folks are here tonight,” Mayor Max Bacon said as he gazed out on the throng of about 120 people. But then Bacon asked who wanted to speak for or against the North Smyrna Urban Redevelopment Plan, and the fuss suddenly fizzled.
Only three speakers signed up. One was for the plan. The other two were more confused than opposed.
The plan would create an Opportunity Zone in a corridor of the city where unemployment is 15 percent or higher. Businesses in that zone who hire two or more employees are eligible for state tax breaks. The council did not vote on the proposal since it was only a public hearing. It will take up the plan again at its Aug. 1 meeting.
Instead, the main fight of the night was over the proposed building of a RaceTrac gas station on Spring Road. After hearing from 13 speakers -- four opponents, nine supporters -- the council approved building the gas station 7-0. Several members explained it was the best offer the city has had to redevelop the dilapidated property in 20 years.
The other expected fracas of the night -- the city’s purchase last year of the Hickory Lake apartment complex and its plan to bulldoze the 48-acre property and sell it -- was left to three speakers who oppose the plan.
Alex Backry -- who is running for mayor against Bacon -- denounced the deal as gambling in a bad real estate market with taxpayers’ money. The property, which the city bought last year for $9.5 million with plans to spend an additional $4 million to tear it down, is still standing behind padlocked fences. A firm hired by the city is trying to sell it for $17.5 million.
Backry said he doubts the scheme will work.
“It’s a buyer's market,” he said. “It's not a seller's market.”
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