JOHN COFFELTEditor

During the July 17 Coffee County Industrial Board discussed among other items the impact that the proposed 335-acre mixed use development slated for the McMinnville Highway will have on the area.

In addition to over 386 residential lots, the plans call for C-2 and C-3 commercial areas with a proposed grocery and 26.09 acres of I-1 light industrial space.

Industrial Board Chairman David Young called the development a partner rather than an adversary in industrial development.

“I don’t look at it…as competition,” Young said. “I really look at it as a different flavor of commercial, light industrial and warehousing. Those aren’t the kind of things we are attracting and marketing for in the parks that we have.”

Young said this growth could bring support facilities for the industries in the Industrial parks.

Representing the Greater Manchester Area Economic Development, Katy Riddle called the recent approval of the site by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen a huge win for the city.

“(This) will be a game-changer for the city in terms of housing and retail,” Riddle said.

Riddle said that she was working with Developer Joe Swanson to see what businesses would fit within his plans.

The BOMA approved with a second reading during the July 11 meeting zoning ordinances requested for the newly annexed property. The remaining hold up as far as Swanson moving forward on the project is a state required moratorium on new sewer taps until the city and resolve two chronic manhole overflows downstream from the site.

ARC grant to aid city sewers

Also during the meeting, Interim Industrial Board Director Anne Hosea-Majors reported to the board that an ARC (Appalachian Regional Commission Water and Wastewater Grant environmental review was approved on July 16 for an unrelated project.

“(Engineers) Scot St. John and Adam Carter can now begin working on the plans in effect for this project,” Hosea-Majors said. “That is moving right along – not as quickly as we’d hoped.”

According to a public notice by the Industrial Board of Coffee County, the organization, working with the city of Manchester proposed using ARC funds and local funds to address significant infiltration/inflow in the municipal sewer system.

The Manchester sewer system provides sewer services to the Manchester Industrial Park, Coffee County Interstate Industrial Park, and Coffee County Joint Industrial Park as well as providing sanitary sewer service to Manchester residents and commercial businesses. The proposed project will rehabilitate the sewer lines downstream from the parks in Basins E, F, H, I, J, K, L of the Manchester sewer system.

John has been with the Manchester Times since May 2011. John has won Tennessee Press Association awards for Best News Photo and placed in numerous other categories. John is a 1994 graduate of Tullahoma High School, a graduate of Motlow State Community College and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Middle Tennessee State University. He lives in Tullahoma, enjoys painting, dancing and exploring the outdoors.