Rossville officials plan to talk with YMCA officials in the coming week to invite the nonprofit organization to their town after the Y announced it was leaving Fort Oglethorpe.
At a meeting Thursday, members of the Rossville Downtown Development Authority discussed striking a deal between the YMCA and the owners of the four-story former Wachovia building on Chickamauga Avenue downtown.
“The Catoosa Commission didn’t want to pave and give them a parking lot?” Chairman Ron Wade asked at Thursday’s meeting. “Tell them we’ve got a free parking lot.”
Negotiations broke down between Catoosa County and the Y after the owner of another fitness club asked commissioners for the same tax-exempt status as the YMCA.
Commissioners then said they didn’t have the money to pay for a parking lot the YMCA had requested at the Benton Place campus, breaking off a second round of monthslong negotiations.