In Fort Oglethorpe
The Fort Oglethorpe DDA recently got an update on the Lafayette Road Corridor project, which will beautify the city’s main thoroughfare which also leads to its biggest tourist draw: the Chickamauga Battlefield.The project has entered the engineering phase, and tentative plans are to start the renovation in early 2017, said DDA Chairman Jeff Epperson.“We are still on track and working hard on it,” he said. “In the next six months, we should be very close [to a start date].”However, he noted, the transition to underground utilities would have to be done as a separate project.
The LaFayette Development Authority is being revived to help spur development in the city.
The board oversees industrial and commercial type work, with a goal of attracting more business to the city. When the group was active before, it acquired land and built a manufacturing building and then partnered with a fabrication company to operate in the building, said City Manager David Hamilton.
“We want to increase the energy and amount of development in LaFayette and we expect the LaFayette Development Authority to be a driving force behind that,” he said. “They try to recruit businesses to the area.”
Seven members were recently appointed to the board, bringing it back from a six-year hiatus.
“The city actually approached these individuals and asked them to serve on the board,” Hamilton said, noting that the board is now full. “The members have a diverse background, but have in common a proven success in business.”
Board Chair Henry Gilbert and members Robert Wardlaw, Stanley Ledbetter, Steve Ensley, Craig Smith, Matt Searels and Ben Bradford will all serve staggered four-year terms.