EAST RIDGE – Over the span of four years here, Interstate 75’s Exit 1 has transformed into a commercial development with big-name restaurants and stores. Bass Pro Shops, Chick-fil-A and a soon-to-come Hampton Inn all sit at the foot of 275-acre Camp Jordan park and are projected to bring much-needed sales tax revenue to this city of 21,000.
But look a little closer, critics say, and you’ll find relationships between the mayor, the former city attorney and a group of local developers that has allowed one company and its affiliates, Exit One LLC, to capture this commercial market, often at the expense of taxpayers.
A recently filed ethics complaint claims East Ridge Mayor Brent Lambert pushed through a resolution in 2017 allowing more than $4 million in infrastructure improvements on I-75 Exit 1 and then received $3,000 from the project developers 12 days later. The May 14 complaint claims that violated a 2006 city ordinance, which forbids officials from accepting contributions that indicate a “reward for a past action,” and states taxpayers have been asked to foot the developers’ infrastructure bill.
“When Life Care Centers decided to rebuild its flagship facility at [I-75] Exit 1, the owners, not the taxpayers, paid for improvements to the exit ramp,” resident Laura Seneker’s complaint says. “Not so with [I-75] Exit 1, where the citizens of East Ridge are paying that bill.”
Lambert did not respond to several requests for comment, but he has often touted the development by Exit One LLC, saying any costs will be reimbursed by a unique tax agreement from a complex piece of legislation that East Ridge received in 2012 called the Border Region District Retail Tourism Act.