For the past 20 years, Catoosa County’s economic development director was an entry-level position, said Keith Barclift, but with his hiring for the position this past March, the county is shifting toward a more aggressive approach to economic development.
Previously the vice president of the Northwest Georgia Joint Development Authority serving Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade and Walker counties, Barclift is now tasked with determining how to bring business specifically to Catoosa County.
One of the answers may lie with a 50-acre industrial park which the county bought for $1.7 million in January. Within the next six months, the county hopes to have the land ready for building.
The investment, Barclift said, will hopefully draw business owners with incentives like reduced industrial tax rates and the county’s work to mitigate their risk in building on the land.
Since taking ownership of the property, the county has corrected several environmental issues, and the land is now being researched to check for any protected species. The perennial large-flowered skullcap – found only in isolated populations in Georgia and Tennessee – may be present on the back portion of the site, said Barclift, but that won’t be known until the species blooms in the spring.