KINGSPORT ‚¬ The Dobyns-Bennett High School Air Force Junior ROTC will host a Veterans Day Celebration on Friday, November 11, 2011 at 9:30 a.m. in the Buck Van Huss Dome, 1800 Legion Drive, Kingsport.
The public is invited to attend free of charge.‚ A special seating area will be reserved for community Veterans who attend.
During the celebration, all Kingsport City Schools employed Veterans will be recognized. The Dobyns-Bennett band will perform, along with vocal soloist Karla Karst.
For more information, contact Richard Brown at Dobyns-Bennett @ (423) 378-2133.
Kingsport Times-News Article by Sharon Caskey Hayes
Imagine a new multimillion-dollar development with retail, restaurants, theater and hotels attracting folks from throughout the region and beyond to shop, eat, play and stay in Sullivan County.
Thats the vision of local businessman Stewart Taylor, whos spent 10 years accumulating farmland at the intersection of Interstates 81 and 26 to turn his dream into reality.
Taylor hopes to develop what hes calling the new Heritage Point Towne Center, with 1.4 million square feet of space for retailers, eateries, a 14-screen cinema‚ ‚ and hotels. The development would include 50 percent green space, with parks, walking trails and creeks.
I just visualize something absolutely great out here, and Im excited about it, Taylor said. This is what a regional destination center can be.‚ ‚
Its an ambitious plan, and Taylor said it will likely take years to develop. But hes hoping a new state law will move the process forward more quickly and give this area a boost in the economic arm.
Last week, the Kingsport Board of Mayor & Aldermen took the first steps to establish a Border Region Retail Tourism District as part of new legislation passed by the Tennessee General Assembly earlier this year.
The new law creates special tax districts of up to 950 acres in which the local city can recapture up to 59 percent of all state sales taxes generated inside the district for up to 30 years. These funds can be used to provide incentives for development to boost the local economy and tourism efforts.
Simply put, the new law is designed to help recruit new development in communities such as Kingsport that border states with a lower sales tax.‚ ‚
This gives us a more level playing field, Taylor said.
Taylor is expected to enter into an agreement with the BMA as part of the special tax district. And other property owners in the vicinity can take part as well, if they want to develop their land or sell it for development.
People may not want to sell their property, but its going to make their property more valuable, without a doubt, Taylor said.
Taylor has acquired about 400 acres at the site from different landowners over the years, and hes spent lots of money on environmental studies, core drilling and design work. He said grading the land for development ‚¬â€ which includes blasting and removing 750,000 yards of rock ‚¬â€ will cost $16 million, while building infrastructure at the site will cost another $8 million. Grading alone is expected to take a year, he said.
Meanwhile, the city and state‚ ‚ are expected to begin accepting bids in December for the extension of Fordtown Road, which will open up the property for the new development.
We anticipate that once this is all done, it will create about 5,000 jobs, and sales will be about $400 million a year, Taylor said.
So far, hes secured two letters of intent and received several verbals from businesses wanting to locate at the site, he said. Hes traveling to Atlanta later this month for the International Shipping Center Trade Show in hopes of attracting other retailers to the development.
Taylor said hes hoping to locate businesses that arent already located in Kingsport. And the special tax district legislation encourages that ‚¬â€ it states that if a retailer already located in a community wants to move to the new development, it must build a store thats 35 percent larger than its existing one.
Were wanting to have new‚ ‚ experiences in Kingsport, Taylor said.
He said hes moving forward with the vision that local leaders have shared for 30 years ‚¬â€ the development of land where the two major interstates cross.
They knew the future was out here. We feel this is our duty to make this a great asset for our community, and improve the quality of life here, Taylor said.
He said hell be working hand in hand with Kingsport city officials to help turn the development into reality. And he credited state lawmakers, particularly Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and Reps. Jon Lundberg and Tony Shipley, for their efforts to pass the special tax district legislation to help move the project forward.
Things are set for things to happen out here. I hope I can see it through and bring something that our community can be proud of, Taylor said.‚ ‚
*Photo by David Grace courtesy of Kingsport Times-News.
Times-News Article by Matthew Lane
KINGSPORT - The city of Kingsport like many other border cities across the state would prefer retailers not to locate just across the state line in order to take advantage of lower sales tax rates in neighboring states.
However, a new state law that allows for the creation of special taxation districts is precisely the tool Kingsport and state legislators believe will help border communities level the playing field in this regard.
The new law approved by the state legislature earlier this year allows municipalities to designate up to 950 acres as a border region retail tourism district and offer potential retailers and property owners incentives for creating and locating business within the district.
Youre seeing a lot of companies choose to locate across the border of Tennessee, such as at Exit 7 in Bristol, Virginia, and in Chattanooga where Costco located just across the state line (in Georgia) attempting to draw in Tennessee shoppers. We needed a piece of legislation to help equalize the playing field, said Tim Whaley, spokesman for the city of Kingsport. This is not a guarantee theyll be successful, but being able to offer reasonable incentives and help on the tremendous cost of infrastructure development, this really puts us back in the game.
According to the law, the special districts can be up to 950 acres in size, no more than a half mile from an interstate, and no more than 12 miles from a state border. One district is allowed per city, and to qualify for incentives, a district must anticipate drawing 1 million visitors a year and generate $2 million in annual sales taxes and $20 million in investment. Property owners can choose not to participate if they so desire.
In return, cities would be able to offer incentives to the retailers and/or property owners, in the form of roads or land or as a direct cash incentive of a building or inventory. The funds for the incentives would likely come from the issuance of bonds, and in order to pay back these bonds, the new law allows cities to keep up to 59 percent of all state sales taxes generated inside the district for up to 30 years.
Whaley said the incentives could vary from business to business, noting that Kingsports incentives have not been determined.
This is really just the first step, Whaley said. We have a ton of work to do, internally among staff, developing additional guidelines and what types of funding were willing to provide.
To prevent existing retailers from simply relocating to the new district in order to receive an incentive, the law states any existing retailer within 15 miles of the district can relocate, but must develop a store with 35 percent more retail sales space. Bristol Regional Medical Center The main target of these dis- designated as a border region retail tourism district.
Deputy City Manager Mike Sparks said the Bristol City Council approved the measure last month but is still working on putting a project together in order to apply with the respective state agencies. Bristols district is approximately 800 acres, Sparks said.
This will be a good opportunity if we can put a good project together, to give us some chance of dealing with the tax discrepancy, Sparks said.
Whaley said Kingsport officials believe the Model City has the premier site for super regional retailers. Though not all of Kingsports proposed district is in the city limits, the remainder is in the citys urban growth boundary, and city officials are working to annex the remaining portion by the end of the year. To further help the project, Kingsport is working to realign a section of Fordtown Road to better improve travel through this area.
This is a key opportunity for the entire region to have a fighting chance of landing and locating one of these retailers in Tennessee, Whaley said.
These types of districts are super regional retailers, said Assistant City Manager for Development Jeff Fleming. Some examples of super regional retailers include Costco, Macys and Dillards, with the closest ones being Hamilton Place in Chattanooga and Pigeon Forge.
(The districts) concentrate on stores that only have one presence in a metropolitan area, Fleming said. With this new law in place it allows these border counties to help mitigate that effect and keep them in Tennessee.
The Kingsport Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved an ordinance last week establishing the Tri-Cities Crossing area of town (the Interstate 26 and 81 interchange) as a border region retail tourism district, thus taking advantage of the new law. The state departments of Economic and Community Development and Revenue first have to approve the district before it becomes official.
Kingsport officials are working on the application to both departments to have the district approved.
At the same time, the city of Bristol is also working to have the Exit 74 area of town around Bristol Regional Medical Center – Designated as a border region retail tourism district.
KINGSPORT – This month we are pleased to have Painted Note Studio owner, Mark Anthony, teaching our K.E.Y.P.A.D. Workshop!
Designed for students who would like to explore the basics of drawing a portrait, this class is to familiarize students with the fundamentals of drawing: line, shape, shadow and light, proportions and perspective. Students will learn to improve their technical drawing skills through the process of developing a portrait. Contour, line, shading, highlighting, and understanding of facial proportions and capturing the individual’s character will be some of the topics dealt with in this studio class.
This workshop is open to all teens ages 13-18 in the Greater Kingsport Area, Johnson City, surrounding counties and Southwest Virginia. The workshop will be held on Saturday, November 19, 2011 from Noon – 4 p.m. in room 228 of the Kingsport Renaissance Center. Cost for this 4-hour intensive workshop is only $20.
Mark holds a B.F.A. in Studio Arts from James Madison University, produced a TV show in NC, is an activist for community building through the arts, has had 12 solo exhibits and 26 group showing and has sold work in 32 states.
To register, please call the KingsportARTS office at 423-392-8420, reply to this email, or go to the KingsportARTS.org page.
Three years of re-engineering went into the 2009 General Motors crossover SUV, resulting in a hybrid electric vehicle which boasts the equivalent of 82 miles per gallon.‚ The competition, co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and General Motors, focused on the goal of rebuilding a standard vehicle to be more efficient, cutting petroleum energy use while maintaining consumer acceptability, stock appearance, and safety.
The team will be visiting the three Kingsport City Schools and take a trip to Downtown Kingsport to the new parking garage. There will time for the public and media to visit with the team members and view the car.
8:00 – 10:00 Robinson Middle School
10:00 – 10:45 Media Interviews @ Robinson Middle School
11:00 – 12:45 Sevier Middle School
1:00 – 4:00 Dobyns Bennett High School
4:30 – 5:00 Downtown Parking Garage**Plug-In Station**
Link to the HEVT Website.
http://www.me.vt.edu/hevt/index.php
Here is a link to an article about the EcoCar team winning the competition last June.
http://www.vt.edu/spotlight/achievement/2011-06-27-ecocar/ecocar-wins.html
-KCS-
