Jackson Progress-Argus

By Michael Davis

mdavis@myjpa.com

With a $500,000 grant in hand, Butts County officials are one step closer to being able to bring sewer service to the eastern side of Interstate 75 at the Ga. Highway 16 interchange, a move expected to be a boon to commercial growth at the sparsely developed hub.

Butts County was presented with a One Georgia grant last week, in a ceremony in Greensboro, where millions were passed out to rural governments to fund economic development projects and infrastructure improvements. The One Georgia Authority funds its grant and loan programs with part of Georgia's share of the Tobacco Master Settlement .

Marcie Seleb, the general manager of the Butts County, et al. Water & Sewer Authority, said the $500,000 grant to Butts County will pay for part of a $1.1 million project to run a sewer line from a site on the west side of I-75, to the east side, to serve the proposed development of a Great American Travel Center and hotel on the south side of Ga. 16.

She said officials hope to land a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant -- and to use $50,000 from sewer capital recovery fees charged to new customers and $50,000 in in-kind labor -- to fund the rest of the expansion project, which would begin early next year.

According to the application for the One Georgia grant, the travel center alone, which Seleb said would include a Dairy Queen and another restaurant, would represent a $4 million investment and create 55 new jobs. The hotel, described as a LaQuinta Inn in the application, would represent a $2.8 million investment and create 16 jobs.

Seleb said the travel center would be similar to one owned by the same investor at I-75 and Ga. 300 in Cordele, about 100 miles south of Jackson. The sewer plan, and the development of the travel center and hotel, would be key in the proposed development of an 80-acre adjacent tract that would be served by an access road.

"Having the sewer out there is going to make a world of difference to the local economy," Seleb said.

She said the county expects to receive word on the Community Development Block Grant in about 30 days.

Butts County boosters hope the turning of dirt at the interchange sparks renewed interest in the area among investors. The county has struggled to keep jobs as the economy has faltered, and the Ga. 16 interchange is seen as an area ripe for growth.

"I think that once we get sewer out there, to the interchange, I think it'll be more attractive to a lot of national chains," said Butts County Commission Chairman Mitchell McEwen, who accepted the grant last week along with County Administrator Alan E. White, who is also the executive director of the Butts County Industrial Development Authority.

Seleb said the grant applications represent a newfound spirit of collaboration between the water authority and the Board of Commissioners. "In 22 years, I've never known a time when the county and the authority worked more closely together," she said.