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Investment continues flowing into Haywood County
BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS EDITOR
There’s not yet a lot of information about the latest economic development announcement made by Haywood County commissioners — the fourth in four weeks — but coupled with the previous three, “Project Surrey” pushes total spending commitments in the county to nearly $60 million since early April.
“Economic Development in Haywood County has been very active for several years, even during a national pandemic,” said CeCe Hipps, president of the Haywood County Chamber of Commerce. “Even though we have lost some projects for various reasons, we have succeeded in checking all the boxes for recent announcements.”
Last month, the county announced it would award incentives to two established businesses — Sonoco Plastics and Giles Chemical — based on their expansion investments of $2.6 million and $5 million, respectively.
Two weeks later, the new owners of the Waynesville Inn Resort and Spa announced they’d spend $25 million over the next few years to renovate the inn’s historic golf course, restaurant and guest rooms.
On May 5, the county made another announcement about an endeavor called Project Surrey, which is expected to bring an additional $25 million in investment over the next decade.
County Program Administrator David Francis couldn’t reveal much about the project other than the industrial manufacturing nature of the enterprise and its location in the western part of Haywood County, but a press release says a brand new facility will be built and $14.2 million will be spent over three years. An additional $11.2 million will also be spent over the ensuing seven years, bringing total investment to $25.4 million.
The project is also expected to employ 43 new employees over the first three years, 16 more by year five, and 48 more in the five years after that. All told, the facility will employ more than 100 people.
“Our population, growth trends and workforce strength of major sectors all define our strength for economic positioning to be competitive and benchmark Haywood County with other communities,” Hipps said.
In accordance with the county’s economic development incentive plan, Francis said that the company would qualify for $244,000 in tax rebates over a five-year period, so long as it meets its spending and hiring goals.
The public hearing on economic development incentives for “Project Surrey” will be held during the regular Haywood County Board of Commissioners meeting, scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Monday, May 17 at the Historic Haywood Courthouse, 215 North Main Street, Waynesville.
HRMC lifts visitor restrictions
Haywood Regional Medical Center announced that it has lifted most visitor restrictions as of May 10. New guidelines will allow adults to visit inpatients and accompany outpatients or those seeking ER care. General visitation hours are 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The new guidelines are effective immediately.
“The Haywood County positivity rate continues to trend downward, thankfully” said CEO Greg Caples about the changes. “We will continue to be diligent in our fight against the virus, but we are pleased to be able to lift most visitation restrictions for our patients and their family members at this time.”
Visitors will have temperature automatically taken upon entering the main lobby, and each should read the attestation to confirm lack of COVID-19 symptoms upon arrival. If temperature is high and/or a visitor has symptoms, we ask that they do not visit the hospital at that time.
All visitors must continue to mask. COVID-19 visitation will be decided on a case-by-case basis. www.myhaywoodregional.com.
Town of Canton joins municipal TDA bill
BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS EDITOR
Aweek after Haywood County Republican Rep. Mark Pless’ municipal TDA bill came out of committee wholly rewritten to include only the town of Maggie Valley, a third version has emerged and passed the House with an additional town listed.
“The board sent approval that we wanted to be included and after the bill goes through, we’ll look at the procedure and the money coming in, and we’ll see how we can best use this money for the benefit of the citizens of Canton,” said Mayor Zeb Smathers. “I think it gives us another tool to add revenue that we can use towards recreation and improvements.”
Pless’ bill, H412, would allow Canton and Maggie Valley to levy a 2 percent room occupancy tax on all lodging establishments within municipal limits. In contrast to the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority’s 4 percent occupancy tax, the 2 percent tax would remain in the town instead of being spread out across the county as a whole.
The 2 percent tax would be levied in addition to the existing countywide 4 percent, pushing room occupancy taxes to 6 percent in any municipality that decides to adopt the measure.
Even if the bill makes it through the General Assembly, Smathers and the Canton Board of Aldermen/women would still have to adopt an ordinance levying the tax, as well as an ordinance establishing a tourism development authority of its own to collect and distribute the funds.
“We’ll look at the next steps of appointing a board or seeing how it should be set up,” Smathers said. “There’s a lot that we’ll have to learn, but to have the opportunity if we decide to implement the tax, we’ll go from there.”
Pless told The Smoky Mountain News last week that he’d offered Canton and Waynesville the opportunity to join Maggie Valley and be part of the bill, but a story in the May 5 issue of SMN showed lukewarm support from at least one Waynesville alderman.
