Toccoa Falls College's Gate Cottage is now reopened, after the historic building burned a year ago! The College celebated the reopening on Thursday with a Toccoa-Stephens County Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting ceremony. The new facility includes a large kitchen and is available for community events, weddings, receptions, and meetings.
The SCDA is excited to hold our June 3 Developer Day event with statewide project managers at Gate Cottage!
Thursday, April 1 was the Stephens County Development Authority's first Toccoa-Stephens County Developer Day of 2010, following a string of 6 Developer Day events in the fall and spring of 2009. Six economic development project managers from five different agencies attended the event, which took them on a development-focused tour of the county:
Drew Addison, Industrial Properties Group
John Clancy, City Commercial
Bill Dobbs, Georgia Dept. of Economic Development
Stephanie Harmon, Georgia Mountains Regional Commission
Charles Hunsaker, Georgia Dept. of Economic Development
Brooke Lucas, Georgia EMC
Geleta Hunt of McClure, Ramsay, Dickerson, Escoe LLP and Mark Ivester of North Georgia Technical College served as 'chauffeurs' for the day. 19 locals joined the group for lunch at the Straw House (Willard Kimsey Environmental Education Center). Sage Automotive Interiors' plant Manager Tim Batson and HR Manager Ruth Burdette gave the developers a tour of their facility. They also viewed available industrial buildings, Hayestone Brady Business Park, and sights such as Toccoa Falls, Paul Anderson Park, Currahee Club, and North Broad Trestle.
Drew Addison of IPG stated, "Unified governmental leadership, existing industry, and available facilities are all important factors in locating a company, and Stephens County has all three. As companies look at communities around Northeast Georgia, Toccoa-Stephens County will continue to stand out."
The next Developer Day event will be held on Thursday, May 13.
Pictured: Geleta Hunt, Stephanie Harmon, Charles Hunsaker, Ruth Burdette, Drew Addison, Mark Ivester, Bill Dobbs, Brooke Lucas, and Tim Batson.
The Stephens County Development Authority held its final 2009 Developer Day on December 3, the sixth event this year bringing statewide economic development project managers to the community on a development-focused tour.Five project managers from Georgia EMC, ElectricCities of Georgia, Georgia Department of Economic Development, and Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority toured the community. The trip showcased StephensCounty’s development-ready sites, industrial buildings, work force, and leadership so as to help project managers better foster development in the area.
Former SCDA Chairman Bob Defenbaugh and Toccoa Falls College President Dr. Wayne Gardner served as the “chauffeurs” for the day. Nampac’s Plant Manager Michael Beecher led the group on a tour of the facility.They also viewed several available industrial buildings and sites in the MeadowbrookIndustrial Park and HayestoneBradyBusinessPark. Liberty Elementary Principal Terri Powers gave them a tour of her Title I school. The project managers also got a glimpse at the natural sights of Toccoa with stops at ToccoaFalls and PaulAndersonPark.
Local leaders from the City, County, and regional government, healthcare, education, and real estate sectors acted as luncheon hosts at the WillardKimseyEnvironmentalEducation Center. The statewide guests gave an overview of their agencies and projects, and local leaders were able to address their concerns and perspectives on local development projects.
The 2009 Developer Day events brought a total of thirty-three statewide project managers from thirteen different agencies to StephensCounty and placed emphasis on the community’s unified support of development efforts.Sixty-eight local leaders acted as lunch hosts at the events, the testimony of a County, City, School Board, and private industry working together to promote Stephens County as open for business.
Jim Blair, Georgia Department of Economic Development:“I came away much better informed about the opportunities in Stephens County and the support that I can expect as a project manager. A community can have inventory, it can have logistics, but if there’s no leadership it’s not a community we can sell to a company. Leadership is something I’ve certainly seen in Stephens County; it really shines.”
Carter Wood, Georgia Department of Economic Development:“One thing that always impresses me about Stephens County is the workforce that you have. The trainability and dependability of your workforce is incredible, and it is something that companies look for and that we as statewide developers can really market.”
Dennis Chastain, GEMC:I’m a native of Toccoa… so Toccoa will always have a place in my heart.I see a very bright future for this community.I know the widening of Highway 17 is a long running saga, but that will eventually happen, and you’ll be very proud of the property you have in the Hayestone Brady Business Park.”
StephensCounty is a community equipped for and supportive of economic development.This was the message of the second fall 2009 “Developer Day” event hosted by the Stephens County Development Authority.Five statewide economic development project managers from Georgia EMC, Georgia Department of Community Affairs, Georgia Department of Economic Development, Georgia Power Company, and the Georgia Mountains Regional Commission toured the community. The trip focused on StephensCounty’s development-ready sites, buildings, work force, and leadership so as to help project managers better foster development in the area.
Tim Ash, Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, and Representative Michael Harden served as the “chauffeurs” for the day. Joe Moore and Bryon Whitworth of American Woodmark took the group on a tour of the facility. The group also viewed several available industrial buildings and sites in the MeadowbrookIndustrial Park and HayestoneBradyBusinessPark, including the 80,000 square feet Rooker spec building. Stephens County High School Principal Felton Stephens gave them a tour of his school, highlighting the improved graduation rate. The project managers also got a glimpse at the natural sights of Toccoa with stops at Toccoa Falls and Paul Anderson Park.
The economic developers joined local leaders from the City and County government, healthcare, education, and real estate sectors for lunch at the WillardKimseyEnvironmentalEducationCenter (Straw House).The statewide guests gave an overview of their agencies and projects, and local leaders were able to address their concerns and perspectives on local development projects.
Rope Roberts, Georgia Power Company: “My job is to help communities with all faces of economic development. One of the positive things I can say about Stephens County – and I have always pushed this – is the labor force trained in metal working, which goes back to LeTourneau days. Not everybody can work metal. When we can say we have a metal working company, we can say we have a great work force in this area.”
Chip Wright, Georgia Mountains Regional Commission:“What I do at the Regional Commission is community design. I work with Toccoa and other communities to utilize resources that they already have in hand, which a lot of times are historic downtowns. To make these places gathering spaces again… branches out and helps with the attraction of business and economy building enterprises. Once people who are looking to relocate their businesses in your community see that you have a pride in your community, it makes Toccoa–StephensCounty the place they want to be.”
Taube Ponce, Georgia Department of Economic Development, Global Commerce Division:“Companies that export generally have a higher growth rate than companies that don’t export. They generally pay higher wages and are more stable. One of the silver linings of our current economic situation is that the dollar is low, which…for exporters is great because our products are even more competitive now. Exporting is a wonderful tool for economic development, and communities don’t often think about that. We and our offices can help companies find markets for their products.”
David Austin, City of Toccoa:“We are so glad to have you here today. We think a lot of our City and County and we’ve worked a lot with you over the years to make things even better.I welcome you to Toccoa-StephensCounty and hope you come back.”
Tim Ash, Toccoa-Stephens Co. Chamber of Commerce:“StephensCounty is ready, willing and able to accept new businesses and acclimate our workforce to those businesses. We are doing a lot of things right these days and just need the rest of the world to get the message. We appreciate your being here to see what’s taking place and to contribute what you can to help us along.”
Cam Parker, Stephens Co. Development Authority:“As local economic developers, one of the most important things we can do is try to be good partners with statewide organizations. We want to do our very best to help you help us, and part of that is communicating, just like we are today, what we think are some of our strengths.One of our strengths is our people, who know how to work and have a strong work ethic. They also give us the tools to be a good partner with you, passing SPLOST V – 80% of which was for economic development – with a 72% vote. Our leaders are also pro-business, pro-growth. They get along and they want to progress.We want to be good partners.If you need us to do something just let us know, and we’ll give it our best.”
Developing Stephens County was the topic of the day as the Stephens County Development Authority held their first fall 2009 “Developer Day” event, which followed three successful spring events. Seven statewide economic development project managers from the Georgia Department of Labor, Georgia EMC, Quick Start, Georgia Mountains Regional Commission, Georgia Department of Economic Development, AGL Resources, and Georgia Department of Community Affairs toured the community. The goal of the trip was to gain a more in-depth understanding of Toccoa-Stephens County’s assets and economic needs so as to better foster development in the area.
The statewide guests also were able to present to a local leadership team about their role in the development of Northeast Georgia. David Shellhorse of the Georgia Department of Community affairs spoke about his work on the Canopies Project in historic downtown Toccoa:
"Removing the canopies which covered Toccoa’s historic downtown district and providing additional streetscape improvements was among the most rewarding, collaborative and innovative projects I have encountered during my time at DCA. An astounding four different grant funding sources contributed to this project which represented a 100% aesthetic makeover and revitalization of a charming and now vibrant downtown area. Of the four grants, DCA helped to administer three of them: OneGeorgia, the Redevelopment Fund, and the Appalachian Regional Commission (USDA was the other funding source).
"The downtown area had been compromised visually a few decades ago with the construction of large canopies which were installed in an innovative attempt to compete with and create the feeling of an indoor shopping mall. Malls were becoming increasingly popular and downtown areas were becoming increasingly affected and marginalized by their presence. While the canopies did not end up providing a direct competitor with the wave of malls and large shopping centers that emerged throughout the region, the canopies did help the community realize that there are things intrinsic about downtown areas that could never be offered by a mall: history, charm, and character. Through strong local leadership and vision in this project, those qualities have been restored. It is also necessary to mention that the administrative coordination between four different government funding sources and all of their various programmatic requirements was masterfully executed."
