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City commission approves revised Berry hotel TAD, discusses teen curfew

September 28, 2020–9:05 p.m.

STAFF REPORTS

Rome City Commissioners have approved a revised TAD III Hotel Development document.

Developers are seeking Tax Allocation District funding for a 92-room hotel adjacent to the Rome Tennis Center at Berry College.

Under a TAD, net new property taxes go back to the developer for a certain period of time to help defray development costs.

The City Commission approved the $1.72 million dollar TAD earlier this month, but the Floyd County Commission voted against participating, which led to Monday’s action.

“It leaves us in a position of having to try to do it all on our own,” said Commissioner Wendy Davis.  “That means that we will need to expand the length of time for the TAD from 10 years out to a conservative estimate of 15 years.  That will get us to the $1,728,840 amount.”

Davis stressed the estimated value of the property is likely a conservative estimate.

“So, there is a chance that amount of rebate could be reached before a 15 year period, but obviously, it will be longer than 10 years now,” she said.

According to Danny Price, general counsel for Berry, language has been added to the revised document stating that Berry would make no request for a tax exemption on the property during the length of the TAD or afterward.

In other news, the Rome City Commission is considering an amendment to the teen curfew ordinance.

The ordinance prohibits anyone under the age of 17 from being out past 11 p.m. with some exceptions.

A proposed change of wording would give police more latitude in enforcing the curfew.

“The current situation is, we have some activity occurring downtown that is a little bit disruptive and a little bit of guidance is needed,” said Commissioner Mark Cochran.  “The way the ordinance is written, peace officers have to give a warning to start with.  This is now more of an opportunity for them to use this tool to, if they don’t see fit to issue a warning, to go ahead and issue a citation.  Just know that the city commission is working through exactly how to find some good, fun things for teenagers to do also.”

Rome Police Major Rodney Bailey stated that there are children as young as 10 or 11 being dropped off by their parents or guardians on Broad Street.

The proposed ordinance amendment was placed onto First Reading during Monday’s Rome City Commission meeting.

Second Reading and a vote will come during the commission’s next meeting.