Commission backs lease for drive

Loudon County Commission approved Monday a lease for a drive-in movie theater in Loudon’s Centre 75 Business Park.

The five-year agreement is $200 per month for Loudon Entertainment LLC for 10.31 acres behind Goodfellas Wine and Spirits. The developer has an option to purchase the property for $40,000 per acre.

The lease automatically renews after five years unless terminated, and the developer has first right of refusal.

Commissioners Bill Satterfield and David Meers motioned and seconded, respectively, and the measure passed 9-1. Commissioner Van Shaver was the lone opposing vote.

“I’ve heard it was going to be a $2.5 million investment and I think by doing that it’s going to be something new,” Meers said. “Knowing Mr. (Gordon) Whitener, I’ve met him several times, he’s a very excellent business person and I think that’s going to be an opportunity that we’ll be very happy, very good for all parties involved.”

Gordon and Susie Whitener, of The Whitener Company, approached commission in November about the drive-in. Neither were present Monday.

Shaver opposed mostly because of the rental price, but also pointed to a section in the lease that allows the developer to leave the property without cleaning up.

“According to the agreement, if whoever it is, take the movie theater out, whoever would sometime lease something if you have this language in there, things go belly up or bad for them, they just drive away,” Shaver said. “They walk away and we have to clean it up. That would be an expense to somebody — taxpayers I would assume ultimately.”

Improvements can be made to the property, and the tenant doesn’t have an obligation to remove those improvements.

Rollen “Buddy” Bradshaw, Loudon County mayor, said the drive-in could be big for the area.

“I think you look at the way just that the United States and the world for that matter has changed after the introduction of this COVID-19, I think it’s going to be a great little draw,” Bradshaw said. “There’s some different theaters around us that do pretty good, this one being unique in the fact that it’s going to be a jumbotron, so to speak, and look at the location. It’s great for the local vendors there, and I think we’ll see people come in. They can come out and enjoy a movie and still be relatively safe.”

Prior to the vote, commissioners passed an amended interlocal agreement between Loudon, Loudon County and the Loudon County Economic Development Agency.

Jack Qualls, Loudon County EDA executive director, was present to answer questions.

Meers and Satterfield motioned and seconded, respectively, to approve the amended agreement, which passed 9-1. Shaver was the lone opposing vote.

Shaver opposed because he hadn’t seen the document, which had more changes than he originally thought. Commissioners at a February workshop considered allowing the EDA to enter into leases. The amended version was unavailable at the workshop.

“I mean I needed to understand why those changes were being made,” Shaver said. “There were some dramatic changes made that wasn’t even discussed at the workshop. At the workshop we discussed we were going to make changes so it would be allowed to have a lease, because that wasn’t in the original agreement. As you heard Bill Satterfield and myself, too, I thought, ‘Well, we’ll see a document. This amends section such and such to allow us to lease,’ and I’m simplifying it. Well, this had changes, lots of changes, and I just had questions about it.”

Commissioner Adam Waller questioned if Loudon County Attorney Bob Bowman should look at the agreement that was initially spearheaded by Loudon Attorney Kris Frye.

Shaver said he had no issue with Frye.

“I talked with Bob about it and Kris; he agreed with me to get Kris to look at it,” Bradshaw said. “Kris is not going to do anything to slight the county or the city, so trust his input on it. The changes, although a little bit more drastic than we originally thought, it’s not going to be just free reign. There will still be plenty of internal controls as far as the EDA board and them coming back to all three of the entities, at least two of the three entities if we need anything done.”

Loudon City Council approved the interlocal agreement and lease Feb. 22.

“It was just a way to clean up a 20-year-old document that was out of date and plus expedites some things,” Loudon Mayor Jeff Harris said. “I don’t think anybody’s going to be harmed with this at all.”

County backs resolution

With a unanimous vote, commissioners passed a resolution to support a Drug Dealer Liability Act lawsuit.

Henry Cullen, commission chairman, said the suit is against “big pharma.” Shaver and Satterield motioned and seconded, respectively.

According to the resolution, Loudon, along with other counties in Tennessee and surrounding states, has experienced an epidemic due to the use of opioids by residents. The epidemic has generated “critical issues and problems” for the county, including drug addiction, overdose deaths, birth of drug-dependent babies and a rise in criminal convictions.

Russell Johnson, 9th Judicial District attorney general, brought a lawsuit in 2017 through law firm Branstetter, Stranch & Jennings PLLC to recover money for Loudon County under the state’s Drug dealer Liability Act. The lawsuit is pending in Campbell County Circuit Court.

“These prescription medications just ran rampant,” Bradshaw said. “It was really starting to really tick up as I was starting to leave the police department. Just been reckless the way they’ve been administered and the way they’ve produced it and pushed it. I think holding them accountable and us being able to use that money for some treatment as well as to maybe help keep some of the folks out of jail and maybe in some treatment facilities, hopefully that’ll keep our jail population down as well, slow them down to the point that we get a little bit better hold on it.”

Bradshaw believes the approval will “show a unified front.”

“I think every county touching us is involved, maybe most of the state is probably involved,” he said. “That just gives us a bigger voice and a bigger leg to stand on.”

In other matters, Loudon County Commission:

• Rezoned 2.83 acres off Corporate Park Drive from M-1 General Industrial District to A-1 Agriculture-Forestry District.

• Tabled rezoning 38.1 acres at 5378 Steekee Creek Road for 60 days to allow parties involved in a potential cellphone tower to talk. Rezoning would change it from A-2 Rural Residential District to A-1 Agriculture-Forestry District.

• Rezoned 1.1 acres at 101 Lee Highway from C-1 General Commercial District to R-1 Residential District.

• Authorized a resolution to send to the state supporting the addition of meat processing to the Tennessee College of Applied Technology program.

• Approved the sale of 1.67 acres in Centre 75 located to the east of Goodfellas Wine and Spirits for $485,000.

• Approved allocating funds to support Centre 75 lighting repairs.

• Approved a grant application for funding of road improvements in Centre 75.

• Moved forward with a five-year county reappraisal plan.

• Approved acceptance and application of a $17,000 no-match Homeland Security grant.

• Approved acceptance and application of the Pettway Grant for county libraries, including $3,000 for Lenoir City, $4,200 for Philadelphia, $3,400 for Loudon and $2,000 for Greenback.