Redevelopment Plans Continue in Lenoir City 2/16/05
By Ben Greene
Staff writer

Lenoir City took another step in creating a local redevelopment corporation by authorizing the Lenoir City Housing Authority (LCHA) to create a subsidiary charged with that task Monday.

 
The corporation was created to transform parts of the City Mayor Matt Brookshire characterized as no reaching their full potential to become areas that will “benefit everyone.”

“My hope, my focus is targeting areas that are underutilized,” he said.

By allowing the LCHA to create a subsidiary, Brookshire said the city’s redevelopment efforts would be more effective since “they have different powers for redevelopment that the city doesn’t have.”

“They can buy property and turn it right around and develop it,” he explained.

“The wonderful thing is you can take an area, find someone who wants a redevelopment project and match them up with an area,” Brookshire said while describing one of the ways the program would change the city.

The mayor also noted relocation would be a necessary component, adding it would be one of the more difficult parts of the program.  He said if the city has to relocate someone as part of the redevelopment, they are required to find equal or better housing for the individual.

Brookshire said he would appoint a five-member board to run the corporation but said he hasn’t chosen the board yet.

Brookshire said the city had a similar corporation in the early 1980’s but noted he wasn’t aware of a project it took on.

The corporation could pursue other redevelopment grants in addition to those the city already seeks; in doing so the mayor noted, “One augments the other.”

News Herald 2/16/05