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A sewage plant, a theater and a new “market” place

by Frank Cagle

KUB has been accused of violating the Clean Water Act 1,000 times in three years, and it’s being sued by conservationists, the city, the state and the federal government. Heavy rains cause sewage to overflow into storm drains and it goes into the river untreated.

On the other hand, First Utility District is trying to build a sewage treatment plant out on Concord Road and is being hammered for using eminent domain to buy a piece of property adjoining its current sewage treatment facility to do it.

The vast majority of development in Knox County for the last 20 years has occurred in the western portion of the county. There have to be sewage treatment plants to handle such growth. The choices are to leave the property for future development of another high-end subdivision or build a treatment plant to handle the ocean of sewage created by West Knox County sprawl.

The property adjoining an existing sewer plant seems the best place to put another one, though one can sympathize with the unwilling property owner. What are the alternatives? Follow the KUB example and let them put the overflow in the river?

• There are those who are critical of the proposal to convert the Farmers Market property into a shopping center anchored by a Target store. The process could have been handled better, no doubt.

But each one of the 25,000 people who signed petitions to repeal the wheel tax ought to be demanding that this project be finalized immediately. The quicker this money-losing white elephant is in the hands of private developers the better. There will be hundreds of thousands of dollars in immediate benefit from the sale of the property. Then the property goes onto the property tax rolls and it starts generating sales tax.

Delaying the project to see if the county could get more per acre seems reasonable. But delaying the project also delays the county collecting sales tax from retail establishments, like Target and a grocery store and various shops. Even if the new Target store replaces the Broadway store, the Farmers Market site is outside the city limits. The sales tax there will be kept by the county, not turned over to the city.

• There are also people who question Mayor Bill Haslam’s proposal for a downtown cinema complex. But critics should remember a very important component of this project that I have not seen discussed lately.

The Knoxville Convention Center was financed by bonds. Once it was completed, the city applied to the state for special tax status for downtown Knoxville. If any new development throws sales tax, a portion of the sales tax that would normally go to the state can be used to retire the convention center debt.

The eight screens of this movie theater may not produce a gold rush in revenue, but it will produce movie tickets sold in eight theaters seven days a week, 365 days a year. And each ticket sold generates sales tax that will not go to the state, but will go toward paying off the convention center. The sales tax “recapture” also includes concessions, which is a sizeable portion of theater revenue. It will not be a flood of money, but it will be a constant and steady drip. And over a period of years even a small drip can fill a large container. Especially if the movie theaters generate collateral business at shops and restaurants in the central business district. That sales tax can also be recaptured. Every dime of the sales tax recapture means a dime that Knoxville property owners do not have to contribute in property taxes.

The location of the theater also maximizes the use of the existing State Street parking garage, and it brings foot traffic to Gay Street.

An earlier downtown development proposal called for the construction of a movie theater complex on Henley Street, complete with a parking garage. Not only would the cost have been substantially higher with the garage, the theater patrons would have been able to come in on Henley, go to the movie and then leave without ever going “downtown.”

Remember that we watched millions of people go to the World’s Fair site in 1982 and only three of them ever got to Gay Street. And they were lost. (OK, that’s a fake statistic, but it’s still accurate. I learned that from Dan Rather.)

There are any number of reasons to oppose a sewage plant, a shopping center or a movie theater. The process in each case is also open to legitimate criticism. But, on balance, these three projects represent benefits for the whole community.

Frank Cagle is a political analyst and the host of Sound Off on WIVK FM107.7, WNOX AM990, FM99.1 and FM99.3 each Sunday 8-9:30 a.m. The program is pre-empted this week by Sports Talk coverage of the Vols versus Louisiana Tech football game.

September 23, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 39 © 2004 Metro Pulse