BusinessTN

Times may be tight today, but if you work hard enough, opportunity may knock. And in some cases, even when opportunity is knocking on your neighbor's door, it may be worth answering.

Such is the case for Cheatham County. Its neighbor to the north, Montgomery County, landed billion-dollar Hemlock Semiconductor. Scraping of the dirt has already begun on the $1.2 billion project that will create an estimated 900 jobs in the manufacturing of polycrystalline silicon. Projections indicate that the Dow Corning subsidiary will invest an additional $2 billion in capital investment in the area. This puts job-hungry Cheatham County in prime position to pick up some of the additional business that will come along with the plant.

But for Cheatham County officials, attracting the attention of an industrial giant is just half the battle. They also must convince residents used to life lived at a slower pace that the change accompanying the attention of a multi-billion-dollar manufacturer is worth it.

"Folks moved here to get away from all that," says James Fenton, Cheatham County's executive director of economic and community development. Nonetheless, Fenton believes the types of jobs that would come with the plant are precisely those that Cheatham County desperately needs. He also believes that if he can present enough information to county residents, they will realize just how important this opportunity is.

The product itself may put to rest the fear of the dirty, grimy, ultra-industrialized side effects of a project of this scale. The polycrystalline silicon made by the Hemlock Semiconductor plant is the basic element of solar-electric panels and computer chips.
"This is not your basic manufacturing," Fenton says. "These are very clean, high-tech jobs. These plants have to be cleaner than your kitchen."

Still, even were every resident in Cheatham County to get on board, there are some substantial economic development obstacles remaining. Of most immediate concern, the county's current business park is full. And while the county currently is examining the possibility of putting a commerce park in the county's northeast corner, where both topography and infrastructural development could support a new park, even that solution would trigger additional community concerns.

With the possibility of a new park comes the fear that property taxes will be raised--and that homeowners will bear the brunt of the burden. "We are basically asking the community to make a multi-million-dollar investment," Fenton says, "but opportunities like this are scarce."

Fenton believes one long-standing complication to industrial development in Cheatham could help alleviate this particular community concern. With one-seventh of the county designated as a wildlife refuge--usually a restrictive factor to industrial relocation and expansion--the land could serve as a reassuring buffer for those fearing over-development. Such acreage devoted to nature could very well be the key to relieving the possible tax burden while guaranteeing the sustained quality of life that attracts people wishing to relocate their families.

Perhaps Cheatham County's greatest asset--and the very reason Montgomery County's success could mean a great deal to its own fortunes--is its location. Sandwiched between Hemlock's site and Metropolitan Davidson County, and accessible by interstates 24 and 40, Cheatham County seems to be--as Fenton puts--an "obvious target." County Mayor Bill Orange says that Cheatham is "close to everything, away from it all." If county officials succeed in the dual task of wooing corporations while reassuring its citizenry, the county may find itself close to getting a new commerce park--and to landing some new business, as well.