Story originally published in The Sylva Herald, Feb. 15 edition.
Tuesday Feb. 7 the Jackson County Board of Commissioners heard a presentation from Nick Breedlove, director of Tourism Development Authority.
Breedlove presented the board with updates on capital projects, tourism numbers and campaigns.
The TDA released its capital project policy in 2022 with certain projects eligible for grants for renovation or new construction expansion.
“This year we have $750,000 allocated for capital projects so that is a substantial sum to make differences in the communities,” said Breedlove.
Breedlove says there has been interest shown from both the Town of Sylva and the Town of Dillsboro to utilize funds.
“The Town of Sylva has expressed interest in the rehab of Bridge Park and Scotts Creek there which is an impaired waterway,” Breedlove said.
Dillsboro would like funds for outdoor upgrades as well.
“We are digging into the possibility of the Monteith Park Greenway, which will be a collaboration with several stakeholders, including Sylva to put a pedestrian bridge in where the temporary detour bridge was during the bridge replacement project,” said Debbie Coffey, Dillsboro town clerk.
No applications have been returned to date, according to Breedlove.
The hit of COVID-19 caused small businesses to question their survival. Breedlove shared that as of 2021 there was a $144.7 million increase in one year thanks to visitor spending.
“This figure sticks with me more than most, the visitors depositing almost $1.2 million a day into local cash registers,” he said.
According to Breedlove, $15.6 million comes back through sales tax, roughly 18.9 percent of the county’s $82 million budget paid through visitors. The money is reinvested into Jackson County, resulting in residents saving $723 a year on homeowner taxes.
TDA is rebranding its marketing campaign from “360 Degrees of Adventure” to “Do Both.”
“This year we talked about ‘Do Both’ because when you go on a vacation somewhere a lot of times it’s for one reason,” Breedlove said. “Well, we want people to realize there’s more than just waterfalls here. There’s so many activities you don’t have to pick just one thing when visiting.”
