East Ridge officials want to expand Camp Jordan which may allow the city to capture more “sports tourism” dollars from people visiting the city.
Several dozen stakeholders – including representatives from the area’s hotel/motel industry, sports league officials and local restaurant owners – met Tuesday morning at the Community Center to hear Parks & Recreation Director Stump Martin and others speak about a new vision for the park.
East Ridge Mayor Brent Lambert told those gathered that Camp Jordan helps East Ridge’s economy by attracting people to baseball, softball and soccer tournament, as well as to events such as Bugapalooza, The Alhambra Shrine Circus and last year’s Outdoor Expo. Lambert said he and other city officials have met with leaders in Hamilton County with the idea of improving the park by adding more and better soccer fields and other facilities.
“(Camp Jordan) is an economic driver,” Lambert said. “When sports teams comes here for tournaments, it fills up our hotels and restaurants.”
Martin said that Hamilton County officials have told him that tourism adds a billion dollars to the area’s economy. He said that “sports tourism” is a substantial part of that figure and that he wants to see East Ridge capture more sports tourism dollars.
Martin said that he has had conversations with Tim Morgan, President of the Chattanooga Sports Committee, where people have discussed the idea of a first-rate “regional park” in the area. Martin said he wants that first-rate park to be Camp Jordan.
Morgan said that during the past four years there has been talk of just how much sports tourism has been growing in our area. “If we don’t invest, we will get passed and left behind,” he said.
As an example of being left behind, Morgan cited the area’s loss of the TSSAA’s Spring Fling, the SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament and the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) National Championship.
Morgan said it was critical for leaders to have a “vision.” That vision would be to “build out” Camp Jordan to “potentially” bring back the Spring Fling, have high school baseball tournaments, and make The Scenic City Cup – the area’s largest soccer tournament – even bigger than its current 215 participating teams.
Mayor Lambert said the money to pay for improvements could potentially come from East Ridge and Hamilton County engaging in Tax Increment Financing (TIF) for the planned Jordan Crossing development adjacent to Bass Pro Shops. The TIF would allow the city to earmark the property taxes paid by Jordan Crossing (perhaps as much as $900,000 a year) and use it to pay off the note on money the city would borrow to finance the improvements to Camp Jordan.
City leaders said the idea of building out the park using TIF dollars is in the early stages. A conceptual drawing of what is planned has yet to be presented publicly.
Martin, however, has been consistent with his vision of Camp Jordan; he wants it to be the biggest and best park in the southeast and compete with places like Lakepoint, a huge sports and recreational complex in Emerson, Ga.
“We got a fight on our hands,” Martin told those gathered. “When people and teams come to Camp Jordan, we try to treat them better than they do downtown.
“We are the ‘sweet tea’ of Hamilton County,” he said. “We want people to come back.”
