By LISA MARCHESONI Senior Writer

Sales and property taxes from the proposed Bible Park USA will help fund the construction of the park — not county taxpayers, the developer said this week.

Under the state's tax increment financing, part of the property and sales tax would be used to finance less than one-half of the $150 to $200 million project, said sponsor Armon Bar-Tur of SafeHarbor Holding LLC.

"The county is not giving us any money," Bar-Tur said during an interview. "The county is not financing the entire park. All the taxes are being generated by the park. This is a mechanism to finance the park."

Developers are considering building the historic, non-denominational Bible-themed park on a 280-acre site off Blackman Road. About 50 acres will be used for the park. The remainder will be parking and green space.

It will provide jobs for 500 to 1,000 seasonal employees and 200 to 300 fulltime jobs. The park will be open 210 days a year.

Tax increment financing will provide an incentive to bring the park to Rutherford County, he said. Similar tools were used in Davidson County and in Wilson County for the Nashville Super Speedway.
Bar-Tur compared the tax increment funding to a revenue bond.

"You give the bond holders a portion of the revenue stream," Bar-Tur said.

A bill in the state Legislature proposes to make all 95 counties eligible to be in the entertainment zone and obtain tax increment financing as a recruiting tool. That bill is scheduled for a vote this week.
David Penn, director of MTSU's Business and Economic Research Center, saw Bar-Tur's presentation about the park.

Developers are arguing the tax increment financing will allow them to capture the local taxes for up to 30 years.

"In my opinion, county commissioners ought to look at whether they're giving up some revenue by doing this," Penn said.

Generally, communities are becoming leery of similar financing, Penn said. For example, Nashville turned down a Class AAA baseball park because the developer "couldn't get it together."

Penn suggested the Blackman area will develop whether it houses the Bible Park or not. A mixture of housing and retail development might bring more revenue than the Bible Park.

Doug Demosi, assistant county planning director, said the property is now zoned for single-family use. All that can be developed there are single-family homes or a church.

The land use plan developed by the county and city of Murfreesboro for that site shows a medium density use plan for four to eight residential homes per acre, Demosi said. Roughly 500 homes could be developed on the site.

The land would have to be rezoned for commercial development. The Rutherford County Planning Commission would have to recommend approval or denial of any zoning changes.

"We haven't received the first item yet (from Bible Park USA)," Demosi said.

Bar-Tur expects to have a master plan and traffic study by the end of the summer.

Terri Sterling of Sterling Communications said once developers obtain the master plan, they will host town hall meetings to let Blackman residents and other people learn about the project.

Bar-Tur said it's inevitable the Blackman community will develop because of its location in the fastest-growing county in the state. Developers are trying to minimize the impact to the community.

Bible Park USA developers are considering other sites but Rutherford County is the No. 1 site because of its location near two interstates and proximity to Nashville.

"The current site has many different properties," Bar-Tur said. "The families have all bought off on it. It's going to be a fabulous project."

Lisa Marchesoni may be reached at 869-0814 or at lmarchesoni@murfreesboropost.com.