County Moving Forward With Study For Expo Center

Cumberland County will be conducting a feasibility study for the proposed expo center project.

County Mayor Allen Foster said a feasibility study will take a look at everything from possible locations, size of the facility, and economic impact.

“It’s basically going to tell us if it’s a good idea or a bad idea and what we can expect from it,” Foster said. “I would expect that we will know which direction it’s going to go sometime within the next several months.”

Foster said the Cumberland County Commission approved a resolution Monday night that directs the finance department to move forward with requesting proposals for the study.

“This allows the county to get requests in for proposals so we can find out what it will cost,” Foster said. |We are also looking at partial funding for it through a grant,” Foster said.

Earlier this year, the county commission requested state lawmakers to allow the county to enact a 1-percent food and beverage tax to help fund the expo center project. Foster said the state legislature will consider that request next year.

“If that happens, it would come back from the state as a private act and require a two-thirds majority vote by our county commission before it could be approved,” Foster said.

Foster said the county commission visited the Wilson County Expo Center in October to get a first-hand look at what a similar facility could offer in Cumberland County.

“That’s kind of the base model that is being looked at,” Foster said. “I don’t know if it will be something like that, but that’s kind of the starting point.”

The facility would be built on vacant land within the 120-acre community complex property.