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The Troup County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to eliminate two tax allocation districts (TAD) due to a lack of development in the districts. The two dissolved TADS were the Commercial Gateway and the Veteran’s Village tax allocation districts.

The Commercial Gateway and Veteran’s Village were established several years ago, County Manager Eric Mosley said, and were requested to be canceled due to a lack of development on either parcel. The cancellation of the TADs is a joint agreement between the city of LaGrange, the county and the Troup County Board of Education.

TADs are defined areas where real estate property tax monies gather above a certain threshold. Following a certain period of time, they can to be used for a specified improvement.

Commission Chairman Patrick Crews explained the TADS were put in place to incentivize growth in the specified areas when there was less development occurring.

“We find ourselves in a different situation today where we’re seeing a lot of development going on throughout the county,” he said. “Whether we need to incentivize that anymore is really a question.”

The Veterans Village site is located at 1705 Hamilton Road off I-85, the site of former American Legion Baxter L. Schaub Post #75. The Commercial Gateway TAD is a 300-acre parcel on the southside of I-85 between Whitesville Road and Hamilton Road.

Dan Smith, deputy chief appraiser of Troup County, said there had been talks of bringing businesses like big box stores to the Commercial Gateway TAD, but such plans fell through. Smith said it is possible the two TADS could be resurrected in the future if the need was warranted.

According to the 2016 LaGrange Gateway Corridors Plan, the original plan for the Veterans Village TAD was to include multifamily rental, senior rental, multifamily and single-family for-sale or lease-to-purchase, civic buildings and retail.

Smith said the Veterans Village TAD and the Commercial Gateway TAD are the only two out of the original five that were not implemented. The other three were fully funded and implemented.

The newest TAD was implemented on Davis Road on the Mill Creek property. Plans for the TAD are being submitted to the city of LaGrange for approval and will incorporate the construction of two big box stores and an apartment complex, Smith said. Another TAD included the LaGrange Mall. The LaGrange Mall plans to add two more buildings on its property. The Town Center TAD was added in 2017 when the Marriott Hotel in Downtown LaGrange was being constructed.