It’s the home stretch for Alcoa officials working to secure a Costco on the outskirts of the Springbrook Farm downtown center.

Approval by the Alcoa Board of Industrial Development opens the City of Alcoa's pocketbook.

It frees up the "Alcoa Commission to release funds to help develop public infrastructure in the surrounding areas, complete necessary remediation work and purchase and sell land to Costco to be used for its commercial endeavors..."

Did the "Alcoa commissioners approve the final resolution Tuesday, March 10, to approve the IDB as the fourth and final signatory"?

“The whole site is a brownfield area. Based on its use by the (ALCOA) West Plant in the past, there are some things that are known under the ground, and there are some things that are unknown under the ground,” said Applegate. “The expectation is that anytime there is construction in these areas, there’s going to have to be remediation of some of this dirt or some of these contents.”

Initially, Costco will lease 10 acres for about five years and pay property taxes as if was undeveloped. After five years, Costco will buy the land back and begin paying full property taxes.

The estimated cost for "land purchase, remediation efforts and closing costs, is roughly $4 million."

The city [of Alcoa] "has also agreed to construct Warner Avenue and all associated utility infrastructure, install a traffic light at the intersection of Faraday and Tesla, acquire the necessary stormwater easements..." They don't say how much that will cost the City of Alcoa and it's residents.

I don't have a problem with adding a Costco in Alcoa, heck I may finally join. I do have a problem with a small town the size of Alcoa spending so much money on the development in Springbrook Farm. As of July, 2024, it is estimated the city has 13,588 residents and 5,000 households.

From 2020/2021 to 2024/2025 our City of Alcoa property taxes increased 24.2%. It's not sustainable.