Progress in Our Community…This is What it Looks Like!
All too often I see posts on social media referencing a lack of growth in our community. Understanding the source of these remarks generally comes from a simple lack of knowledge. The fact is, we are blessed to live in a community with a healthy balance of industry, agriculture, and retail in Toccoa-Stephens County with cutting edge education for our children and excellent healthcare services.
Each month leadership from the city and county, the development authority, main street planning and zoning, our school system, hospital, and chamber of commerce sits around a table at the chamber office while each shares the latest news from their neck of the woods. Let me take this opportunity to pass along the latest happenings and recent accomplishments with you, straight from the folks on the frontline of growth in our community.
From a manufacturing and industry viewpoint, Brittany Ivey, President & CEO of our Stephens County Development Authority gave the recent update. “The biggest investment in our community came from our existing industries in 2023. At the end of 2023, our existing industries reported 50 new jobs created & and $17,110,000 invested in Stephens County. In addition, our existing industries announced plans to create 48 Jobs and invest $10,835,000 in 2024. In 2023 new companies announced the creation of 12 new jobs & $1M invested, and we are expecting $50M and 70 Jobs created from new industry in 2024.”
From a city perspective, our City of Toccoa Planning & Zoning Director, Jeremy Ward shared, "Progress should strike the balance between healthy growth while honoring our culture and history. I am particularly encouraged by the adaptive reuse projects underway downtown and beyond, with historic buildings being refurbished for exciting new uses."
From our historic downtown district, we are experiencing strong momentum and development. The growing number of new businesses downtown directly correlates with the public and private investment each year to properties, streets, and overall livelihood. Over the past two years, public and private investment totaling $7,331,855 has resulted in the addition of twenty new businesses with seven existing business expansions and 38 new jobs have been created in the process.
The completion of the Tugalo Street Greenspace this summer will coincide with the 150th Anniversary of the City of Toccoa's charter in 1874. This is a very special year for Toccoa, and the creation of this park will stand as a testament to our rich history, vibrant present, and the promising future we envision together.
Kristen Deal, City of Toccoa Main Street Manager said, “When looking at the progress of a city, success is measured in a few different ways. We can look at the numbers and facts, but I think the real inspiring factor is the rising levels of community engagement. The Historic Downtown is known as the heart of the city, and the sense-of-place you find here is rippled out into our community, bolstering a reputation of character, beauty, and quality of life - and it's all thanks to the people, families, and businesses that invest [their lives] here. Some of the highlights that add to Toccoa's upward trajectory include the steady influx of businesses opening and relocating here; the growing investments made each year in housing acquisition and renovations; and the quality annual events routinely met with the attendance of the community as well as traveling visitors.”
Christian Hamilton, Stephens County Administrator shared, “Progress is continuing, and at a rapid pace, in Stephens County. We continue to see increased development, both in our industries and in our housing stock. Over the last couple of years, we have invested in common-sense updates to our land use ordinances and other laws in an effort to direct this growth where it needs to be. We are wide open in Stephens County and looking forward to the next step toward our future as a community.”
From a healthcare standpoint, Stephens County Hospital was recently rated the 2nd highest rated hospital in the state amongst hospitals with 100 beds or less, in Georgia Trend's Top Hospital in Georgia list. Our Stephens County Hospital CEO, Van Loskowski shared, “2023 was a very exciting year at Stephens County Hospital. It started with the launch of our Tele-neurology partnership with Wellstar Health System in February. We now have 7 vascular neurologists from Wellstar who help to manage our stroke patients and keep patients close to home where previously, if you had a stroke, you needed to be transferred out of town.” We have also seen tremendous growth in our outpatient surgery through the addition of several new surgeons at SCH, with Dr. Cecil Brown at the helm. In the last two years, we've been able to more than double the volume of surgical cases being done in our hospital.”
“In October, we welcomed a new radiology group to our hospital. Radiology Partners, Inc. is our new provider of radiology services and their presence in Georgia in significant, serving 85 sites including Northside Hospital. This partnership aligned well with the announcement of our partnership with Northside Hospital and Northside Hospital Heart Institute. The Northside Hospital Heart Institute Cardiology Clinic will open this month, managing cardiology patients inside our hospital, allowing patients to see a Cardiologist without leaving town. All of this has been done to help ensure we are meeting the needs of our community and bringing stability to our health system.”
Needless to say, there is so much to be excited about as we witness and experience continued growth, economic development, excellence in education and expanding available healthcare services in Toccoa-Stephens County, right in the heart of rural northeast Georgia. Where the vision of your chamber of commerce is to cultivate a positive business climate, facilitate tourism and develop the local economy while promoting the outstanding quality of life in our community. We are all blessed to live in this amazing small town where the real meaning of community still exists.
