The future for more industry in Senoia could be a company with a large, campus-like setting.

That's the verdict 21st Century Coweta president Scott Frederick delivered to the Senoia City Council last week.

Frederick appeared before the council to talk about some of the activities the organization currently has underway. For the last four years, Senoia was an active contributor to the organization, but declined to participate this year.

Frederick said the organization is getting ready to embark on implementing the Vision 2020 plan that was created last year by 21st Century and community leaders.

The plan provides a road map for the county maintaining its quality of life, while still attracting industrial prospects to lower the tax burden on property owners.

Once the plan gets implemented, Frederick said the county will be one of the few in the nation to move forward in such an aggressive manor.

Market Street Services is implementing the plan at a cost of $97,000. Frederick hopes to see his budget doubled in the next few years and said industrial developers around the country are taking a look at Coweta County. After months of research, Coweta County has a vision for the future, he said.

Vision 2020 outlines a strategic growth outline for economic development in the county and was funded by the county, the city of Newnan, Peachtree Regional Hospital, the Coweta County School System, the Newnan-Coweta Chamber of Commerce and 21st Century Coweta.

The vision outlines five goals for the county.

The plan calls for two additional exits on Interstate 85 that will be used for future industrial and commercial development.

The goals that Vision 2020 advocates are:

Building a stronger economy. One of the ways to expand the economy would be to make the county a prime location for new technology-based companies. The plan suggests the county seek companies that emerge elsewhere in the Atlanta region and offer incentives to lure them to the county.

The plan also calls for the county to become a regional center for corporate offices, such as insurance and telecommunication companies.

Strengthening work force skills.

The plan advocates lowering the high school dropout rate in the county by 50 percent in the next five years and increasing adult high school equivalency graduates by 50 percent.

Other ways of strengthening the work force include creating programs through the school system to train workers and lowering the student-pupil ratio in the county's schools.

Improving the physical infrastructure for business.

The biggest part of this goal would be creating a county-wide master plan for infrastructure development that would insure water and sewer service would be available for office and commercial development along the I-85 corridor.

Expanding private business services.

Two parts of this goal include building a high-quality conference center to introduce more people to the county and creating speculative office and industrial space.

Protecting the quality of life.

The plan calls for county-wide design guidelines that will help retain the county's small town look.

Frederick said he wants to make sure that Senoia keeps its small town feel, but said there's no reason an industry that would use the heavily forested area around the city for a campus-like headquarters would not work.

Mayor Joan Trammell agreed with Frederick.

“We certainly need the jobs,” she said.

Frederick said he would update the council periodically on progress in implementing the Vision 2020 plan and encouraged the council to join in his efforts.

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