VIDALIA — With Mayor Hyram Copeland asking those in attendance to “have a little faith in us,” the board of Carter Street No. 1 Economic Development District pre-filed the ordinance that would allow it to take out $7 million in bonds for the Square on Carter project.

The board will be able to adopt the ordinance at its next meeting, though Copeland said that move is contingent on the approval of the Louisiana Bond commission.

“We are not going to do anything that will jeopardize the financial position of this town,” Copeland said. “Is there a possibility we will fail? Sure there is, but you never know until you try, and we have never failed on any of our other projects.”

The Vidalia Board of Aldermen voted last month to enter into an agreement with Carter Street No. 1 Economic Development District that would have the city provide the difference to any revenue shortfalls the economic district experiences when paying any bonds it takes out.

The district was created by an act of the aldermen in August 2014, and the aldermen appointed themselves as the governing authority — so the agreement is essentially the board of aldermen agreeing to back itself.

The district has officially applied for the Square on Carter project, a plan to purchase and develop the open acreage across the highway from Walmart with infrastructure to lure future development. The city’s master plan calls for the development to include residential and commercial developments.

The city — not acting as the economic development district — had previously applied for bonds to take on the project, but State Treasurer John Kennedy eventually shelved that application in late June after the state bond commission received legal advice from its attorney that the project might not meet constitutional muster.

The second attempt, to take out the development bonds through the economic district, was applied for last month. The state bond commission has not yet posted the agenda for its August meeting, which would indicate if the commission will hear and possibly approve the slightly restructured plan this month.

Copeland’s comments came after Vidalia resident and business owner Sabrina Dore asked a series of questions about the project, including how many residential structures will be put into it.

When Concordia Economic Development Executive Director Heather Malone said the project is still in the conceptual stage and future residential development will be further determined through community meetings, Dore said she was afraid additional residential development would devalue the local real estate market.

“I searched realtor.com this morning, and currently in the 71373 zip code there are 63 properties for sale, 38 in Vidalia city limits, and 32 of those are single-family dwellings,” Dore said. “Do you fear you are going to flood the market by lowering the value of current homes?”

Copeland said the goal of the city is to bring new industry and business into the area through projects such as the already under way development of the Vidalia port, and additional houses will be needed.

“We are going to fill those houses up, and we are going to bring more people to Vidalia,” he said.

When Dore presented the mayor with a spreadsheet listing the houses for sale in the area, he suggested she go to other towns and get a spreadsheet listing their houses for sale for comparison.

“I don’t live there, so I don’t care,” she said.

Dore likewise asked why the city has faith the property in question will sell since “the land has sat there undeveloped since Vidalia was formed.”

“All this time no one has ever been interested in coming in and developing the land, so why do you think Vidalia getting involved in it, buying the land and selling it, can offer something to a business?” she said. “How do you know we are not going to get stuck with a piece of land that isn’t going to get used?”

Malone said one of the issues the city has discussed with potential developers about the land was that it didn’t have infrastructure, and through the tax financing structure the city plans to use — which will only apply to businesses that build within the district — that infrastructure can be provided.

“It was a way for having the infrastructure put into a raw piece of land and have the taxes pay for that infrastructure over time,” she said.

Dore said she is not against the Square project on the whole.

“I would love to see businesses in the area, and I would love to see the 19 empty storefronts on Carter Street — I counted them today — filled,” she said. “What I am against is Vidalia becoming a Realtor.”

Copeland disputed Dore’s count of businesses, and said the only reason BASF and Fruit of the Loom were able to locate in Vidalia when they did was because the city already owned the property on which they located.

But Pam Clayton, whose family owns land in the Vidalia area and has developed a number of residential lots in the recent past, said she felt like the city owning the property would be an unfair advantage, at least to residential developers.

“I hate to be in competition with the Square,” she said. “I don’t see how it would be feasible for us to build and be in competition with it. You can’t put it on an uneven playing ground.”

In other news, Copeland announced the city is working to finalize the legal arrangement that will allow Malone to work for the City of Vidalia.

The Concordia Economic Development board has already agreed in principle to the arrangement, which will have the city pay a significant portion of Malone’s salary and in return have her dedicate 75 percent of her work to Vidalia-related projects.

Copeland said the arrangement will allow him to “take a backseat to our town’s economic development efforts.”

“Heather is a professional and has the knowledge and skills to bring about our efforts,” he said. “I am giving her full rein to implement an economic development plan for Vidalia.”

Concordia Economic Development has struggled financially in recent years, and the new arrangement is a positive solution to that struggle, Copeland said.