WAYNESVILLE — David Day would be looking at a 45-minute trip down Interstate 40 should he drive from his Asheville video game arcade to where a rock slide shut down the highway near the Tennessee line.

But that's not to say, in Day's estimation, that the closure hasn't hurt his business, which on a good day packs in families to play miniature golf, ride go-carts or pump tokens into the games.

The federal government agreed, and loaned Fun Depot $187,800 to help offset losses from the closure, now entering its fifth month.

The company was one of 15 to share in $1.4 million in U.S. Small Business Administration loans to businesses affected by the rock slide.

Others getting the low-interest loans include a bar in Waynesville, an insurance agent in Tennessee and a business in Hendersonville, according to records obtained by the Citizen-Times under the Freedom of Information Act.

More than half of businesses awarded loans lie far from either the rock slide, interstate, or both, something noteworthy given complaints that promises of aid have either been empty or out of reach.

At the Comfort Inn just off Interstate 40 in Canton, Anil Patel said he recently went a week with no customers.

The SBA told him he didn't qualify for a loan because his business could weather the closure, Patel said.

The loans of up to $2 million come with a 4 percent interest rate and must be repaid within 30 years, with deadlines set based on ability to pay.
Widespread impact

Some business owners approved for the loans said they have yet to get the money and their need shows how the I-40 closure has affected business over a wide area.

Businesses within Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Madison, Swain and Transylvania counties can apply for the loans, along with Cocke and Sevier counties in Tennessee.

Day was approved for $364,500 in loans for the Fun Depot and Brookstone Lodge, businesses he owns with his wife, Mary Beth Day,

Day's accountant heard about the loans, and his company, Day Associates, applied for them about a month ago, he said.

“I have not gotten either one of those yet. It has been approved, but they're in the process of checking titles and stuff,” Day said.

Receipts for Fun Depot show business is off by about 10 percent, Day said.

He estimates business at the lodge also is off about 10 percent, but said he doesn't know how much of the decline came as a result of the economy and how much was from the rock slide.

Fun Depot gets much of its business from group sales and bus tours visiting the region, both which have been affected by the rockslide, Day said.

“It's an inconvenience for people to drive an extra hour in one direction coming down from Johnson City (Tenn.),” he said.

H.P. Patel, owner of V & S Hospitality, Inc., which runs the Best Western Biltmore East on Tunnel Road, said business is down 25-30 percent since the rock slide.

“Customers will be calling (to make) reservations, and they'll be asking whether the interstate's been reopened,” he said. “If we tell them it's closed on that side, they'll say, ‘Oh, well. We'll just come back in a few months.' They are completely detouring Asheville.”

Patel was awarded a $166,100 SBA loan.

Kevin Beauchesne, owner of cabin rental company Smoky Mountain Enterprises in Bryson City, had a similar experience.

He has 17 cabins near Great Smoky Mountains National Park. After the rock slide, visitors who had planned on a trip were unsure whether they could reach Bryson City.

Bryson City, off U.S. 19 in Swain County, wasn't isolated by the rock slide. But, Beauchesne said, there was enough confusion among travelers that his business took a hit.
Some give up hope

The SBA handed out 130 applications to businesses considering asking for help because of the rock slide, according to a report from U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler's office.

But confusion and frustration with the application process could have driven down interest, said Kevin Baron, director of government affairs for the Petaluma, Calif.-based American Small Business League, an SBA watchdog.

“It has become such a hassle, especially in a situation like this,” Baron said “This has been one of our ongoing complaints with them.”

Beauchesne said the SBA loan process was rigorous and he considered dropping out.

“I had to show statements showing where we were before, after, now and where we would typically be,” he said. “My guess on why a lot of people don't bother pursuing it is its pretty in-depth. You have to document everything.”

Beauchesne said the $78,800 loan he got was a good deal because he had already tapped all of his available credit.

The SBA requires that a business spend all of its assets before getting a disaster loan, business owners said.

At the same time, the business must prove to the government that it is viable and can repay the debt.

SBA spokesman Jack Camp said most of the loans went to businesses that rely on tourism, which generally relies on interstate travel in WNC.

He did not answer questions about specific businesses. He said there was not a finite amount of money for the disaster.

Becky Robinson, owner of Waynesville's Water'N Hole, said she applied for a loan because her business dropped 35 percent from October to November.

The business is about 10 minutes off Interstate 40 and outside of the core downtown area, but still relies somewhat on tourists, Robinson said

The Water'N Hole got a $17,300 loan, which Robinson said helped but was still too little.

She was hoping to use the money to make changes that would have saved her money.

“We were hoping to get a little bit more,” she said.

Others getting loans, Merchant Sanjay in Hendersonville and Timothy Williams in Newport, Tenn., could not be reached for comment.

Some people might also have been frustrated in trying to get a loan because businesses could only apply for a loan based on the N.C. Department of Transportation's three-month timeline for getting the road open.

The business couldn't count the month of weather delays that have pushed that opening to late April in making their requests.

Baron said reform is needed to make sure that money gets to the small businesses that deserve it.

“This is the lender of last resort and to tell them you don't qualify — it's not right,” he said.

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Source:  http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20100307/NEWS01/303070042/1009&theme=ROCKSLIDE