The Buzz: Here's what Taste & See Creamery is bringing to second location. Plus, an update on Bethel's $96M campus

"We thought it would be perfect, pizza and ice cream."

That’s what Taste & See Creamery co-owner Daniel Lee told me four years ago, months before his ice cream parlor opened next to Cinders Pizza in Market Square in downtown Redding.

And not long after Taste & See opened next to Cinders, Lee and his business partner, Jake Hornaday, bought the pizza parlor.

Pizza and ice cream has worked.

How about coffee?

Taste & See Creamery is preparing to open a second location in the former Madayne Eatery & Espresso space in the Hilltop Landing shopping center on north Hilltop Drive. Most recently the building was home to the Refuge Café, and before that YAKS was there for a short time.

For the record, former Madayne owners Ahab and Jessica Alhindi are the franchisee for the Redding Chick-fil-A, which opens March 11.

Taste & See’s new location will feature coffee, or as Lee told me, Taste & See’s take on it.

“I think coffee is something that we have wanted to get into,” said Lee, who hopes to open the second location in late spring. “It’s a great opportunity. There is a drive-thru and that side (of Redding) is under-represented with coffee.”

Taste & See will join Theory Coffee along Hilltop Drive. Theory plans to open a second location later this year in the Mt. Shasta Mall.

Complementing its ice cream, which features unique flavors like Mexican hot chocolate, will be Copa Vida coffee, which is based in Southern California.

“I think what we want to offer is that convenience to all customers, the time it gets to get your coffee and giving them that very high-quality coffee,” Lee said.

Taste & See recently hired three more people and expects to hire 10 more employees for the second location, Lee said.

"It's been difficult," Lee said of the pandemic. "It was hard in the beginning, but this community is amazing. When they say, Redding strong, that's reality."

Bethel’s new campus years away

It will be at least another five years before Bethel Church begins moving to its $96 million new campus off Collyer Drive in east Redding, administrator Charlie Harper said.

Harper, a member of the church’s senior leadership team, said the plan is to build the sanctuary building first. Grading work for the new campus could start this summer.

And Harper thinks Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry will continue to lease space for classes at the Redding Civic Auditorium for at least another seven years. The school will eventually relocate to the new campus.

Harper envisions School of Supernatural Ministry first-year students moving to the new campus first. They currently meet at the Redding Civic Auditorium.

“I would expect that we would utilize the civic for our second-year program when the first-year program is meeting at the new Collyer facility,” he said. “We currently do the second-year program at our College View facility, but before COVID we were approaching our maximum enrollment for that building, so it makes sense to me to be able to continue to grow that class utilizing the civic.”

The 171,708-square-foot campus will be built in phases and include 1,851 parking spaces and 300 bike racks. There will be a one-story worship center that seats 2,600 people and a two-story building for the School of Supernatural Ministry with classroom space for up to 3,000 students.

RELATED: Why the Redding Civic Auditorium operator, city leaders are determined to extend a lease

Bethel will build on a nearly 4-acre parcel at the intersection of Collyer Drive and Twin Tower Drive, east of Churn Creek Road on the north side of Highway 299.

The first phase of traffic work to accommodate the new campus is finished. Crews redid the south side of the Highway 299-Churn Creek Road intersection.

Bethel is spending about $10 million on the traffic improvements, which include road widening, new signals and two roundabouts.

Other traffic improvements to be done are:

• On north side of the Highway 299-Churn Creek interchange, two roundabouts will be built
• At the Collyer Drive and Ridgewood Road intersection
• The installation of a traffic signal at the north side of the Highway 299-Old Oregon Trail interchange
• The installation of a traffic signal at the Old Oregon Trail and College View intersection

“All of the offsite improvements such as traffic are a prerequisite for occupancy of that first sanctuary building as they are driven by the seating capacity of that building and the traffic generated by the Sunday services,” Harper said.

Flights to LA are back

Canceled last spring due to the pandemic, United Express flights to Los Angeles International Airport return to Redding on March 5.

The revived service arrives from L.A. at 2:34 p.m. and departs at 3:30 p.m. 

United also will offer one flight to San Francisco in March, leaving at 8:30 a.m. and returning at 7:41 p.m.

Meanwhile, United’s March schedule in and out of Redding is very sporadic.

For example, there will be no flights to and from Los Angeles on Tuesdays and Thursdays in March. And on March 11, March 18 and March 25, there is just one flight arriving from San Francisco — no departures out of Redding on those days.

“I haven’t had the chance to ask why but I can only assume it’s due to logistical needs,” Redding Airports Manager Jim Wadleigh emailed about the irregular schedule.

"We're hoping it stabilizes as time goes on."

United Airlines and SkyWest, which does business as United Express in Redding, did not return messages sent Friday morning seeking comment.

RELATED: Here's when Redding flights to Los Angeles could restart. Will service to Denver follow?

“We do know that many flights to SFO in March will utilize their 50-seater regional jet and their 70-seater regional jet. LAX appears to have the 50-seater only,” Wadleigh said.

Wadleigh hopes United will add another flight to San Francisco by the summer.

The city on Tuesday applied for a $1.2 million Small Community Air Service Development federal grant with a 20% local match to help it land flights to Denver. The city could know by the fall if it received it, Wadleigh said.

The grant would provide revenue guarantee funds to add roundtrip service to Denver.

Wadleigh said flights to Denver could start in spring or summer 2022 if Redding gets the grant.

Stay tuned.

Baugh fundraising after censure

Shasta County Supervisor Les Baugh is using his censure to sell hats with the proceeds going to the needy who get free vegetables from the Anderson Community Garden, South County Food Bank, and Good News Rescue Mission, he stated on Facebook on Feb. 22.

The fundraiser comes days after Baugh announced on Facebook that he is running for re-election in 2022.

On Feb. 2, Baugh and Supervisor Patrick Jones were censured for defying a county ordinance and opening the Board of Supervisors chambers to the public for the Jan. 5 meeting. A day later, supervisors voted 3-2 to reopen the chambers.

The red, white, blue, black and gray baseball cap has an American flag with the words:

“CENSURE ME

I STAND WITH BAUGH“ with #LoveShasta underneath.

The hats are $20 apiece.

California Fair Political Practices Commission spokesman Jay Wierenga told me that it’s OK to sell campaign merchandise and give the profits to a charity or nonprofit.

“Generally speaking, what is required is for a campaign to purchase any paraphernalia through its campaign account, as it would be a campaign expenditure, just as, say, buying advertising,” Wierenga said in an email. “Again, generally speaking, a campaign has to record campaign contributions (those who donate) and all expenditures (what the campaign spends the money on).”

Baugh said he has raised just over $1,000 and that Becca's Cafe in Anderson sold out of the hats on the first day.

"Another order (is) coming in next week," Baugh said Friday.

Ask the Record Searchlight this Thursday

The Record Searchlight will host a live chat at 10 a.m. Thursday.

We encourage readers to submit questions. Maybe you’re wondering about something that is going on around town, or have questions on other issues. We want to know and will do our best to answer.

You can submit questions by emailing RRSEdit@redding.com, via Twitter by tagging @BreakingNews_RS or @DavidBenda_RS, or messaging the Record Searchlight’s Facebook page.

READ MORE BUZZ:

• Three steam whistles in downtown Redding as tribute to city's past, a trendy future
• This new bakery in Redding is more than a marriage of pie and bread
• Why 2021 brings new possibilities for Redding's riverfront
• U-Haul says Redding top growth city in 2020. Here's who also made the list.

David Benda covers business, development and anything else that comes up for the USA TODAY Network in Redding. He also writes the weekly "Buzz on the Street" column. He’s part of a team of dedicated reporters that investigate wrongdoing, cover breaking news and tell other stories about your community. Reach him on Twitter @DavidBenda_RS or by phone at 1-530-225-8219. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today.