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Reprinted with permission from
The Courier=Times Online
Person County government is poised to authorize incentives worth $1.1 million to Force Protection Industries, the South Carolina armored vehicles manufacturer that plans to open its first North Carolina facility in the former Collins & Aikman Corp. Elm Plant here.
Force Protection, whose vehicles already are used by U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, announced in July that it would develop at the Halifax Road site a $31 million manufacturing operation to produce the company's new Cheetah line of light armored reconnaissance vehicles to complement FPI's heavy duty, bomb resistant Cougar and Buffalo armored vehicles. The company has said it intends to employ a minimum of 270 workers at its operation within four years.
The Person Board of County Commissioners will outline a $1.1 million incentive agreement between FPI and Person County for the first time Monday when it conducts a public hearing on its intention to appropriate money from the General Fund to assist FPI with its location here. In fact, the hearing will be one of three separate FPI-related hearings that will open the commissioners' regular mid-August meeting at 9 a.m. Monday. The two other hearings pertain to Force Protections petition for a zoning change for adjacent property as well as a requested special use permit that will be necessary for FPI's operation to function within the county-zoned Rural Conservation (RC) District. The incentive plan is detailed in a formal resolution that commissioners presumably propose to adopt after hearing from the public regarding use of county funds for FPI incentives. The resolution provides for the county to commit $1.1 million to a reserve fund, to be known as the Incentive Fund for Force Protection Inc., which would be used to pay for or to reimburse Force Protection for certain expenses related to the company's start up. But the company will be obliged to meet specified, periodic benchmarks in order for the county to make expenditures from the fund. According to the resolution, the assistance package would be contingent upon the expectation that Force Protection will generate a minimum of $31 million in new capital investment and create in excess of 270 new manufacturing jobs, a substantial number of which will pay at or above the median average wage in Person County and property tax revenues generated by this project will replace these funds in less than five years. Effectively acting as the county's agent in the arrangement will be the Person County Business and Industrial Center (PCBIC), a corporation established several years ago by arrangement between the county commissioners and the Person County Economic Development Commission as a means of furthering economic development in the county. The PCBIC can hold title to property, such as industrial shell buildings, and negotiate leases in the public interest as provided by state law. According to the resolution, the PCBIC will administer the FPI assistance program, which is to specifically include: · Acquisition by PCBIC of railroad property on the east side of Woodsdale Road (SR 1326) and development of a long term lease of that property, together with an adjacent rail spur to be leased by Norfolk Southern Corp., to FPI at a total cost to FPI over 10 years not to exceed $206,905. PCBIC would purchase the railroad property at a cost of $93,096, which apparently would be drawn from the special reserve fund. · PCBIC's acquisition options/contracts for acquisition by FPI, at the company's expense, of the former C&A property on Halifax Road plus additional properties on the south. The county apparently also would foot the bill for an environmental study and physical inspections relative to the site. · Relocation of a private access easement on the FPI property and construction of a portion of an alternate access easement at a cost not to exceed $270,000. · Construction of fencing around the FPI property at a cost not to exceed $750,000. · Assist FPI with roof repairs of the existing facility at a cost not to exceed $100,000. · Construction of an on-site neutral host to enhance cellular phone service at the FPI site; cost not to exceed $125,000. As justification for the assistance package for FPI, the county cites in the resolution certain public benefits to be derived, including increase in the property tax base, employment opportunities, tax revenues and business prospects in the County. The assistance proposal will be the subject of the third public hearing to be conducted by commissioners Monday. The first pertains to the company's petition to rezone three parcels it owns as part of its Halifax Road tract from Residential to RC. One property of more than 150 acres is partly in Woodsdale Township and already zoned RC, but another portion, including part of the existing Elm Plant, is in Roxboro Township and zoned Residential. Both of the other parcels - one 5.8 acres and the other 66.5 acres - are now zoned Residential. Because the properties would figure in FPI's potential expansion in the area, the company wants all the properties to have the same zoning. The second hearing on the commissioners agenda is FPIs petition for a special use permit to manufacture armored vehicles in the location. After its own separate hearings on the zoning and special use permit petitions, the Person County Planning Board has given a favorable recommendation to each, by a vote of 7-1. Other items on the agenda for Monday morning's meeting call for commissioners to: · Consider a concept plan for a major residential subdivision, The Woods at Moores Glen, proposed on Lewis Winstead Loop Road (SR 1203) in Olive Hill Township. The plan calls for development of six lots on a 64.4-acre tract. The plan has a favorable recommendation from the county planning board. · Discuss a proposed contract between Person County and the Animal Protection Society of Person County.
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| Reprinted with permission from The Courier=Times Online.
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