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Reprinted with permission from
The Courier=Times Online
Person County’s newest industry pulled off a trifecta of sorts Monday, as the Person Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved a zoning change, a special use permit and a $1.1 million package of incentives for Force Protection Industries.
Separate public hearings conducted by commissioners Monday on Force Protection’s petitions for rezoning portions of is Halifax Road property and for a special use permit to manufacture armored vehicles in the county’s Rural Conservation district brought not a whisper of opposition to either. And similarly there was no negative reaction during yet a third hearing pertaining to the county government’s multi-element plan to assist the Ladson, S.C.-based company start building its Cheetah-brand mine-resistant vehicle in the former Collins & Aikman Corp. Elm Plant.
Shortly after the hearings, commissioners, in rapid succession, authorized the zoning change and special user permit as requested, plus the incentives package totaling $1.1 million, which included the required county match for two grants awarded the county to assist with the Force Protection location here — one a $40,000 grant from the Rural Center and the other a $500,000 grant from the Governor’s One North Carolina fund.
The triple action in FPI’s favor effectively gave the company the green light to proceed with launching its operation, which will supply the Cheetah reconnaissance vehicle to the U. S. military as well as for domestic use by the Home Security Department. The Cheetah will complement FPI’s heavier-duty Cougar and Buffalo-brand bomb resistant armored vehicles produced at the firm’s South Carolina facility.
In accordance with the incentive agreement with the county, Force Protection is committed to a minimum investment of $31 million and employment of a minimum 270 people at the Person County within four years.
But county economic leaders told commissioners Monday that they fully expect FPI to exceed both those minimum levels while also initially bringing the county property tax revenue of at least $217,000. The also indicated that the county would recoup the $1.1 million incentives price tag easily within five years.
James E. Stovall, chairman of the Person County Economic Development Board, made the Monday pitch encouraging approval of the incentives plan by commissioners, who, in fact, had tentatively acceded to the package in principle during a July meeting closed to the public and the press. Monday’s action made it official.
Stovall said FPI was on schedule to begin production by October or November this year and could turnout some 200 Cheetahs in the first quarter of 2008. It anticipates producing 2,000 units for the entire year.
Updating commissioners on progress so far, Stovall said FPI had begun converting the 430,000-square-foot Elm Plant for its use and was hiring key management personnel as well as assembly workers. The company, Stovall said, was “extremely pleased with our worker pool” and has conveyed such to development leaders here. FPI has projected employment as ahead of schedule, Stovall indicated. He said also that the company was appreciative of the assistance it has received from Roxboro Employment Security Commission Office Manager Roxie Russell and her staff and Piedmont Community College.
Force Protection Executive Vice President Dan Busher is to be the guest speaker at a Sept. 26 Roxboro Area Chamber of Commerce Coffee Hour, Stovall related.
In approving the incentives package, commissioners earmarked $1.1 million in a special reserve fund and authorized the Person County Business and Industrial Center (PCBIC) to administer disbursements from the fund periodically as FPI meets certain investment and employment benchmarks within the next four years. Created in the early 1990s, at the recommendation of the N.C. Department of Commerce, expressly to assist with such development efforts, the PCBIC, Stovall reminded commissioners, aided with the location of GKN, Wolverine Tube, Louisiana Pacific Corp. and, more recently, Spuntech. The PCBIC owns remaining acreage in the PCBIC park on the Durham Road and North Park north of Roxboro.
As part of the FPI package, the PCBIC will acquire a third property, a railroad siding on the east side of Woodsdale Road, at a cost of $93,0966, and lease it to FPI long term at a nominal cost of $1 a year. An adjacent rail spur line owned by Norfolk Southern Corp. also is to be leased to the company.
Other elements of the package involve:
• 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. Stovall said both FPI and the U. S. Defense Department require the fencing, but he indicated the installation would cost less than the authorized figure.
• Assist FPI with roof repairs of the existing facility at a cost not to exceed $100,000. Stovall noted, however, that the full cost of needed roof repairs ranges between $2.3 and $2.5 million.
• Construction of an on-site “neutral host” to enhance cellular phone service at the FPI site, because cell phone service in the area is “very weak.” The cost of that facility is not to exceed $125,000.
The zoning action authorized by commissioners Monday rezoned from Residential to Residential Conservation (RC) three parcels FPI owns as part of its Halifax Road tract. One 150-plus-acre tract is partly in Woodsdale Township and already zoned RC, but another portion, including part of the existing Elm Plant, is in Roxboro Township and was zoned Residential. Both of the other parcels — one 5.8 acres and the other 66.5 acres — also were zoned Residential. Heretofore Roxboro Township had no RC districts.
The zoning change had a favorable recommendation from the Person County Planning Board, as did FPI’s petition for a special use permit to operate an armored vehicle manufacturing facility within RC districts. Commissioners approved the permit without dissent.
During the respective zoning and permit hearings, Glen Newsome, executive director of the Person County Economic Development Commission, spoke in support of approval. In fact, Newsome was the sole speaker in both those hearings. He pointed out during the permit hearing that FPI’s testing range for its vehicles is in South Carolina, and indicating that any testing of the Cheetah vehicle’s explosive resistance would not be done in Person County.
Encouraging commissioners to issue the permit, Newsome said FPI’s presence “further diversifies our tax base.” And the jobs offered by the company, he said, “are U.S. jobs that won’t be going overseas.”
Newsome said Force Protection represented a “huge shot in the arm for our community.”
Stovall in his remarks referred to FPI as “a wonderful company and wonderful people to work with.”
Commissioners approved the incentives package with virtually no discussion. But Commissioner Larry Yarborough commented that the $1.1 million was a “good deal” for the county with “one-time money.”
Noting that the county will reap a payback within five years provided FPI meets all requirements, Yarborough added, “Any businessman would be very pleased to make that kind of investment that gives you that kind of payback. … I think this is a very good investment for the county.”
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| Reprinted with permission from The Courier=Times Online.
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