Cottonwood Corners could get tax cut

Dothan city commissioners discussed granting Brownfield tax abatement status to a large development project on Ross Clark Circle Tuesday.

On the administrative agenda was an item to approve a tax incentive application under the Alabama Brownfield Development Tax Abatement Act of 2004 for Institutional Investments Corporation (Aronov), a Montgomery-based development company that wants to develop this corner and the John D. Odom/U.S. 84 West intersection.

Cottonwood Corners, a 69,600-square-foot shopping center, and Westway, an 87,415-square-foot facility, are both expected to open in 2010. Cottonwood Corners will be constructed first, giving Dothan shoppers its first Publix supermarket. Publix will be the anchor store at both sites.

Brownfield status is granted by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.

The Brownfield Act allows a local government to set aside all mortgage and recording taxes and state and local sales taxes and ad valorem taxes, except those designated for education. The property tax abatement on this 16-acre site is for 20 years and is estimated to save the developer about $64,000 a year.

Brownfield status is granted to developers who are putting back into use a site that may have hazardous substances, pollutants or contaminants. The cost to clean-up such sites can be cost prohibitive for redevelopment without tax incentives.

While commissioners agreed to move the item forward for a vote in two weeks, some commissioners questioned the need to exempt the whole site. Commissioner Amos Newsom said the work at the former site, General Trailer, a semi-trailer manufacturing company, was limited to inside a hangar. The plant existed for several years, however, and was operating long before the Environmental Protection Agency was even established, in 1970.

It would not have been uncommon for oils, gas, and other contaminants to be spilled anywhere on the site, officials said.

Commissioner Keith Seagle also questioned why the tax abatement had to be for so long. Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce President Matt Parker said that is a commission decision, but depending on the extent of the contaminants, cleanup could be $20,000 or $2 million.

Parker recommends approval of the application, based on the fact that it is a $16 million project which will create more than 200 new jobs and carry an annual payroll of $5.4 million to $5.8 million in its first three years of operation.

“This was an opportunity for that site,” Parker said. “There are some recognizable conditions, some things that warranted further investigation from an environmental standpoint. There was a Phase II investigation and any developer of that site wanted to be sure they can limit their exposure.”

Seagle said Monday he needs more information before he can vote. He wants to know how many Brownfield sites have been declared in the state.

“Is this really necessary to get the development going, or is it another form of corporate welfare,” he said.

The Brownfield application must also go to the Houston County Commission for approval.

Cottonwood Corners will be home to a 45,600-square-foot Publix and will have 15 retail spaces and five outparcels. The project is located in District 3 and city commissioner Paul Lee said he will vote for it.

“There are a lot of senior citizens in this area who will like the convenience of having a grocery store and other retail development close by. We are always glad to see new construction and we are fortunate to have the potential for growth in our city,” Lee said. “We are very fortunate on our side of town to have the growth.”

A year ago, the city granted Brownfield status to a new Slocomb National Bank, operating as Friend Bank at Ross Clark Circle and West Main Street. It was the site of a former gas station and became the first Brownfield redevelopment site in the state. The bank will open this summer.