Friday, October 23rd, 2015
Road upgrade fund studied for proposed area chicken farm
By Shelley Grieshop
ST. HENRY - Mercer County Commissioners are seeking to create a taxing method to finance roadwork for a proposed pullet farm on Fleetfoot Road.
Commissioners on Thursday set Dec. 1 as the date for a public hearing on a proposed tax increment finance exemption related to the planned animal feeding facility by WDC Egg LLC of Fort Recovery.
The TIF, if approved, would over 10 years or less divert 75 percent of the tax on the value of real property improvements at the site in Granville Township to pay for an estimated $200,000 of roadwork needed for increased traffic.
The county would pay upfront costs for the road improvements and receive reimbursement through the TIF.
The TIF must be established before improvements begin at the site, commissioner Rick Muhlenkamp stressed.
"That's why we're acting on this at this time," he said.
Muhlenkamp noted the TIF would become effective only if the permit application for the poultry operation is approved by the Ohio Department of Agriculture. The application is pending, according to spokeswoman Cassie Jo Arends of Cooper Farms, an investor in the proposed facility.
Information on the permit application was not immediately available from ODA. The planned facility would be located northeast of St. Henry but further details about the site and operations were not released.
Arends said the facility likely would be operational by early next year if the permit is approved.
County engineer Jim Wiechart - whose office is responsible for maintaining area roadways - in July received notification about the planned layer egg farm from Jim Cooper of WDC Egg.
To accommodate the anticipated increase in traffic, the engineer's office would widen and resurface Fleetfoot Road from the north line of Granville Township south to Carthagena Road with spot shoulder improvements. Crews also would resurface Carthagena Road from U.S. 127 to the village of St. Henry, Wiechart said.
According to WDC Egg, weekly traffic to the proposed facility would include about 115 egg, feed and manure trucks and five others to load and unload hens. The company also estimated 43 employee cars would enter/exit the site each day.
