Hamilton Council authorizes Growing Alabama application to prepare I-22 Industrial Park sites

Hamilton City on May 16 authorized staff to execute an application to the State Department of Commerce's Growing Alabama tax-credit program to fund site-preparation work at parcels in the Hamilton I-22 Industrial Park.

Tom, who presented the proposal to the council, described Growing Alabama as a tax-credit program in which Alabama taxpayers can allocate a portion of state taxes to economic-development organizations to fund projects. He said the application would seek site preparation for two adjacent parcels at the front of the industrial park: one of about 3 acres intended for a roughly 25,000-square-foot speculative building, and the other approximately 9.5 acres intended for a 50,000-square-foot pad that could be expanded.

Tom told the council that third-party contractor bids had been solicited as required by the Growing Alabama program and that the low base bid for clearing, grading, topsoil excavation and related pad work was $1,467,000 (identified in the meeting as the low bid). He said that Growing Alabama would cover that amount without a local match for the construction items covered by the program. Tom also advised the council that, “in the event that there's some cost overages, the city would be expected to pay for those.” He described additional engineering, permitting and geotechnical testing work that the city would pay or include in the application, but the meeting transcript contains inconsistent figures for that engineering/testing line-item and does not provide a definitive city-commitment amount.

Tom said there is a “warm lead” interested in occupying the 25,000-square-foot building, which reduces speculative risk compared with building without an identified prospect. He described the work as site grading, pad construction and quality assurance testing to produce market-ready parcels that can shorten the development timeline for prospective tenants.

Council members voted to authorize execution of the application; a motion and a second were recorded and the mayor announced the item was approved. City staff said the mayor's signature page and notarization would be completed in the city office.

The council discussion noted two practical points: (1) Growing Alabama requires third-party contractor bids and (2) the city could be responsible for overruns on costs not covered by the program. No ordinance or budget appropriation was adopted during the call meeting; the authorization was for execution of the application.