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Warehouse developer outlines LERTA request; supervisors ask for tax impact and school/county participation
Summary
A developer presented a Local Economic Revitalization Tax Abatement (LERTA) proposal for a proposed 100,000‑sq‑ft cold‑storage warehouse at 3115 Old State Road; the board asked for concrete tax‑impact figures and school/county participation and heard resident concerns about farmland loss and corporate‑welfare guarantees.
A developer seeking a Local Economic Revitalization Tax Abatement (LERTA) for a proposed cold‑storage warehouse at 3115 Old State Road briefed the West Rockhill supervisors and residents on the project’s size, tentative job numbers and requested tax‑abatement structure.
The presenter (identified in the record as Zach/Zin) said the first phase would be about 100,000 square feet and could add roughly 40 jobs; he asked whether the township would support a 10‑year tax abatement on improvements. Bob Cormack of the Bucks County Economic Development Corporation described the LERTA program as an abatement on improvements (not the existing tax base) with incremental increases over a 10‑year schedule (10% in year one, rising in subsequent years) and said the program has been used throughout Pennsylvania since 1976.
Board questions and public concerns: supervisors asked whether the school district and county would participate (the presenter said he had contacted the school district and received a positive initial response); board members requested a clearer breakdown of the short‑ and long‑term tax impact to township taxpayers. Several residents objected to developing farmland, asked for guarantees that a company would repay abatements if it left before the term ended, and urged the board to disclose precise dollar impacts before endorsing any abatement.
Outcome: the board did not adopt a LERTA authorization tonight; supervisors asked staff to gather and present precise tax‑impact numbers and to confirm participation by the school district and county before the board considers formal approval.
Quote: “LERTA is an abatement on the improvement to the property — the original tax base does not dissolve,” Bob Cormack said as he described how the program phases abatements over a 10‑year period.
Next steps: developers will return with clarified tax‑impact calculations and any formal agreements from the school district or county; the board asked for a 30–60 day update timeline depending on the presenters’ ability to supply the requested figures.
