Gardendale council approves incentives for Tractor Supply Company store, over neighbors’ objections

Published 4:42 pm Tuesday, October 7, 2014

The Gardendale City Council approved an incentive package for a new store on the city’s north side — but not without the objections of nearby residents.

The new Tractor Supply Company (TSC) store would be located at 2626 Decatur Highway, north of Mt. Olive Parkway and Moncrief Road. The store would be built on a parcel which backs up to Vann Road, which runs parallel to the highway there.

Jim Aaron, whose house on Vann Road would be across from the rear of the store, objected to the location.

“It’s a terrible, terrible choice — it’s a wetland,” Aaron told the council.

Brad Thomason, who runs BT and Associates — the development company employed by TSC to build its stores — told the council during a public-hearing session that what he believed was a ditch running through the tract was indeed classified as a wetland by federal regulators.

“We will have to purchase credits that will go toward wetlands [elsewhere],” Thomason said.

The incentive package would pay for required improvements on Decatur Highway, up to a maximum of $100,000.

Still, Aaron promised that his objections to the project would not stop.

“We are not going to go quietly into that dark night,” he said.

The council also approved another incentive package, this one for a new Dollar General store that is already under construction at the corner of Tarrant Road and New Castle Road.

The package provides for rebates of half of the city’s sales tax receipts from the store, for a maximum of 60 months or until reaching $51,000.

The store is being built on land that was recently annexed into the city.

“This [incentive] makes up the difference needed for the store to meet the city’s masonry ordinance,” Council President Stan Hogeland said.

Zoning ordinances that require additional brickwork and masonry on a business’ facade were approved in the past year by the council.

Also Monday, the city council unanimously approved a new budget for the 2015 fiscal year, which actually began on Oct. 1.

Mayor Othell Phillips said that the budget figures were based “conservatively” on the past three fiscal years, but also includes an additional $250,000 in sales tax revenue. That’s what the city anticipates receiving from new stores opening during the fiscal year, such as Publix, Starbucks, T.J. Maxx and Burger King.

“It’s the most precise budget we could come up,” Phillips said.

The council also approved retirement contributions for city employees to be counted as pre-income tax benefits, instead of post-tax as has been past practice.

Tier 1 employees will receive a contribution of 7.5 percent to their retirement funds, while Tier 2 employees will get 6 percent. City Clerk Melissa Honeycutt said the changes in take-home pay “will not be significant.”

In other business, the council:

• approved a 1.5-percent cost of living adjustment for all full-time employees, plus part-time employees under the merit system
• voted to demolish structures at 636 Bradley Drive and 1217 Colonial Avenue as public nuisances
• hired Ashley Murphy as a new school crossing guard.