Gardendale council approves tax rebate to help new Tractor Supply store pay for ALDOT-mandated wall

Published 12:24 pm Tuesday, January 20, 2015

The developers of Gardendale’s new Tractor Supply Company store have run into a wall, or perhaps two.

Neither wall actually exists yet, but the Alabama Department of Transportation is requiring BT Gardendale Associates LLC to build two retaining walls at the entrance to the site, located on Decatur Highway in the northern part of the city.

That’s why the developers came to the Gardendale City Council on Monday night, asking for help in the form of a sales-tax rebate that would help pay the extra expense.

“ALDOT says that the slope of the land is too sharp, and might [interfere with] the right of way,” Brad Thomason of BT Gardendale told the council.

ALDOT is requiring a 240-foot retaining wall to be built on the northern side of the site, and a 125-foot wall on the southern side.

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The council approved a rebate of one-half of the 3-percent municipal sales tax that the TSC store will collect over its first two years in operation, in what was termed as a revenue-sharing agreement. The amount to be rebated is capped at $45,000, which Thomason said is the cost of the walls.

Groundbreaking is expected soon, after some remaining permits are issued, Thomason said.

The council also heard from Public Works Director Jeff Holliyan that work is scheduled to begin next week on repaving Tarrant Road. The project, funded by the state ATRIP transportation program, will take a week for repaving. Two weeks later, new stripes will be applied.

In other business, the council:

• Gave first reading to an ordinance that would rezone land at 877 Odum Road, behind Zaxby’s restaurant, from C-2 commercial Business to C-3 general business for a new auto body shop

• Approved new street lights for the Turnberry Highlands subdivision

• Renewed an agreement with the American Red Cross for using the Gardendale Civic Center as a shelter during weather emergencies

• Declared that last year’s new comprehensive zoning regulations superseded certain court-ordered zoning classifications and restrictive covenants that were in effect previous to the new law’s passage

• Awarded bids for an infield machine for ball fields, and for repainting the old Lighthouse building on Main Street