Cullman County Commission office.

The Tyson-owned rendering plant that sustained major fire damage in southern Cullman County is preparing new construction to bolster its operations, after working at limited capacity since a pair of fires struck the facility last summer.

At its regular meeting Tuesday, the Cullman County Commission approved a non-education tax abatement for a new building planned at the River Valley Ingredients plant, located near Hanceville on County Road 508. The $9,532,875 abatement green lights the new construction project along the Mulberry Fork, which will replace the heavily-damaged building that burned on July 30 of last year.

“This will be built on a new piece of property farther from the river, which should help to prevent [environmental runoff] situations that they’ve had in the past,” explained Cullman Economic Development Agency project manager Stanley Kennedy.

“Over 10 years, this project will create $6.5 million for local schools, and will help to retain hundreds of jobs, as well as help a company that has been part of Cullman County for a long time continue to operate in our community. A lot of regional poultry farmers are dependent on the success of this operation.”

Known locally since its 1960s construction as the American Proteins plant, the Tyson facility, whose Cullman County location is known as River Valley Ingredients, processes animal fats for use in animal feed. A portion of the facility has continued to operate well beneath its functional capacity since last year’s fire. The plant employs more than 270 people, according to information provided by the county commission.

In a separate tax measure, the commission also ratified a $218,396 non-eduation tax abatement for an expansion project at the Inland Buildings facility (owned by Schulte Building Systems) located on U.S. Highway 31 in south Cullman. The planned $3.35 million expansion, said Kennedy, is expected to create 50 new jobs with an average salary of $50,000 per position.