Economy

JeffCo Commissioners Excited to Talk Smack After Thursday Development Vote

Jefferson County Commissioner Steve Ammons (Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.)

Jefferson County Commissioner Steve Ammons was very careful when asked if a “sweet” deal was on its way to Jefferson County.

“I’m not going there,” he said following Tuesday’s commission committee meeting. “I can neither confirm nor deny.”

Commissioners moved to Thursday’s agenda three resolutions related to a business development that plans to come to Jefferson Metropolitan Industrial Park in McCalla.

“I’d say it’s a very good deal for everybody,” he said following today’s commission committee meeting, adding that while there has been some press about the development, identified on the agenda as Project 6449, county officials are under a non-disclosure agreement until the deal is done on Thursday.

Ammons was referring to a Birmingham Business Journal article that said public records show 6449 LLC shares an address — One Strawberry Lane in Orrville, Ohio — with the corporate headquarters of J.M. Smucker Co., a major producer of jam, jelly, peanut butter and other food and drink products.

“It’s gonna be a good day,” Ammons, the chair of the commission’s economic development committee, said of Thursday’s announcement. “I am so stinking excited. I’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting for Thursday for the last three or four months, excited about what this means for Jefferson County.”

Ammons said the project includes a tiered job incentive. The company must provide more than 50 jobs.

“They have to make over $50,000 a year,” the commissioner said. “If they do $50,000 and above, it’s $2,000 a job. If it’s $75,000 and above, it’s $3,000 and if it’s $100,000 and above, it’s $4,000.”

The agreement also will include a limit on the county’s building permit fee, which amounts to about a $2 million incentive, Ammons said.

“We’ll cap our building permit at $1 million and they’ll provide 750 jobs and purchase land from the JCIDA at the JeffMet McCalla Park.”

Cooper Green Update

County Manager Cal Markert said the UAB Healthcare Authority is busy tearing down the Cooper Green parking deck before constructing a new Cooper Green Clinic.

He said initial plans for the county coroner to be in the clinic have changed because the cost of the coroner’s office being there will be very expensive.

County Attorney Theo Lawson (Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.)

The coroner has about $60,000 budgeted to hire an architect to design the coroner’s office and the county morgue. Markert said the county is looking at several potential locations for the coroner’s office, but preliminary designs are needed to determine access and parking requirements.

County Attorney Theo Lawson said demolition of the parking deck will cost less than expected. “Demolition was originally slated to be about $900,000,” he said. “It actually came in about $680,000-something. There will be progress around December.”

Less Affordable Housing

Frederick Hamilton, director of community development and human resource services, said the county will cancel its agreement with a nonprofit organization that helps the county with affordable housing.

“They may go out, buy some houses and rehab them and then sell them to low- and moderate-income people,” Hamilton said

But now, he said, “The price of houses has skyrocketed.”

“In some cases, these houses that they would typically do wouldn’t be affordable to people who would buy them,” he said. “They just want to cancel this until COVID kind of calms down and the housing market kind of stabilizes.”

Emergency Fund Allocations

Commissioners moved to Thursday’s agenda round two of Emergency Rental Assistance Program funds.

If approved then, Birmingham Urban League would get $15,413,573.47 and Bridge Ministries would get $550,000.

Bridge Ministries said the lower amount is what it felt it could administer to assist county residents outside of the city of Birmingham who are behind on paying rent because of the pandemic.