Commissioners approve abatement resolution

An Ohio-based freight shipping company is one step closer to receiving tax abatements for a potential new facility in Bartholomew County.

The Bartholomew County Commissioners approved a resolution Monday on a statement of benefits submitted by R&L Carriers, Inc. of Wilmington, Ohio. The matter goes to the Bartholomew County Council next.

According to a letter to county officials from Vice President Jeff Haungs, the proposed facility would be built and located on Lot 7 of Meadow Lawn Industrial Park in Edinburgh. The tax district listed on the incentive application is German Township. The company described the project as a “Less-Than-Truckload (LTL) trucking/logistics facility” in its paperwork.

“They’ve already shown a good start, a good faith look at the community by acquiring the property,” Greater Columbus Economic Development Corp. President Jason Hester told commissioners.

Haungs wrote that the company plans to make an estimated capital investment of more than $30 million into this project, including more than $3.2 million for the purchase of the property, about $18.75 million in construction and improvement costs and more than $1 million in new equipment. He added that there will be an additional purchase of approximately $12 million in registered vehicles and trailers, but these items are not abatable in Indiana.

The company is requesting a 10-year tax abatement on net new taxes for real property building improvements and a five-year abatement on net new taxes “associated with the installation of all new qualifying equipment.”

Hester has said in the past that R&L Carriers plans to construct a large cross dock facility, where products from a supplier or manufacturing plant are distributed directly to a customer or retail chain with marginal to no handling or storage time.

According to Haungs, the cross dock facility would include:

A 150-door terminal (90,000 square feet)

A five-bay maintenance shop (10,800 square feet)

A four-lane fuel island and office building (5,000 square feet)

Growth potential that could allow an additional 120 doors

He added that they expect to create 79 full-time jobs by opening day. The operation is forecasted to grow 10% annually thereafter, with an expected average full time annual wage of at least $53,000.

R&L Carriers officials wrote that the company is “strategically assessing our footprint across the United States to determine our capacity requirements.” Its options include growth of current facilities, as well as investing in construction of the new terminal in Bartholomew County.

“While we have acquired the property as part of our initial planning efforts, we are still conducting our due diligence on whether or not to build on the site,” the company wrote. “Part of our ongoing assessment is to understand our costs and local opportunities, and to confirm the community’s desire to welcome our investment.”

The company is seeking to locate in a “good neighborhood, with good business neighbors” and offer a quality secondary job market for family members of employees, officials added.

If the acquired site is selected for the project, construction could begin in fall of 2021, with the beginning of operations planned for the summer of 2022.

However, there is still another vote before the tax abatement on this potential project is fully approved.

Hester explained that the commissioners’ role was to pass a consent resolution on the abatement. The resolution requires that the commissioners find that the project will not harm the county’s TIF allocation area and that the company’s estimates are “reasonable.”

“The commissioner’s meeting today is the first step, and then with the passage of the consent resolution, then it will go on to the county council for the actual approval,” Hester said. The council is also the body that determines the term of the abatement, he added.

Councilman Jorge Morales said he is “looking forward” to it.

“I don’t have any reason to believe that there will not be support from the council,” he told the commissioners.