Agenda - 10-15-2013 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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23 Attachment #4 • Type of Operation: Production of fruit flavored candy snack "Hi- Chew" • Site Size: 21.00 acres (Buckhorn Economic Development District) Although the Company has not committed to making any additional investment at this time, the property is large enough to accommodate an idential sized expansion. Company comments also support this long -term growth outlook for the Orange County site. Site Location - Buckhorn Economic Development District: • The 21.00 acre tract is part of the "W. H. Wilson Family Investment Group LLC" property, Orange County PIN # 9824459890. Located adjacent to Ben Wilson Road, south of and facing Interstate 1- 40/1 -85, and near the Orange /Alamance county line in the City of Mebane. Site is part of a cleared 57 -acre field facing the highway, and opposite the Armacell facility and Tanger Mall. • Site is located within the County's "Buckhorn Economic Development District" and was rezoned by the BOCC in 2012 to 0/1 (Office /Institutional) to promote business recruitment. Site is currently undeveloped without infrastructure. The owner is in the process of applying to the City of Mebane to have this property annexed and rezoned by the end of 2013. • The utility infrastructure and road access improvements required to the make Orange County's site competitive to attract Project Rainbow will also make adjacent properties in the Buckhorn Economic Development District more developable, attractive and competitive to appeal to future business prospects. In comparison, Morinaga's other finalist location, near Atlanta, offered the company a lower- priced and established business park with all required infrastructure and tenants already in place, thereby giving the company a greater comfort level as it evaluated advantages (incentives, business costs, logistics, etc.) between that location and Orange County's largely undeveloped site. Necessary Infrastructure Improvements to the Site: The N. C. Department of Commerce has pre - qualified Orange County and Morinaga America Foods, Inc. as eligible co- applicants to receive a grant up to $750,000 from the State of North Carolina's "Community Development Block Grant" (CDBG) industrial program. This State grant will reimburse the County for 75% of the required water & sewer extension costs, and the preliminary engineering for the access road to the site, with Orange County providing a required 25% local match for the remaining cost. The estimated total cost to extend water and sewer to the site, and design the road improvement may be approximately $700,000, but the County's portion will be only 25% of that amount with the CDBG's reimbursement assistance. • One of the criteria specific to the CDBG program is that among the total number of jobs Morinaga commits to create in the first 3 years, at least 60% of those 90 —120 total jobs must directly relate to persons who are qualified as coming from low or moderate incomes, prior to coming to work for the company. This population is typically a County resident who is either unemployed or underemployed, and who has an income level at, or below 80% of the County's median income. This is the same criteria as used by the County's affordable housing department to qualify low and moderate income residents for Section 8 housing vouchers. Morinaga's projected average salary of $37,969 will meet this requirement. 4