Orange County NC Website
• Employment: 90 - 120 jobs <br /> • Average Salary: $37,969 <br /> • Annual Payroll, w/ benefits: $3.4 million <br /> • Facility Size & Type: 120,000 sq. ft. <br /> • Type of Operation: Production of fruit flavored candy snack "Hi-Chew" <br /> • Site Size: 21.00 acres (Buckhorn Economic Development District) <br /> Although the Company has not committed to making any additional investment at this time, we anticipate a <br /> plant expansion of equal size may eventually occur, since the property is large enough to accommodate <br /> an idential "Phase Two" expansion. Company comments also support this long-term growth plan. <br /> Site Location in the Buckhorn Economic Development District: <br /> • The 21.00 acre tract is part of the "W. H. Wilson Family Investment Group LLC" property, PIN # <br /> 9824459890. Located adjacent to Ben Wilson Road, south of and facing Interstate 1-40/1-85, and <br /> near the Orange/Alamance county line in the City of Mebane. Site is part of a cleared 57-acre field <br /> facing the highway, and opposite the Armacell facility and Tanger Mall. <br /> • Site is located within the County's "Buckhorn Economic Development District" and was rezoned by <br /> the BOCC in 2012 to 0/1 (Office/Institutional) to promote business recruitment. Site is currently <br /> undeveloped without infrastructure. The owner is in the process of applying to the City of Mebane <br /> to have this property annexed and rezoned. <br /> • The utility infrastructure and road access improvements required to the make Orange County's site <br /> competitive to attract Project Rainbow will also make adjacent properties in the Buckhorn Economic <br /> Development District more developable, attractive and competitive to appeal to future business <br /> prospects. <br /> • In comparison, Project Rainbow's other finalist location, near Atlanta, offered the company a lower- <br /> priced and established business park with all required infrastructure and tenants already in place, <br /> thereby giving the company a greater comfort level as it evaluated advantages (incentives, <br /> business costs, logistics, etc.) between that location and Orange County's largely undeveloped <br /> site. <br /> Site Location in the Buckhorn Economic Development District: <br /> • The N. C. Department of Commerce has pre-qualified Project Rainbow and Orange County as <br /> eligible co-applicants to receive a grant up to $750,000 from the State of North Carolina's <br /> "Community Development Block Grant" (CDBG) industrial program. This State grant will <br /> reimburse the County for 75% of the required water& sewer extension costs, and the <br /> preliminary engineering for the access road to the site, with Orange County providing a <br /> required 25% local match for the remaining cost. The estimated total cost to extend water <br /> and sewer to the site, and design the road improvement may be approximately $700,000, but <br /> the County's portion will be only 25% of that amount with the CDBG's reimbursement <br /> assistance. <br /> • One of the criteria specific to the CDBG program is that among the total number of jobs Morinaga <br /> commits to create in the first 3 years, at least 60% of those 90 — 120 total jobs must directly relate <br /> to persons who are qualified as coming from low or moderate incomes, prior to coming to work for <br /> the company. This population is typically a County resident who is either unemployed or <br /> underemployed, and who has an income level at, or below 80% of the County's median income. <br /> This is the same criteria as used by the County's affordable housing department to qualify low and <br /> moderate income residents for Section 8 housing vouchers. Morinaga's projected average salary <br /> of$37,969 will meet this requirement. <br />