County sends Navasota hotel abatement to committee
At the Wednesday, Dec. 7 Regular Meeting of Grimes County Commissioners Court, commissioners forwarded an Application for Tax Abatement and designation as a Tax Reinvestment Zone to a special committee. This is the second abatement request in as many weeks and was submitted by AAKAS, LLC for a proposed Candlewood Suites hotel in Navasota.
The 59-room, extended stay hotel featuring full kitchenettes will be constructed on a 54-acre lot in the Dove Crossing Lakeview Center on SH 6. The estimated investment is $8.2 million with planned employment of 10 fulltime and five parttime personnel, all residents of Grimes County. According to owner Al Patel, they will break ground in April 2023 and construction will take approximately nine months.
The proposed five-year abatement schedule begins with a 55% abatement in 2024, followed by 45% in 2025, 35% in 2026, 25% in 2027 and 15% in 2028.
Regarding generation of additional hotel/motel occupancy tax (HOT funds) for Navasota and Grimes County, County Attorney Jon C. Fultz clarified that several years ago, the statute was “bracketed” and it was determined that Grimes County was not eligible to receive HOT funds.
The question was also raised if County guidelines allow abatements for motels and hotels. Commissioners approved forwarding the request to an abatement review committee but replacing Commissioner Chad Mallett with Commissioner Phillip Cox since the hotel will be located in Pct. 4.
Battery storage abatement denied
Based on the recommendation of a committee appointed at the Nov. 16 meeting, commissioners denied the request by KCE TX 15, LLC for a 10-year tax abatement for a proposed 100 MW battery storage facility on 42.75 in Singleton.
Judge Fauth said, “The committee’s recommendation is not to approve the abatement. The final decision is left up to the court. We’re not a county that wants to not see economic development, and this is an opportunity, but on the basis of the employment and things of that sort, this really did not meet our criteria.”
The abatement, had it been approved, would equate to $100,000 in PILOTs (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) to Grimes County per year for $1 million over the 10-year period. The lithium-ion battery storage facility would require no permanent on-site employees but approximately 50 temporary employees would be hired during the 8–10-month construction period.
Other court action:
•Approved Consent Agenda items which included the Treasurer’s list of claims and bills, the October 2022 Monthly Report, payroll and budget amendments and/or line-item transfers.
•Proclaimed December 7, 2022, as Tree of Angels Day in Grimes County. Present for the presentation were Grimes County Crime Victims Assistance Coordinator Brenda Williams and Crime Victims Liaisons Gilverta Diaz and Cori Mooney.
•Approved not pursuing the application for the VOCA Grant FY 2024.
•Approved replacing former Chief Deputy Todd Greene with now Chief Deputy Martha Smith on the following committees: Homeland Security Advisory Committee, Criminal Justice Advisory Committee Council, and the Brazos Valley Area Wide Communications System (BVWACS).
•Received an update from Maintenance Manager Rodney Floyd on the Grimes County jail, Justice & Business Center, and the maintenance/storage building.
•At the request of Auditor Jessi Murphy, approved uncommitting the remaining $5,612.80 balance for Hog Creek Bridge replacement funds committed on Oct. 22, 2013.
• At the request of Auditor Jessi Murphy, approved unassigning $28,746.45 of Grimes Health Resource Center fund balance to cover fiscal year 2022 deficit in Senior Meals Fund and the purchase of a new vehicle for GHRC.
•Approved appointment of R&B Engineer Harry Walker, Commissioners Chad Mallett and David Dobyanski to evaluate upcoming grant consultant and engineering submittals for the remainder of 2022. Appointees approved for 2023 were Walker, Mallett and newly sworn in Commissioner David Tullos.
•Received the Road & Bridge report.
•No action was taken regarding the lease of property at 318 N. LaSalle, Navasota.
•Approved an updated agreement between Grimes County and the Grimes County Go Texan Committee with the county judge as signatory. The agreement provides that Go-Texan will continue to have access to the Fairgrounds for Go-Texan weekend and the spring Crawfish Boil. Go-Texan will construct a 1,100 ft. long pipe fence and four 15-ft. gates on Fairgrounds premises.
•Approve the sale of fireworks beginning Dec. 20, 2022, through midnight Jan. 1, 2023.
•Approve maintaining the current first and third Wednesday of each month for Regular meetings of Commissioners Court.
•No action taken on ARPA expenditures or the Strategic Plan.
•Commissioners convened in Executive Session pursuant to Texas Government Code 551.072 regarding appraisal and potential sale of the Annex property on Buffington Avenue to Anderson-Shiro CISD. No action was taken but County Judge Joe Fauth was authorized to advise ASCISD that the County intends to sell the building and it will be offered to the district first.
Burn Ban: The burn ban remains lifted.