2 measures aimed at putting old Chrysler site to work
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
January 27, 2011
By Tim Bryant
Two state legislators from St. Louis County want the state to provide tax credits and property tax relief to help spur redevelopment of the Chrysler plant site in Fenton.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Glendale, and Rep. Mike Leara, R-St. Louis County, plan to announce their bills today at Fenton City Hall. Their proposals would provide redevelopment incentives at the 295-acre Chrysler site as well as the surrounding area for one mile.
Schmitt said Wednesday that establishing a wide area for public incentives would help redevelop an area that suffered "a mass exodus" of parts suppliers harmed when the Chrysler plant closed.
"We want to provide some flexibility here," he said. "We don't know what's going to wind up there."
Schmitt's bill would establish a "quality jobs" zone for the Chrysler plant and surrounding area. Businesses that locate within the zone would be able to get tax credits for new jobs created.
Leara plans to propose an Enhanced Enterprise Zone for the plant site and the same surrounding area specified in Schmitt's bill. Businesses within such zones are eligible for state tax credits and local property tax abatement. Tax credits are awarded for investment in machinery, equipment and buildings.
Local, state and federal officials have been trying to revive the plant site since Chrysler shut down vehicle assembly operations there in 2009.
Douglas Rasmussen, vice president of business development at the St. Louis County Economic Council, said the bills to be proposed by Leara and Schmitt will help "establish a framework to re-energize that area."
Demolition of the 5-million-square-foot plants has been under way for months to help prepare the site for redevelopment. Fenton Mayor Dennis Hancock noted Wednesday that Chrysler's former south plant, one of two plants at the site, "is almost gone."
