PORTAGE -- With a lure of attracting a Wisconsin company to move to Portage, the city council voted Tuesday to expand the city’s Economic Revitalization Area.
James Fitzer, Economic Development Corp. executive director, told the council the expansion would enable him to offer tax abatement incentives to the Wisconsin firm.
The firm, he said, is in line to receive a state incentive, but it requires local participation to qualify.
The expansion only includes a single property on Indiana 149 that has been vacant for two years. The prospective company has developed a process that will recycle steel and sand from local steel industry, allowing for it to be reused instead of taken to landfills, he said.
Councilwoman Elizabeth Modesto initially objected to the small size of the expansion, referring to it as, “spot zoning,” a practice she opposes. Modesto offered a motion to reject the expansion, which was defeated.
The company will invest $2 million in the project and expects first year employment of about 10 to 12 people, which could expand to up to 50 employees by the fifth year, Fitzer said.
In other business, Fire chief Tom Fieffer displayed architectural drawings of a proposed new fire station to be located on Central Avenue near Founder’s Square to replace the existing fire station at city hall.
The new station could cost as much as $3.5 million and would be founded by the Redevelopment Commission, according to Fieffer.
“I’m pretty excited about this. It’s a great thing for the department and a great thing for the city,” Fieffer said.