The proposed $5.6 billion Chevron Phillips chemical plant will not make payments to the City of Orange for 10 years. The Orange City Council Tuesday approved a contract with the company as part of a countywide incentive package to get the construction.
After the 10 years, the corporation will make in-lieu-of-taxes payments to the city through an industrial district contract. City Attorney John Cash Smith said the new Chevron Phillips will then pay the same percentage of property taxes as other chemical plants within the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction.
The city deal came a week after Orange County Commissioners Court approved a tax abatement agreement if the plant is built here. That agreement has the corporation paying no taxes on “elibigle improvements” for 10 years.
County Judge John Gothia, Commissioner Kirk Roccaforte attended the city council meeting along with Orange County Economic Development Director Jessica Hill.
Chevron Phillips Property Manager Chaney Moore told the council the company will announce a decision to build tshe plant by the last quarter of this year or “very early” in the first quarter of 2021.
Mayor Larry Spears Jr. said it was “a historical night” and the new plant could “potentially change lives for generations to come.”
He attributed the success to Go. “We put God first in all that we do,” he said. “When we do that, we have blessing upon blessing upon blessing.”
The mayor brought chocolate cupcakes to celebrate Tuesday and promised “T-bone steaks” when the construction is announced.
He thanked the city staff for working on the incentive package, including City Economic Development Director Jay Trahan, City Manager Mike Kunst, and Planning Director Kelvin Knauf.
The deal included the city disannexing about half of the 1,700 acres of the proposed plant site so the corporation could become a state reinvestment zone to qualify for public incentives.
-Margaret Toal, KOGT-
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