River Ridge OKs adjustments to property granted by U.S. Army

Clark County

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August 23, 2012

River Ridge OKs adjustments to property granted by U.S. Army

By BRADEN LAMMERS braden.lammers@newsandtribune.com The News and Tribune Thu Aug 23, 2012, 11:06 PM EDT

JEFFERSONVILLE — Property values for the land handed over to the River Ridge Development Authority were changed by its Board of Directors at their meeting Monday.

The board passed two resolutions to change the rate they paid the United States Army for land transferred at the 6,000 acre former Indiana Army Ammunition Plant.

“The Army has informed [us] they discovered they were in error in the way they were calculating the credits we received and the prices we would pay when there are conveyances of real estate,” said River Ridge Attorney David Lewis.

He explained that a base price was agreed to for the land the Army handed over to River Ridge and that a 2.69 percent continuous increase on the conveyance of real estate would be factored into the cost on an annual basis.

The base numbers for the property that was being transferred was agreed to back in 2004, however, there were different rates for two different types of property.

Lewis said there are different standards depending on whether it was legislative property — for which the development authority has 10 years to pay for the land — or whether the land was non-legislative property and was paid for at the time of conveyance.

All together the change in the price applied to more than 500 acres and River Ridge is expected to come out ahead in terms of price.

“The net result of all the property ... is going to make us more than we lose,” Lewis said.

River Ridge Contract and Lease Administrator Jennifer Barker estimated the changes would net River Ridge about a $120,000 credit.

The first resolution — 39-2012 — which was unanimously approved, cost the development authority money. The price per acre changed from $1,500 and the current consumer price index adjustment, which totaled $1,615, to the initial appraisal amount of $1,500 and the continuous 2.69 percent rate, which totaled $1,668.

The change applied to more than 417 acres of land transferred from the Army to River Ridge.

The second resolution — 40-2012 — was also approved and dropped the price from $1,615 per acre down to $1,352 per acre based on the original per acre price and the change in the current consumer price index to the 2.69 continuous rate.

The change applied to nearly 87 acres of property from the Army to River Ridge.

Tree-lined streets

As part of Ecotech Waste Logistic’s 10,000 trees initiative, a strategic plan is being developed to plant trees along Ind. 62.

Bryan Slade with Ecotech said the effort is part of the company’s program to plant 10,000 trees in the region throughout the next decade. The effort was launched at Henryville High School earlier this year.

The goal at River Ridge Commerce Center is to place a whole strip of trees up and down Ind. 62, Slade said.

Ecotech President Robert Lee said developing a long-term relationship with River Ridge is important and will work with River Ridge Engineer Tom Vittitow to maximize the effectiveness of the plantings.

Ongoing project update

The project to install traffic lights and extended turn lanes at the intersection of Ind. 62 and Salem-Noble Road is finally under way.

“If everything continues as the schedule is shown, by the end of September that signal should be operational,” said River Ridge Engineer and Project Manager Marc Hildenbrand.

Hildenbrand also provided an update to the Amazon.com, Inc. fulfillment center which he said at last update was two to three weeks ahead of schedule. He added the work remaining includes painting and putting down a final coating of asphalt in the parking lot.