Botetourt County supervisors approve Arkay incentive package | Business

DALEVILLE — Eighteen months after a Botetourt County business announced it was expanding, the county is making official an economic incentive package that nails down a promise of 50 new jobs.

A performance agreement with Arkay Packaging Corp. was approved Tuesday by the Botetourt County Board of Supervisors.

Arkay will receive $225,000 in county funds in return for its plans to invest $15.5 million in new equipment at its plant in the EastPark Commerce Center near Bonsack.

Also required by the agreement is the creation of 50 new jobs within five years.

An informal performance agreement was reached in 2015, the year before the expansion was announced. But through an oversight that was partly due to personnel changes in the county administrator’s office and economic development department, the deal was never put to the board for approval.

“In essence, this document cleans up the previous announcement and commitments,” said County Administrator Gary Larrowe, who started his job in Jan. 2016, the same month the expansion was announced.

Since then, Arkay has hired about 40 new workers, bringing total employment to 225, company spokeswoman Ruth Rugoff said.

The delay actually worked to the county’s benefit in one respect — an Arkay investment of $11 million announced in 2016 had grown to $15.5 million by the time the performance agreement was approved Tuesday.

Arkay expects to meet the investment target through machinery and tools taxes to be paid on the new equipment purchased as part of the expansion, which entailed installation a new press and other equipment in its 140,000 square foot building.

The company produces glossy and colorful folding cartons for cosmetic and pharmaceutical companies. Its expansion kicked off a series of economic development announcements last year in Botetourt, including the addition of a major brewery and an automotive parts factory in the Greenfield industrial park.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the board of supervisors:

• Authorized the issuance of up to $8 million in tax exempt revenue bonds for the construction of a YMCA fitness and community center at the Daleville Town Center.

More than $9 million in community contributions has already been devoted to the project, including $2.5 million from the county. But because those pledges are spread out over time, the bonds were issued to allow construction to start as soon as this fall, with the debt to be paid off as the donations accumulate.

The county is assuming no obligation for the bonds, which will be the responsibility of the YMCA of Virginia’s Blue Ridge.

• Approved an amended land use plan and a special exception permit for the new Y. The fitness center will be built next to a LewisGale clinic, to the south of the apartments and restaurants that make up the heart of Fralin & Waldron’s Daleville Town Center complex off U.S. 220.
• Granted a special exception permit for a 130-foot tall cell phone tower in the county’s Blue Ridge Park, a short distance from the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Working with the National Park Service, Blue Ridge Towers Inc. has submitted a plan to equip the structure with simulated tree branches made of metal in an effort to have it blend into the surrounding landscape.

The “monopine” design is believed to be a first for the Roanoke region.