After working for over a year to get an EDGE grant from the state of Georgia, the Walker County Development Authority on Tuesday voted to officially authorize signing the Memo of Understanding between the Roper Corporation in LaFayette and Walker County. The purpose of an EDGE grant, which comes from the state through the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, is to increase capacity and to encourage economic development in the state.
The Roper factory at North U.S.
27 will be physically expanding and the workforce will be increased using grant money that will be coming 100 percent from Georgia. The EDGE grant will also help the company buy new equipment. The building expansion has already started but to receive the incentive money, the company must meet certain benchmarks at specific intervals. One is that Roper has committed to adding 396-398 new employees at the LaFayette factory.
The Development Authority also discussed the expansion of the Walker County Business Park at North U.S. 27 in LaFayette which was approved in August. The county will purchase 103 acres of farmland that is adjacent to the industrial park for the amount of $1,280,000.
The land purchase is expected to close before the end of September. The members of the Development Authority decided to have a “phase one” inspection done on the property before closing. That inspection will look at the past use of the property and any possible contamination. The chance of finding environmental problems is low since it previously was a farm, however the preliminary inspection will lessen the county’s liability if one is found.
Executive Director Stephanie Watkins told the board that there has been initial interest from three businesses in the past month for locating in the Walker County Industrial Park.