By Debra Lemoine
The Advocate
AMITE, Fla. — The Tangipahoa Parish 8th Ward Volunteer Fire District will receive 5 acres from the Wal-Mart Distribution Center in Robert after the Tangipahoa Industrial Development District board agreed to the donation Monday.
The donation has been in process for several years, said Fire Chief Nathan Sticker. The approval of the Industrial Development District was the last legal hurdle to make it happen.
For Wal-Mart to receive tax breaks for building the distribution center in Robert in 2001, the Industrial Development District had to buy the 240 acres and lease it to Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart’s 20-year lease pays off the bonds that the district used to purchase the land.
Six years later, the land owner — the Tangipahoa Industrial Development District — had to vote to amend its lease with Wal-Mart for the donation to happen, said Holly Barham, an attorney for New Orleans firm Foley, Judell LLC, which handled the original 2001 bond issue.
The district board, which meets as needed and is appointed by the Parish Council, unanimous approved the amended lease Monday.
Sticker said the district plans to build a three-bay fire station with office space on the donated property, on the corner of U.S. 190 and Robertson Drive south of the Tangipahoa Parish sheriff’s substation. The next step is for the fire district to finalize the design for the station and find the money to build it.
The new station would be the third for the nearly all-volunteer fire district that serves a highly populated but unincorporated southeastern corner of Tangipahoa Parish, which includes Robert and areas just outside of Ponchatoula.
The district has 35 volunteer firefighters and one full-time paid firefighter, Sticker said. The growing district has applied for a grant to help it hire six full-time firefighters, he said.
Wal-Mart also pays the fire district $89,000 a year as part of its lease, which is how much the company would pay the district in property taxes. Wal-Mart also makes a similar payment to the Tangipahoa Parish School System.
As for Wal-Mart, giving land to the fire station is another way to help the community, said Lemar Marshall, general manager of the distribution center.
“With the way Robert is growing, it’s obvious there is a need for an expansion for fire protection,” Marshall said.
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