Schuylkill County commissioners on Wednesday agreed to change the tax exempt formula for a parcel in the Highridge Business Park to encourage occupancy.

The parcel is in the Cass Township area of the business park, Schuylkill Economic Development Corporation President Frank J. Zukas said.

SEDCO owns the parcel.

But commissioners Chairman Larry J. Padora Jr. placed a condition on the approval: That should the parcel ever be “flipped” to build a data center, there would be no tax exemption.

The current tax exemption formula, under the Local Economic Revitalization Tax Act (LERTA), is 50/50. That means the parcel owner would pay half, 50%, of the property tax each year for 10 years.

Zukas asked commissioners to change that to a 75/25 formula for the first five years, switching back to 50/50 for the remaining five years.

Changing the formula would help Schuylkill County compete with the Hazleton Business Park and other sites, Zukas said.

The formula change would be the “last piece of the puzzle” in sealing the parcel deal.

“It’s a project that’s been three-and-a-half years in permitting,” Zukas said. “It’s intended to basically create two parcels out of a single parcel. Each of those will have a building of approximately 1 million square feet constructed on it. It’s cross-dock facilities, so they’re intended to be logistics operations. They’re being built on speculation, so they don’t have an end user yet in place.”

Cross-docking means moving items directly from receiving to shipping rather than storing them for extended periods. It saves on storage costs and items can be shipped faster.

The formula change was requested by the company.

“The logic behind it is that the competitive nature of big boxes being built on speculation and available within the Interstate 81 corridor — not just in Hazleton, but all the way up through the Scranton area — is based on being able to secure a tenant for the building,” Zukas said. “That obviously is the end product of why they’re building. But when they do a building on spec, the end user ends up signing a triple net lease. The triple net lease requires the tenant from the building to pay property taxes, insurance and utilities.”

LERTA requests must be approved by all three taxing bodies: the county, municipality and school district. He said Cass Township supervisors agreed to the change, but only for that parcel. He also spoke with the Minersville Area School Board, which also approved it.

Due to vacation schedules, that action was delayed by two months.

The commissioners’ approval was the final step.

The company, Zukas said, has gone through the permitting process and wants to start construction before winter weather sets in.

“They’ve gone through a complete bidding package for the first building,” he said. “They’re literally waiting for a closing to take place, and this is the last piece of the pie prior to the closing.”

Before Zukas’ presentation, Norwegian Township resident Chris Melusky asked why the monthslong delay in asking for the final approval.