Pima County will hold five community meetings to take public comments on the proposed Monsanto greenhouse facility ahead of a formal vote on the county’s support of a trade-zone designation that would result in a tax break for the company
Monsanto owns a 155-acre unused agricultural site in an unincorporated area near Twin Peaks and Sanders roads and plans to invest nearly $100 million in a 7-acre greenhouse facility where it would develop and grow corn seed.
The company has asked for the Board of Supervisors’ support to be included in a regional federally approved foreign trade zone that would give the company several economic benefits under federal and state laws, including reduced property tax assessment ratios, in this case from the property’s current 15 percent ratio to 5 percent.
The county said even with the lower tax assessments, Monsanto’s developed land would generate higher property taxes for affected taxing districts than if the property were left undeveloped. The underdeveloped property generated $1,956 in total property taxes in 2015. If the property is developed, various taxing districts would receive a total of $694,416 in property taxes at the fifth year of the 10-year designation, according to Pima County.
The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote on the Monsanto proposal at its meeting Feb. 21.
The schedule of meetings:
- District 1: 5 p.m., Jan. 9, Oro Valley Public Library, 1305 W. Naranja Drive.
- District 2: 6 p.m., Jan. 19; Quincie Douglas Center, 1575 E. 36th St.
- District 3: 5 p.m., Jan. 17; Ellie Towne Community Center, 1660 W. Ruthrauff Road.
- District 4: 11 a.m., Jan. 13; Green Valley Recreation Center, Las Companas Room, 565 W. Belltower Drive.
- District 5: 6 p.m., Jan. 18; Pima County Housing Center, 801 W. Congress St.
The county has set up a website about the Monsanto proposal at tucne.ws/h1b
Contact reporter Joe Ferguson at jferguson@tucson.com or 573-4197. On Twitter: @JoeFerguson
While considering Project Corn, the BOS might read this article from the journal Entropy about Monsanto’s signature product. It concludes:
“The pathologies to which (Monsanto’s) glyphosate could plausibly contribute, through its known biosemiotic effects, include inflammatory bowel disease,obesity, depression, ADHD, autism, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, ALS, multiple sclerosis, cancer, cachexia, infertility, and developmental malformations…. Glyphosate is likely to be pervasive in our food supply, and, contrary to being essentially nontoxic, it may in fact be the most biologically disruptive chemical in our environment.”
The link to the entire article is http://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/15/4/1416/htm.
It is also wrong to schedule the promised public meetings some 20 miles or more away from the Monsanto site where thousands of neighbors may be exposed to toxic chemicals. One should be scheduled at Marana High School, just one mile from the proposed GMO factory.
So Monsanto (Bayer) needs a “regional federally approved foreign trade zone” to be able to conduct business.
I bet if you gave Joe From The Carolina’s a “155-acre unused agricultural site” and “$100 million” to act as a project manager, fly in experts as needed, then used patriots for labor, we could produce more food with superior nutrition naturally (the project would most likely have a ton of capital left over and run completely off the grid).
How could this not be a scam, and with Bayer/Monsanto’s track record of poisoning people, how could you ever trust them?
Let them roll tax free to generate more hidden death and destruction through GMO food?
sounds like a brilliant idea :/
And I’m sure the Delphi technique will be in FULL FORCE on those days to try and F**k over the majority in order to get what they want. Good luck, as the only way you’re going to change anything is by the barrel of a gun.