Could Bring 30 Jobs, $10 Million In Investment
A northern Alabama landscaping mulch company wants to locate a new manufacturing facility south of Crothersville.
Sims Bark Inc. wants to build a mulching, dying, bagging and logistics operation on about 60 acres just outside the town limits on the east side of US 31 at the I-65 interchange. The business could employ up to 30 workers and looks to invest about $6 million in machinery and $4 million in buildings.
The company manufactures bagged landscaping mulch and potting soil; the kind most area homeowners have used to accentuate flower beds and shrubbery.
Their raw materials will come from sawmills and timbering operations in a 150 mile radius of Crothersville.
According to Andy Johnson, vice president of operations for Sims Bark, the company uses only by-products of other wood manufacturing operations.
“We primarily get our raw product from tree bark and the unused leftover wood products from sawmills,” said Johnson. “At Crothersville we would make that into landscaping mulch and potting soil.”
Lowe’s, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, and Rural King are among the company’s biggest customers, Johnson said. “Being along the I-65 corridor makes Crothersville very attractive for us.”
He added that the Crothersville location will open up additional markets for Sims Bark from Louisville, Indianapolis and Cincinnati.
There will be several buildings constructed on the property which is now home to tall mounds of asphalt millings from repaving I-65.
A 100’x150’ wood processing plant which will feed several coloring bins for dyed mulch, a 135’x250’ bagging building along with a company office will be built.
The company expects about 100 trucks a day going in and out of the facility when production reaches its peak.
The company was to have gone before the Jackson County Plan Commission Tuesday evening (March 19) and a hearing before the county Board of Zoning Appeals has been scheduled for next Tuesday, March 26, in Brownstown.
If the company is met ith a favorable recommendation by the county planning office, they would be seeking tax abatements from the Jackson County Council sometime in May.
Sims Bark, founded in 1974 is a family owned business, has corporate headquarters in Tuscumbia, AL and manufacturing facilities in Brent, AL, Bowman SC, Woodbury, GA, Olive Branch, MS and Corbin, KY.