The Benton Township Board of Trustees has approved a brownfield redevelopment plan for the new Tractor Supply Company store being built on Fairplain Drive near Mall Drive.
Benton Township Supervisor Cathy Yates tells us trustees gave the green light to the plan this week after hearing from Berrien County Community Development Director Dan Fette about the arrangement to manage the cost of cleaning up some contamination on the site just to the west of the Secretary of State office and Wings, Etc.
“Dan Fette was here from the county and the county had already approved it,” Yates said. “The township was just agreeing with the county about the brownfield so that they can continue to deal to build to bring in their new store. And he’s looking at that for completion, I think, sometime in 2026.”
The plan is for a new nearly 22,000 square foot Tractor Supply store with up to 50 employees. The construction got delayed when arsenic contamination was discovered at the site, likely the result of an apple orchard once being there.
“They had started and then they had to stop, I think, but they they’re planning to restart some of the weather’s better.”
Yates says the Berrien County Board of Commissioners earlier this month signed off on the brownfield plan. It will cost an estimated $1 million. The brownfield plan means the township won’t collect any taxes from the Tractor Supply until the company has recouped the cleanup cost from the brownfield program.
