By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

Dick’s Sporting Goods received the final go-ahead this week to open an about 50,000-square-foot store in Alabaster’s South Promenade shopping center.

On June 4, Shelby County Circuit Court Judge Hewitt “Sonny” Conwill signed off on Alabaster’s incentives package designed to attract the sporting goods retailer to the city .

“The judge has to validate that the terms of the agreement are fair to the city and fair to the taxpayers,” Alabaster City Attorney Jeff Brumlow said during a June 5 interview. “He validated the agreement, and everything is going forward as scheduled.”

The validation came about a month after the Alabaster City Council approved the incentives package, which could total up to about $1.9 million over the next 10 years.

State Sen. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, who also is a member of Alabaster’s Industrial Development Board, previously said the Dick’s Sporting Goods store is looking to open by Christmas.

The incentive package is tied to the city’s sales tax, and uses a tiered system over a 10-year period.

Alabaster currently charges a 4 percent city sales tax, with 1 percent going to the city’s school fund to support the upcoming Alabaster school district. The incentive package will only apply to 3 percent of the city’s sales tax collected at Dick’s and any outparcel development built between McDonald’s and O’Charley’s, leaving the 1 percent earmarked for the school fund intact.

Alabaster will reimburse the developer for 90 percent of the 3 percent city sales tax collected at Dick’s and the outparcel development during the first year the Dick’s store is open.

The city will keep 5 percent more of the sales tax revenue collected at Dick’s and the possible outparcel development each year through the 10^th year the Dick’s store is in operation.

The total maximum value of the incentive package is capped at a little more than $1.9 million. If the cap is reached in fewer than 10 years, the incentive deal will end. If the cap is not reached in 10 years, the incentive deal will still end.