November 8, 2007
County Selects Project to Submit for CDBG Grant

By Dave Maxwell

Lincoln County Commissioners at their regular meeting November 5th ranked four proposals set before them and decided which one to have County Grant Administrator Phyllis Robistow prepare for the CDBG.

Commissioners selected the Alamo Industrial Park project to have Ms. Robistow write up as a formal application.

Among the proposals on the table were $27,000 for a Panaca Farmstead water system engineering report, a multi-purpose building in Panaca, $400,000 for community and school track facilities at Lincoln County High School and Pahranagat Valley High School.

Dr. Mike Baughman, speaking on behalf of the Industrial Park, said the $190,000 “Represents nearly the final piece of what amounts to about $3.7 million in grants and other funds to get the infrastructure in place.” He said the Industrial Park is intended to be “a revenue generating activity for the County, attracting businesses and industry.”

Steel Tech Manufacturing, which intends to build a 160,000 to 200,000 square foot plant there, is expected to generate about $350,000 a year in property taxes. Baughman said if the entire Industrial Park is developed, as hoped, the possibility exists of “about $3.1 million a year in ad valorem taxes coming off of that property and providing revenues that could be used by the County for a variety of other projects.”

Dr. Baughman said at present six entities, apart from Steel Tech, have expressed interest in acquiring land in the Industrial Park. “All but one of those,” he said, “are local businesses that are wanting to expand within the county.”

The Industrial Park, as an economical development for Lincoln County, is able to sell land at far below the going market prices. Dr. Baughman said that land in Las Vegas, bare ground in the valley, is selling for $677,000 an acre. “Some may have utilities to it,” he said, “but basically it’s bare ground. Cost per area at the Alamo Industrial Park, once improved, is in the order of maybe $30,000 an acre.”

Applications for the grant requests have to be submitted to the CDBG offices in Carson City in early January.