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EDA reviews Falling Branch construction payment, change order for buried stumps and Go Virginia clean-room grant
Summary
The board reviewed Phase 2 Lot 2 construction at Falling Branch Corporate Park (a $2.8M Main Street Builders contract), discussed a third certified payment request of $374,385.33 and an anticipated change order for buried tree-stump disposal; the meeting also covered a $300,000 Go Virginia grant to support a shared biotech clean room and a regional commission bond plan to purchase a building.
Montgomery County staff updated the board on several economic-development items Thursday, including construction at Falling Branch Corporate Park, a regional commission plan to finance a building purchase, and a Go Virginia grant intended to support a shared biotech "clean room" facility.
On Falling Branch Phase 2, Speaker 1 said Lot 2 is under construction under a $2,800,000 contract with Main Street Builders. The contractor submitted its third payment request this cycle; Speaker 1 said the month's bill is $374,385.33 and that the engineer had certified the work. Staff told the board they expect to bring a change order at the next meeting to cover buried-material disposal after discovering roughly 100 cubic yards of buried tree stumps on the former farmland. Speaker 1 also reported the contractor has used about 55 cubic yards of rock and is at about 50% of the rock allowance.
Speaker 1 described specific construction items: road work, a 12-inch waterline and work on the stormwater detention basin; he said, "The town of Christiansburg will do the interconnect once it's fully complete and test the waterline themselves." Board members discussed options for handling buried organic stumps, including potential reuse or relocation on-site, and noted concerns about voids created during decomposition if stumps were left in place.
On regional financing, staff reviewed a draft resolution regarding the New River Valley Regional Commission. Speaker 5 explained that the regional commission plans to issue bonds to finance a building purchase; some financing options may require approval from member jurisdictions while others might not. Speaker 5 and others emphasized the regional commission would be the issuer of debt, not the county directly, and that the county's Board of Supervisors has passed a resolution to participate if required. No purchase contract had been signed and staff said the regional body was still completing due diligence.
Staff also briefed the board on a Go Virginia grant to study clean-room availability for local biotechnology manufacturing. Speaker 1 said the Go Virginia award is for a total of $300,000 with a $200,000 cash match; Speaker 1 said $80,000 of the match would come from the Redgate Fund for equipment purchases. The proposed model is a shared, temporary clean room that member companies could rent to complete proof-of-concept manufacturing without traveling to Research Triangle Park, with the goal of proving concept here and then attracting larger manufacturing trials or clinical work to the region.
Next steps: staff will bring a change-order recommendation for the Falling Branch contract to a future meeting, continue due diligence on the regional commission financing options, and provide the board more information on the Go Virginia project and potential local facility sites.
