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Economic development staff seek committee approval to continue site purchases, outline reuse strategy for purchased properties
Summary
Economic development requested authority to pursue targeted land purchases from the new site-and-job fund to assemble shovel-ready sites (e.g., a proposed 117-acre purchase in the Lavica area), with plans to master-plan, clean environmental issues where needed, and resell or market parcels to appropriate users after predevelopment work.
Economic development staff reported active work to create marketable industrial or agribusiness sites using the site-and-job fund and asked the committee to advance a proposed purchase of about 117 acres near Leakes Road (Lavica area) for just under $5 million, noting appraisals between roughly $1.6M and $2.1M and that the negotiated price would be below some appraisals. Staff said the parcel is served by water but not sewer and that any redevelopment would be low-impact and preceded by due diligence, environmental review and a voluntary cleanup contract where necessary.
The department said the site could be suitable for agri-processing, land-based aquaculture, meat processing or other low-impact economic users and described a plan to produce a conceptual site plan, seek engineering and permitting grants, and then market the site to appropriate firms. Committee members asked about contamination history on nearby parcels and emphasized transparency; staff said they would pursue voluntary cleanup agreements and coordinate with state environmental agencies before any sale or reuse.
