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Committee seeking proposals on CAAP land (complete article from source)
Source: TheIndependent.com, by Tracy Overstreet
November 27, 2007
There's a lot of interest in 1,750 acres of unsold land at the defunct Cornhusker Army Ammunition Plant, so written proposals will be taken to sell the land.
The Hall County Reuse Committee heard Monday from Tom Baxter, DTE Rail Services, Heritage Disposal and Storage, Mike Panowicz and William Leiser.
All expressed interest in all or parts of the acreage that comprised Load Lines 2, 3, and 4. The acreage was designated in 2001 to be sold to Nebraska Public Power District, but NPPD announced Oct. 22 it would surrender the designation because it no longer needed the acreage for a future coal-fired power plant.
That surrender was untimely for the Army Corps of Engineers, which owns the former Cornhusker land.
Corps Program Manager Jay Hodges said the remaining four tracts of land two completely clean and two with domestic water well restrictions were to be sold to NPPD this fiscal year. The Environmental Protection Agency just cleared the land for sale in October after the Army completed a multi-year contamination clean-up project there.
Hodges said the money is in the current fiscal year's budget to get the land sold. He's not sure if that funding will continue when the fiscal year ends Sept. 30, 2008.
"There's a lot of pressure on the Omaha District (of the Army Corps of Engineers) to get this transferred," Hodges told the Reuse Committee.
The easiest and quickest way to sell the land, Hodges and Corps Attorney Rick Noel said is to have a single buyer for all the land. Subdividing it into smaller parcels for a designated buyer or for auction would mean more preparatory work on surveys and deeds and would take longer.
Noel said the Army also needs to give notice to farmers leasing the ground. Those leases expire at the end of February.
But Reuse Committee member and Grand Island Mayor Margaret Hornady said she was uncomfortable making a decision Monday.
"I heard proposals today I didn't even know existed," Hornady said more than an hour of public testimony.
Grand Island businessman Tom Baxter had approached the county board Nov. 13 and asked to be designated to buy the land. He reiterated that Monday.
Designation gives a potential buyer the exclusive land negotiation rights. By federal law, the land must be purchased at "fair market value."
"We're proposed to close on this property," Baxter told the committee Monday. "If you're not going to divide it up, you just as well designate to us and get it over with."
Baxter previously told the county board he wants to plant the ground to rye and run cattle on it. Baxter owns T and E Cattle Co.
But a motion failed that would have designated Baxter as buyer.
It was made by Wood River Mayor John Webster, seconded by farmer Bob Peters and supported by them and Hall County Supervisor Bud Jeffries.
The rest of the committee Supervisors Jim Eriksen and Dan Wagoner, Grand Island Area Economic Development Corp. President Marlan Ferguson, Hornady, Grand Island banker Orv Qualsett and Central Nebraska Regional Airport Executive Director Mike Olson wanted to know more about other options.
The most intriguing came from DTE Rail Services.
DTE Director Bob Marshall said his company owns 800 acres at CAAP, including all the railline and has an annual payroll of $3 million. It had planned to launch a $3 million upgrade of its railline there, but hasn't moved forward with the project because an expansion would be needed. It needs more space to expand.
Marshall said DTE has more than 50 employees now, has added 10 in the last three months and could add 20 to 30 more immediately if it had more ground.
If the railline upgrade is completed, it would open the door for additional development there because currently the raillines can only carry unloaded rail cars, Marshall said. Improved rail could carry loaded rail cars.
Although upgrading all of the rail at Cornhusker would cost an estimated $14 million to $18 million, Marshall said DTE's $3 million project could be a catalyst that could result in ethanol plants or coal-blending yards being located at CAAP.
Ferguson agreed that the current condition of the raillines has stalled economic development and improving them could help market the area. He reminded the committee that NPPD, although surrendering its designation, still offered its economic development team to help market the acreage as a "mega-site" for economic development if the county so chose.
In another option, Mark Vess, owner and vice president of Heritage Disposal and Storage, wants additional ground for his ammunition storage and recycling business.
Vess wants land for safety setbacks, development and is interested in the Army groundwater treatment plant for future conversion into an ammunition recycling plant. He said there is also growing possibility for a state and/or federal project related to Homeland Security at the CAAP site. Discussions at the federal level are already under way, he said.
Vess said CAAP is highly unique because of its zoning that prohibits housing on the plant grounds.
Farmers Mike Panowicz and William Leiser asked for the chance to buy land to continue their farm operations. Panowicz currently leases CAAP ground and Leiser's family was an original landowner vacated from the area when CAAP was built in 1942.
The 1,750 acres available are part of the former Load Lines where ammunition was manufactured for World War II, Vietnam and the Korean War.
Amid a call to find the "highest and best use" for the land from Grand Island Area Chamber of Commerce President Cindy Johnson, the committee decided to accept written proposals from interested buyers.
Olson said those plans should include details on wages, capital investment, timelines and projections on jobs and land use.
The Reuse Committee voted 9-0 to accept proposals through Jan. 7, 2008. It will reconvene Jan. 21, 2008, to review the proposals and decide whether to designate one or more buyers of the land or to proceed with a public auction.
The extra time met the approval of former Grand Island Mayor and Reuse Committee member Ken Gnadt.
"This is trying to move way too fast we need to put on the brakes," Gnadt said. "It's great to see the interest."
The Hall County board meets at 9 a.m. Tuesday and may or may not accept the committee's recommendation of taking proposals.
Click here for complete article from TheIndependent.com
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