Avenue Development Park may be certified by end of month

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Soon, hopefully by the end of this month, according to the people involved, there will be a state-certified industrial development site available for sale in Charles City.

And it’s possible that, soon after that, a business could purchase land at the Avenue of the Saints Development Park to build a major new facility.

The Charles City Area Development Corp is finishing up the process to get a 75-acre site at the corner of South Grand Avenue and the Avenue of the Saints certified by the state.

State certification tells businesses looking for a development site that it is “shovel ready,” with all the title documentation and environmental, historical and geographical studies completed, all major utilities available or able to be available quickly, and other infrastructure ready to go.

“We’re working through about 17 additional requirements that Quest Site Solutions has imposed. They’re clarifications on stuff we submitted already,” said Tim Fox, the executive director of the Area Development Corp (ADC).

Quest Site Solutions is a South Carolina company that provides economic development and site selection services to companies and organizations worldwide. Iowa has hired the company to do development site state certifications.

“It’s just part of the process,” Fox said about the request for clarification and further details on some of the long list of requirements that must be met to achieve state certification.

The ADC has until Nov. 20 to complete a process that started more than 1½ years ago, but Fox said he hopes to be finished by the end of August.

Part of the materials that must be finished deal with the site concept plan. The certification process requires the applicant to show how a 250,000-square-foot building would fit on the site, along with utilities, easements, topographical information and more, Fox said.

“Of course, we hope for a much larger building that that, since it is 75 acres,” he said.

The site concept plan and other marketing information will be on a dedicated website for the Avenue of the Saints Development Park, and that is being created now, Fox said.

A development park update was on the agenda for the ADC monthly board meeting Wednesday evening, and Fox said the board spent a good deal of time discussing the site, especially a development agreement with the city.

The property is in Charles City’s South Grand TIF District, and the city of Charles City is planning to sell general obligation bonds to raise money to give to the ADC to purchase the 75 acres for $2.156 million then market and sell it, with the city repaying the bonds with income generated through the TIF district and from proceeds of the sale of the property to a business.

A question had been raised by Mayor Dean Andrews regarding any money left over after the property is sold, either because it sells at a price higher than was paid for it, because some of the bonds used to purchase it have already been repaid or some combination of those.

Fox had said earlier he assumed if the property is sold for more than is still owed on the bonds, the ADC would get the money to use for future development efforts.

Fox said told the Press Thursday the question of where any “leftover” money would go might be of only minor concern, because it looks like that money legally would have to remain in the TIF district.

“It may be a moot point as to who has control of the money,” Fox said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s in ADC or the city if it can only be spent in the TIF district.”

Fox said the ADC board tabled any action on a development agreement with the city until he has a chance to talk about it with the Charles City administrator.