Winston IDA plans TLC for county industrial park

DOUBLE SPRINGS       -  Members of the Winston County Industrial Development Authority have expressed concerns about the 800-plus acre Winston County Industrial Park site, which remains vacant, having become a dumping site for trash and debris, with overgrown vegetation and a sign that has fallen apart.
Although it is necessary to provide funding for promoting the county’s available industrial sites, the county industrial park - one of 60 AdvantageSite parks in the state -  must be maintained before any industry can be attracted to the area, members of the IDA board discussed at their Tuesday, April 11, meeting.
AdvantageSite is a voluntary industrial site preparedness program managed by the Economic  Development Partnership of Alabama,  created to make the state more competitive for companies considering a location in the state.
Horace Moore, chairman of the IDA board, asked Kristi Bain, director of the Winston County Economic Development Authority, what prospects are being considered for the county’s ID park site, located in the Lynn area off Highway 13.  Moore asked this after the board approved spending $17,550 to promote the county’s economic development, but decided to table spending $28,470 for a tent at the stage to advertise the county and bring sponsors to Cullman’s Rock The South Festival July 20-22.
“I know you don’t want to spend all your budget,” Bain stated. “But even with what I have offered today, you have gone from $491,199. That’s what you’re sitting on right now.”
“I am going to vote no. I am going to tell you right up front, if you bring it up,” Moore responded. “I just don’t think we need to spend that much money.
“We would benefit, number one, ourselves, whoever would go over there,” Moore added. “And number two, that is what Montgomery (legislators) are for.”
“We need some corporate sponsors,” added IDA board member and Winston County Commission Chairman Roger Hayes. “I don’t think we ought to spend the $28,000. We don’t have a whole lot coming in. I think we need to protect our money.”
“Are there new prospects you’ve heard of and have eyes on?” Moore asked Bain about any industrial prospects possibly considering the county ID park.
“Everything that has come through has been a wood product,” Bain answered. “Do we have broadband over there (at the ID park)?”
“I would like to see us work some on that industrial park,” Moore pointed out. “It looks awful.
“It needs mowing right now,” interjected Hayes. “We mowed it, I guess it was this past fall.”
“We need to get someone to do some work around that entrance pond,” noted IDA member and attorney Jeff Mobley.
Hayes noted the state had informed the county not to do any development of the pond area, which is located on the ID property near Highway 13.
“We were going to clean it up,” Hayes said.
“They said we had to leave it.  It was part of the wetlands and we could not do away with it,” Mobley said.
Mobley said something should be done to help that pond area look better.
“If we could possibly get a solar-powered fountain,” Mobley noted.
Bain noted it would be nice to clean up the property to prepare for a make-ready site that could be leased, just to have an occupant in the ID park.
“What do you mean make ready?” Hayes asked.  “That thing is as flat as it can be. Where we did that work out there, there are several acres.”
Bain noted a site-prep building was what was in mind to be placed at the ID park.
“If that is what it is going to take to get it going,” she said.
“I think we need to see how this advertising is going to go, and that will kind of give us some direction,” Hayes noted.
Mobley made a suggestion to get an engineering plan for the sewage at the ID park.
“Doesn’t Goodwyn Mills Cawood already have that?” asked Ken Sunseri, chairman of the Winston County Cooperative District.
“I don’t know,” responded Mobley.
“The county has already committed to bush hogging that area down there,” Sunseri later told the Alabamian about needs at the ID park. “They did it, but it was several months ago and needs to be done again.
“We need to start planning for the infrastructure there, water, power, broadband” Sunseri continued. “We’re working on these things.
“These are things that have to be done in order to entice people,” said Sunseri. “And there are certain restrictions we are going to run into, like the distance it will take to run natural gas to the park.”
When told about the items being dumped at one of the ID park sites, Sunseri responded, “The last time I was down there, and it’s been probably two months ago, when I met with the forestry commission, we didn’t have any dumping, so that’s another item we are going to look into.”

Hayes expresses outrage
over illegal dumping

Hayes voiced extreme concern about the illegal dumping that is taking place at the ID park site.
“We’re not pleased with that either,” Hayes stressed. “If find a name in there (among the items dumped), it will be up to the IDA board for pressing charges against the people who threw it down there, if we can find out who it is.
“I don’t have a problem pressing charges against the person who did this,” Hayes pointed out. “We are not going to tolerate that.
“People in Winston County need to have more pride in keeping our county clean,” he continued.

Process underway for a new
sign for ID park

Concerning the park’s sign that has fallen apart, Sunseri said plans are in the works for a new sign to replace it, as was discussed at a previous IDA meeting.
“We’re addressing all these issues. It just can’t be done overnight,” Sunseri said. “It takes time, and it takes money to do these things.”
Sunseri said the county is receiving calls for a 150,000 square foot building, which they don’t have at the moment.
“It would be a major cost to try to build a building that size,” said Sunseri.  “Each industry is different and wants different things, so it’s difficult to go ahead and build a building that meets their specifications.”
Bain encouraged IDA members to vote to pay $17,550, for the promotion of economic development in Winston County.
“The last thing I need to go after is another steel plant, another mobile home plant or another wood processor because we don’t need to put any more competition in here against our existing businesses,” Bain pointed out.
“I know we need to do something. I just don’t know exactly what we need to do,” Hayes pointed out.
“I think we need to start pushing out the word, and it sounds like this is going to reach a lot of folks,” stated IDA board member and Alabama Power Community Relations Manager Melinda Weaver. “I know it’s a lot of money, but we’ve got to start somewhere.”
“If we don’t get out and start pushing it and we sit here and do nothing, I’m afraid our grandkids are going to be sitting here with it, too,” stressed IDA member and Double Springs Mayor Elmo Robinson.
“The more we can publicize about Winston County and having the land for industry, the better off we are going to be,” Robinson added.  “We can’t just sit and hope someone comes and begs us for the property. We’ve got to get out there and promote it.”
“We’ve got to get people in here and looking at this AdvantageSite,” Bain said about the ID park, “because we have to get commerce (the Alabama Department of Commerce) to see we’re showing the land. We’ve got to get that going.”
The IDA voted to approve the $17,550 to promote the county’s economic development, with Robinson making the motion and Sunseri seconding the motion, and all board members voting in favor.
Bain can be reached at kristibain@winstoneda.com.  The Winston County EDA website will be in operation by May 10, according to Bain.