Industrial Authority Projects

Kara Ramos writes in the VDT today about Building industry: A look at current Industrial Authority projects. The Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority has quite a few interesting projects projected. It will be interesting to see which of them pan out.

Members were in agreement that while there are many students graduating from area colleges, they are moving to other cities to find higher paying jobs. Some board members agreed the local workforce needs improvement to enhance the work of current employees, improve the skills of unemployed individuals, and create more job openings.

Can't argue with that.

The controversial aspects of the Wiregrass Power, LLC biomass project are not discussed in the article. Instead, the tiny accompanying solar plant gets some press:

The industry has applied for a United States Department of Agriculture renewable energy loan to pay for the construction of the GEFA-sanctioned solar photovoltaic electric generating facility. They received the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority grant at the end of the week and will have six months to complete the project.

The industry has also approved a Georgia utility company to install the connectivity/transmission lines to the solar photovoltaic facility.

The City of Valdosta approved the industry to build its facility on the two acres of land, which is adjacent to the Wiregrass Power, LLC Biomass Electric Generating Plant.

So if Wiregrass Power can get funding and loans for solar, why not just do solar?

Existing companies expanding, such as Elec-Tec, seems likely to happen.

Others seem to be a bit behind schedule, such as Project Excel, which the current article also doesn't describe. Back on January 19th Malynda Fulton described it in the VDT as

A company that provides services to local, state and federal government agencies. The prospect, currently referred to as Project Excel, is considering a site in Valdosta as its first choice and a site in Decatur County as its backup site. The company, which plans to create 440 jobs, wishes to have an Economic Development Agreement complete by Feb. 16;

The current article says that agreement was actually drafted March 12.

Regarding "processing frozen vegetables in the Valdosta-Lownes County area", how about coordinating distribution fresh local vegetables to restaurants, schools, hospitals, and other institutions within 100 miles? The writeup does mention "local vegetable growers"; maybe that part can be expanded.

Here's another obscure one, Project Phoenix:

A team has identified a site and is close to settling on the location, which needs some yard improvements, according to Lofton. He said the company needs to be here in the next 30 days. The project could create $5 million to $8 million in capital investment and create about 20 to 35 new jobs during the first six to nine months.

That sounds good, but what is it? What would it require as resources, and what would it produce as side-effects?

Here's one that sounds quite good as far as number of jobs, Project Earth

The project is to construct a 700,000-square-foot vehicle manufacturing facility to build hybrid vehicles, which would create about 450 to 600 new jobs. A potential site has been located and a site/facility conceptual plan was created. The board is trying to plan a trip to the prospect’s corporate headquarters to present the plan and discuss economic incentives, according to Lofton.

However, "trying to plan a trip to discuss" doesn't sound very concrete yet.

And who could argue with this one, Project Camellia:

There is a potential company looking to start an imported tea business in Georgia. The company wants to locate a building to serve as distribution space. A team visited the former Organic Milling Facility at 701 N. Forrest St., on April 12, but has not determined a guaranteed site location.

Sounds interesting but vague. What does a tea business produce as side-effects, anyway?

Maybe there's also something similar that could use local products.