Page 14 - Flathead Beacon // 5.25.16

NEWS
Stampede Packing Company ‘Bee ng Up’ with New Facility Plans Makers of ‘Redneck’ meat products seeking to expand to Columbia Falls industrial park
BY DILLON TABISH OF THE BEACON
COLUMBIA FALLS — With 25 full-time employees and a popular line of Redneck brand meat products, the Stampede Packing Company has gained a national fol- lowing since opening just over 30 years ago.
Now the family owned business is ready to beef up even more in a community ripe with economic activity. With the help of a new state grant, the Kalispell com- pany is moving forward with plans for a new, bigger
facility in the industrial park in Columbia Falls.
Last week Lieutenant Gov. Mike Cooney presented Stampede a $27,000 check that will go toward the plans for a refrigerated meat processing plant. Stampede received the funds through the Big Sky Trust Fund grant with the assistance of Montana West Economic Development, which has helped steer economic activity
to the 110-acre industrial park.
“This is going to be terri c for you and the entire com-
pany,” Cooney told Sam Laurens, the plant manager at Stampede and son of owner T.S. Laurens.
“Hopefully we will continue to see your success grow and grow.”
Columbia Falls is enjoying a recent run of economic growth with the inclusion of a large hotel, the Cedar Creek Lodge, which is opening soon, and small businesses, such as North Fork Pizza and Backslope Brewing along with a noticeable uptick in residential home development.
But the potential addition of Stampede and the planned development of a large cross-laminated tim- ber facility in the same property mark the momentous arrival of tent-pole industry.
SmartLam, which produces CLT at its site o Veteran Drive, is working on plans to build the world’s largest CLT facility in the industrial park alongside Stampede.
“These are clean industry and good paying jobs,” Columbia Falls City Manager Susan Nicosia said of SmartLam and Stampede. “These are enormous for our economy and our area.”
Scott Bye, left, owner of Columbia Construction Inc., describes zoning plans to Columbia Falls city manager Susan Nicosia, Flathead County Commissioner Pam Holmquist and Lt.
Gov. Mike Cooney.
GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
Both expansions hinge on the addition of infrastruc- ture to the industrial park. An estimated $1.2 million is needed to add sewer and utilities to the site along with roads and other infrastructure.
Columbia Falls has worked to spur development at the industrial park by annexing the property along Rail- road Street and establishing a targeted economic devel- opment district (TEDD) that would help with infra- structure needs.
To help with its development, SmartLam has applied for new market tax credits and will nd out if it was suc- cessful June 1.
Although nothing is certain, city o cials and busi- ness leaders are optimistic that the industrial park will
work out as a site for expansion.
Stampede has had its sights set on growing to Colum-
bia Falls for years. The company has grown at its current facility o Airport Road in Kalispell to 25 full-time and six part-time employees, selling the popular variety of meat products across the country. After outgrowing its current space, the company began seeking a new prop- erty where a larger facility could be developed. Attention centered on the industrial park and the potential timing with SmartLam’s arrival could be pivotal.
“We’re growing fast. We need to expand and we’ve wanted to be up here for some time,” Laurens said.
Kalispell to Receive $400,000 for Environmental Site Assessments City wins competitive Brown elds grant to help fuel economic redevelopment
“We’re bee ng up.”
dtabish@ atheadbeacon.com
BY DILLON TABISH OF THE BEACON
Kalispell was successful in its bid for another com- petitive federal grant that will help fuel economic rede- velopment throughout the city.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency an- nounced May 20 it was awarding $400,000 in Brown- elds grant funding to Kalispell. The Confederated Sal- ish and Kootenai Tribes will also receive $200,000.
The grant funding will go toward environmen- tal assessments at properties targeted for reuse and redevelopment.
“I’m thrilled. This is very exciting for the city,” Katharine Thompson, Kalispell’s community develop- ment manager, said.
Kalispell last received a Brown elds grant in 2009 and roughly 20 site assessments of varying size and scope were conducted as a result, Thompson said.
“This opens up a signi cant resource for private prop- erty owners in the city of Kalispell who have or think they have a property that may have some environmental
issues,” Thompson said. “What we’re able to do with these grant funds is provide phase one or phase two en- vironmental sites assessments to property owners so they may move forward with their property.”
Many of these sites are related to historic industrial uses in the area and also include former auto repair and paint shops, wrecking yards, dry cleaners and other fa- cilities where solvents, petroleum and metals are poten- tial contaminants, the EPA said.
In its application for the grant, Kalispell o cials said these environmental site assessments would be critical to the redevelopment of sites along the railroad corridor that have been identi ed by the community as a priority.
The city used prior Brown elds funding to assess the former gravel pit that is now being redeveloped into an industrial rail yard o White sh Stage Road.
After using all of its previous grant funding, Kalispell applied twice more for a Brown elds grant but was un- successful until now.
On the Flathead Reservation, the funding will lead to assessments at properties containing damaged
buildings and abandoned mills, dumps, and vehicle junkyards. These assessments will inform cleanup needs and advance tribal plans for the reuse and rede- velopment of these properties, the EPA said.
“EPA Brown elds grants continue to help Montana communities transform blighted properties into as- sets,” said Shaun McGrath, the EPA regional adminis- trator. “EPA is proud to be part of these projects that are addressing contamination and creating new amenities and business opportunities.”
The EPA awarded 218 new grant investments totaling $55.2 million to 131 communities across the U.S.
Since the inception of the EPA’s Brown elds Pro- gram in 1995, cumulative investments have leveraged more than $20 billion from a variety of public and pri- vate sources for cleanup and redevelopment activities, according to the agency. Studies have shown that resi- dential property values near brown elds sites that are cleaned up increased between 5 and 15 percent.
dtabish@ atheadbeacon.com
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MAY 25, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM