Governing bodies discuss rail spur

By CARRIE HADERLIE / lbedit11@laramieboomerang.com
Copyright © 2010 - LaramieBoomerang.com - Laramie, Wyoming

Published:
July 28, 2010

The Albany County Board of Commissioners joined the Laramie City Council at a work session Tuesday to discuss the potential for a rail spur south of city limits.

Gaye Stockman, president and CEO of the Laramie Economic Development Corporation (LEDC), presented LEDC’s South Laramie Rail Spur project to the governing bodies, and explained that several businesses have expressed interest in Laramie, but many desire active railroad access, which is not currently available in Laramie.

“We are looking at leasing a little bit more than five acres from Union Pacific property” at the unused Union Pacific Corp. rail spur 107 south of Laramie off Tie Plant Road, Stockman said.

“What we want to do on this spur that we are talking about is nothing more than putting in the rail, (and) solid road base so that companies can drive up to the rail, on- and off-load their product onto the rail directly. We are not going to store any product, and we are not going to have any buildings on site,” Stockman said.

Phase one of the project, which would include the above described development, would cost around $1.3 million. LEDC plans to apply for a $1 million Wyoming Business Council (WBC) Business Ready Community Grant through the city council and a $400,000 Industrial Roads Program Grant through the Albany County Commissioners.

Laramie Mayor Jodi Guerin said she supports the project.

“If we can put this together, it occurred to me the other day that the amount of increased tax generation that we’ll see based on this … may be just enough to lift our local economy pretty significantly, at least for this interim time period before the national economy starts to pick up,” Guerin said.

Councilor Erik Molvar asked if one of the companies interested, generically listed by LEDC for privacy purposes as a manufacturer of fuel pellets, would use wood to produce those pellets. Stockman said it would.

“I would just caution that right now in the Medicine Bow National Forest, there is a ton of standing dead, so it looks like a great time to start a wood pellet thing. But in five or six years, all those trees will be down, and that resource will be completely gone,” Molvar said.

“Whatever comes in to take advantage of that resource will also leave. Betting on the wood products industry right now, especially with all the beetle kill … I would be very concerned about that.”

Albany County Commissioner Tim Sullivan asked if a number of fire hydrants still left in the area from previous use are viable today. Stockman explained that it is not likely that they are still viable.

“Those hydrants were built for the old tie plant in the 1920s,” Stockman said. “They also used sand-cast piping to put that out there. When they did the remediation for the site, they capped it. … It is all buried now.”

Councilors Joe Vitale, Klaus Hanson, Joe Shumway, Bryan Shuster and Karl McCraken and County Commissioner Pat Gabriel were also present.

Councilors Scott Mullner and Dee Mickelson and County Commissioner Tim Chesnut were absent Tuesday.

A public hearing on the Industrial Roads Program Grant will take place during the Aug. 3 commissioners’ meeting, followed by an Albany County Planning and Zoning Commission meeting on rezoning on Aug. 11, a rezoning request-for-approval in the commissioners meeting on Aug. 17 and a public hearing on the WBC grant in the city council meeting on Aug. 18.

Original Article Published Here: http://www.laramieboomerang.com/articles/2010/07/28/news/doc4c4fc0ffa9fab473717584.txt

Copyright © 2010 - LaramieBoomerang.com - Laramie,Wyoming