REC Silicon look at four sites for worker housing

MOSES LAKE — REC Silicon's quest to find housing for construction workers during its multimillion dollar expansion continues.

REC Silicon Senior Vice President Tor Hartmann said the company is meeting with various public and private officials to find an adequate amount of housing for the workers expected to come in to work on the project.

Some of the workers on the project would be traveling "fairly large" distances, Hartmann explained. Workers from closer locations, such as the Tri-Cities, might not require housing.

"To try to make the site more attractive so we can get the quality of craftsman we're looking for and need, we're trying to facilitate their search for places to stay while they're here working," Hartmann said.

Hartmann said the company is trying to tell people it will provide some assistance if they are willing to build spots for trailers in an RV park.

"We're trying to create a situation that will provide some short-term benefits to the project, as far as housing a large number of construction workers," Hartmann said. "But also a long-term benefit to the community as far as additional facilities as RV parking and recreation. If we do it right, it can definitely be a win-win situation."

REC Silicon Construction Manager Jim Flores said the company is working with individual developers for recreational vehicle parks. REC is looking for a range of 250 to 300 RV sites, Flores noted.

"They're going OK," he said. "We're still in negotiating and working with the individual contractors to see what type of arrangements to make. Nothing has been written on paper contractually, nor have we come to an agreement on what REC is going to do to support, whether it be from a constructability aspect or financial."

REC Silicon is looking at the possibility of having about 1,000 workers during its peak period between December 2007 and March 2008, Hartmann said. The company hopes to have the sites available for use by October, and they may even last beyond the peak period.

"We're looking at another major phase (of construction) coming up, so there's certainly a lot of future work here to be done," he said.

Port of Moses Lake Commissioner Larry Peterson said a task force has been formed through the Grant County Economic Development Council.

The task force is working with REC Silicon to look at four possible locations, Peterson said, and helping to see what is required in the permitting process to prepare them for the RV sites.

They are located adjacent to the Grant County Fairgrounds on county property, on Port of Moses Lake property, north of Heron Park on property owned by the City of Moses Lake and on property owned by Big Bend Community College, which used to be an alternative high school.

The Grant County site has an added advantage, Peterson said, in that the facilities could be put in to remain and be available to the county for special events once the need is over.

"One thing in the way is annexation to the city," he said. "For city services, the city would require annexation and the county has been very much opposed to annexing the fairgrounds into the city. So that issue may take that one out of the running. But if they can resolve that issue, it's stlll fair game."

The facilities would also be permanent on the city site, but would have to be removed on the remaining two, Peterson noted.

The port district site is looking "quite good" as far as getting through the permitting process, Peterson said, with port Industrial Development Manager Albert Anderson working alongside Fluor Construction with the county and city.

"The one furthest along right now is the one at the port," Peterson said.

Peterson pointed to other construction projects, which he expects to begin soon in the county.

"It's important if you're going to be in here working on construction to have a place to lay your head at night," he said. "Housing is pretty well filled up. A lot of construction folks move around that way anyhow."

Hotel and housing arrangements are being done through Fluor Construction, Flores said.

"What's out there and what's available, that's what it is," he said. "We're not going to get into any type of contractual agreement with any housing."

The company has gone to several local hotels to ask what potentially could be done, but everything has been done verbally, Flores said.

"They said they could provide blocks of hotel rooms if we needed them," he said. "As we got into this further, we found out really these guys don't particularly like being in a hotel. A lot of these guys have RVs and fifth-wheels and stuff; that's what they prefer. That's why the RV parks are probably the best option."

Hartmann said REC Silicon's expansion is going well, considering the tremendous amount of construction work going on in the region and the county.

"Certainly our project is large enough we're impacted by nationwide activities," he said.

The public is working with REC Silicon in trying to find a solution, Hartmann said.

"The bottom line is we want to be fair to all parties who might be interested and provide them a consistent approach, and in return get facilities the construction workers would be happy with," he said.