George Industrial Park slated to receive state funding

GEORGE — An industrial park in George is slated to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in funds from the state’s proposed capital budgets for water and road improvements which local officials believe could stimulate year-round economic growth for the area.

The Port of Quincy’s public affairs consultant Patrick Boss said the funds would go toward building a water line to connect the city’s water distribution system to the park. He said the park currently has a few tenants, but the amount of water available is not enough to support growth or attract new businesses. The funds would also go toward constructing a roadway within the park.

The House budget splits the money between two projects, $400,000 for road infrastructure and $412,000 for the water line. The Senate Budget allocates $700,000 for the water project and does not include funds for the road repair.

Gerene Nelson, George’s mayor, said their economy receives a slight bump during concert season at the Gorge, but overall, the town’s demographics are low income and there are few jobs in city limits. She said currently, there is one tenant at the park, Ancient Lake Wine Company and one company, Blueline manufacturing, who has bought property but has yet to start development. She hopes the improvements will attract industry and opportunities for George’s 501 residents.

“There is more land out there available and with the larger water supply, it would definitely make it more attractive for other tenants,” Nelson said. “We’re a low income community and we don’t have a lot of industry here, or business to support that. That’s why we asked for state funding.”

Boss said the City of George, the Port of Quincy, were both contributing money to the project as well as gathering grants from the federal government, the Grant County fund as well as the state Department of Commerce to try and match state contributions.

Boss said the total estimated cost for the water project is $1.5 million and the road project is estimated to cost $560,000. He said they had received $800,000 in grants and loans from Grant County and the state Department of Commerce to match funding for the water project. They would need $700,000 from the state to complete the project.

He said the port had received $160,000 from a Grant County Infrastructure Program and would need $400,000 from the state, which is only included in one of the proposals, to complete the project.

Sen. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, who works on the capital budget in the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said she appreciated the work the locals of Grant County were doing to get the project off the ground.

“That’s kind of my rule of thumb,” Warnick said. “We as the state cannot fund an entire project, but when there is local funding put in, and private, then I’m supportive of it.”

Warnick said final negotiations of the capital budget would begin as soon as the House voted their proposal off the floor. Once both proposals have been voted out of their house of origins and the bond bill used to pay for the capital budget have been passed, the Legislature will discuss the final budget. She said it might be one of the last items the Legislature votes on.