Council Approves $4M Grant Application

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

The Mesquite City Council, at a meeting held on Tuesday, Sept. 28, approved a resolution that could open up funding for approximately 70 acres of city-owned raw land to be prepared for new advanced manufacturing facilities in Mesquite.

The resolution would accept the concept of the City receiving $4 million in grant funding from the US Economic Development Administration (EDA), through the Southern Nevada Build Back program administered by Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance (LVGEA). As a condition to accepting the grant, the resolution pledges that the city would be prepared to match 20 percent, or $800,000, in Redevelopment Agency (RDA) funds for the project.

In a brief RDA board meeting held minutes before the full City Council meeting on Tuesday, City Engineer Travis Anderson explained that the city had submitted a proposal to LVGEA to be a part of the Build Back program.

“The intent was to focus on advanced manufacturing and more economic strong suits in Southern Nevada,” Anderson said. “So the item we presented was to look at areas of land in the city for mass grading into buildable-ready areas for large manufacturing facilities. We were looking at 50-plus acre building pads.”

Anderson said that two such parcels had been identified within the Mesquite Technology and Commerce Center. One of those two parcels, consisting of around 85 acres, was targeted for the work because utility services were already available there, he said. After losing some of the areas to slopes, Anderson said he anticipated the net usable land to be around 65-70 acres of shovel-ready land by the end of the project.

Mesquite Mayor Al Litman said that submitting the proposal and providing the resolution gave no guarantee that Mesquite would actually be selected as the recipient of the grant. “But if we are not selected, then we are not out any money whatsoever,” he said. “And there is a lot for us to gain.”

City Councilman George Gault, who sits on the LVGEA board, said that the Las Vegas Valley is now down to only 13 parcels that could accommodate a project needing 50 acres or more.
“When we had the chance to apply for this, I felt it was definitely worth doing,” Gault said.

Gault talked about the deal that had been recently announced for beverage can manufacturer Crown Holdings to locate a $180 million facility in Mesquite. “It would be much in our interest at this point to be prepared for the next one to come along,” Gault said.

There was very little discussion on the item in the full City Council meeting. Gault made the motion to approve which was adopted by a unanimous vote.

In another agenda item, the Council approved a resolution stating it was in the City’s best interest to sell approximately 7.24 acres of land for economic development purposes. Deputy City Manager Martine Green explained that the parcel would be sold to Crown Holdings in order to square off the 64 acre parcel the company is purchasing from a private party for their proposed manufacturing plant.

Councilman Wes Boger made a motion to approve the resolution and it was adopted with a unanimous vote.