'Project Vista' seeks to save 60-plus jobs

Economic-development projects usually involve the creation of jobs, but one now eyed in Mount Airy is aimed at keeping more than 60 already here.

In recent weeks, officials of an unnamed local industry and the city government have been discussing relocation and expansion plans targeting property at the municipal-owned Westwood Industrial Park.

This has been accompanied by the crafting of a incentive package to help make that a reality.

The proposal includes a property tax abatement amounting to 80 percent of new levies that would be paid annually over eight years, based on a capital investment of at least $70 million by the industry for the expansion/relocation.

Also being considered as part of the incentive package is the donation of 25-plus acres of land at the industrial park located in northwestern Mount Airy.

However, before those moves committing public resources can occur, citizens must be given a chance to weigh in on the proposed incentives.

That will be put into motion during today’s first-Thursday meeting of the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners at 6 p.m. The board is expected to schedule a public hearing on the plan for its next session on June 20, also at 6 p.m.

The company involved and its relocation plans are now known only as “Project Vista,” reflecting a regular practice of using such code names.

This is done to ensure anonymity for economic-development efforts that might attract competing communities to the table.

Industry could leave

“This is a retention of a company,” Mayor Jon Cawley said Wednesday afternoon when discussing Project Vista.

There are critical elements to consider, according to the mayor.

“This is a company that right now doesn’t have a building,” he explained. “They’re leasing one — and if they don’t have their own building, they’re going to have to go somewhere else.”

The company is said to be facing a deadline in charting its future.

Cawley added that city officials were not made aware of the situation until just recently, and discussed it during a closed session at the commissioners’ last meeting on May 16.

That has led up to today’s action regarding the public hearing.

Though he did not have a total financial figure represented by the incentive package, the mayor did offer other dollars-and-cents considerations as to why the deal makes sense to him.

For one, the 25-plus acres of land involved is sitting empty. “Right now, we’re not getting anything for it,” Cawley said concerning property taxes from the city-owned parcel.

He further pointed out that under the eight-year, 80-percent property tax exemption in the incentive package, the municipality will still be collecting about $80,000 annually which it’s presently not getting.

And after the reduction period ends, around $480,000 will be pouring in to the city coffers each year, he says.

The magnitude of the company’s potential injection of up to $80 million into the project also can’t be discounted, the mayor believes.

“They’re talking about a huge investment of the likes Mount Airy has not had before that I know of,” he said.