City Commission approves Menard Inc. incentives package, clearing the way for new manufacturing facility in Lawrence VenturePark

This composite image from promotional materials shows a logo and rendering of Lawrence Venture Park.

Lawrence VenturePark, a city-owned business park that has sat vacant for 15 months, is set to get its first tenant after the City Commission approved an incentives package for a Menard Inc. manufacturing campus that the company said it needed in order to locate there.

Commissioners voted 5-0 Tuesday to approve the nearly $2.3 million in incentives. The production plant, which will supply Menards retail stores in Kansas and Missouri, is expected to create 100 to 150 full-time jobs.

Menard plans to purchase slightly more than 90 acres of the 220-acre park for $749,329 and pay special assessments of $1,084,018. The company will be cleared to make the purchase after it, the city and Douglas County approve a three-way agreement nailing down such things as the number of jobs the facility will create and their wage rates.

When it came time to vote Tuesday, Mayor Mike Amyx reminisced on the city’s history with the property.

A ribbon-cutting was held there in 2014 after the city environmentally remediated it. Now-defunct Farmland Industries fertilizer plant had been on the property, and it was the site of groundwater contamination caused by years of nitrogen fertilizer spills.

“I’m about as excited as I can be for someone who has been around long enough to watch VenturePark grow,” Amyx said.

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The incentives approved Tuesday are: a 10-year, 50 percent property tax abatement; a $549,350 grant to be paid over 10 years; a special assessment prepayment grant up to $250,000; and providing at no cost a bulk warehouse at the site that’s valued at $285,963.

Douglas County commissioners have also given preliminary approval for a county grant of $200,000 to be paid over 10 years.

Scott Nuttelman, a real estate representative with Menard, said the funds would be used for the land purchase and infrastructure improvements to the property.

In discussion before the vote, commissioners Lisa Larsen and Matthew Herbert asked Nuttleman and the city about the company’s environmental practices.

Menard Inc.’s previous environmental violations have been mentioned before during the incentives process.

Responding to Larsen’s questions, Nuttelman said the production plant would not be using hazardous materials or underground fuel tanks and that it would have no water waste in its production process.

Matt Bond, the city stormwater engineer, said he would continue to monitor wells on the property in coming years to check groundwater conditions.

Herbert asked city staff whether there was anything in the agreement with Menard that would allow the city to withhold incentives in the case of environmental violations.

Interim City Manager Diane Stoddard said the three-way agreement with Menard, the city and county was still being worked on, but that it would include a provision requiring Menard to “operate in a fashion that complies with local, state and federal laws.”

Later, Nuttelman said Menard would “have no qualms” about a more specific stipulation that it comply with environmental laws. He said that sort of requirement was in all of the company’s agreements with other cities.

The Menard manufacturing campus in Lawrence will be one of about a dozen in the U.S., Nuttelman said. It will comprise a distribution building, stone and block production facility, a facility to manufacture roof trusses, a wood recycling building and an industrial spur.

In other business, commissioners:

• Unanimously approved allowing the city’s Affordable Housing Advisory Board to put the call out for projects that the board can finance using $100,000 in the city’s housing trust fund. This will be the first project the newly established advisory board will fund. Commissioner Lisa Larsen asked that preference go to projects using energy-efficient design.

• Delayed the discussion and vote on the “findings of fact” for their rejection of a proposed shopping center at the intersection of Iowa Street and the South Lawrence Trafficway. The findings of fact are a legal document that would officially deny the proposed shopping center, KTen Crossing. The issue is now scheduled for the commission’s Jan. 26 meeting. Amyx said he asked for the delay because he wanted more time to review the document.

• Met in a closed executive session for 20 minutes to consult with city attorneys.

More Tuesday news from City Hall

? City Commission approves Menard Inc. incentives package, clearing the way for new manufacturing facility in Lawrence VenturePark

? City Commission officially hires Tom Markus as city manager

? Oread group again contests city’s demands, accuses city of violating state law