photo by: Nick Gerik

Lawrence's Venture Park is pictured in June 2017 at the corner of O'Connell Road and Venture Park Drive.

City leaders will soon decide whether to expand the incentives package for a manufacturing plant that plans to bring 140 jobs to Lawrence over the next five years.

As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission will consider providing an additional free lot at Lawrence VenturePark to Kansas City, Mo.-based U.S. Engineering Metalworks. The company is now planning to build a significantly bigger plant — a 154,000 square-foot facility instead of a 100,000 — and is also requesting a change to its previously approved industrial revenue bonds that will allow the company to pursue tax-exempt bond financing.

It was not immediately clear whether the larger building would affect the jobs schedule for the project, which initially called for the 100,000 square-foot facility with plans for a future expansion. Under the old project, the plant was to provide 80 jobs in the first year of operation, another 10 jobs the second year, another 20 the third year and another 30 the fourth year, for a total of 140 jobs.

Economic Development Coordinator Britt Crum-Cano said in an email to the Journal-World that the same job assumptions were used for the new analysis of the project. Crum-Cano said she didn’t have information on the company’s intended use of space for either the smaller or larger facility. The Journal-World was not able to reach U.S. Engineering Metalworks on Friday as to whether the larger building would speed up the jobs schedule.

The company did inform the city that the project would go forward on a delayed schedule due to the coronavirus pandemic. U.S. Engineering informed the city that it plans to place the Lawrence project and its other capital projects on at least a three-month hold, according to a letter provided the city. The letter states that the company still wishes to process all its applications so that it can proceed immediately once it is ready to do so.

The incentives will continue to be provided under the city’s Catalyst Program, a fast-track application process for industrial projects that want to build or expand facilities in VenturePark, East Hills Business Park or other industrially zoned land. The program provides free land to companies that wish to locate in VenturePark.

In September, the commission approved U.S. Engineering Metalworks’ request for a property tax abatement and a sales tax exemption. The tax abatement will be for a 10-year period and could range from 50% to 70%, depending on whether the facility is built to certain environmental standards. Those aspects of the economic incentives remain unchanged. The company also previously received industrial revenue bonds, which allow it to obtain the sales tax exemption on materials for the $15 million project. However, a city staff memo to the commission states that the company now wishes to pursue tax-exempt bond financing, which will provide reduced interest costs for the project. The memo states this aspect was not contemplated with the original bond resolution and requires the commission to authorize a new one.

Changes regarding the additional lot came up as the company has been planning for the project. The memo states that in addition to planning for a bigger facility, issues arose regarding the required number of access points to the site. Providing two lots for the project instead of one eliminates the access point issue and eliminates the up-front costs for the city of constructing a cul-de-sac, which is no longer needed. The company would also be responsible for special assessment on both the lots.

With the addition of a lot, a new cost-benefit analysis was completed for the project, and the analysis still shows a positive net benefit for all taxing jurisdictions, according to the memo.

The City Commission will convene virtually at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, with limited staff members in place at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St. The city has asked that residents participate in the meeting virtually, if they are able to do so, using temporary meeting procedures put in place to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. Directions for submitting public comment and correspondence are included in the meeting agenda that is available on the city’s website, Lawrenceks.org.