County board transfers property to EDC for $1

Even with some concerns, a motion was approved by members of the Presque Isle County Board of Commissioners to transfer property at the Onaway airport to the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) for $1. EDC director Mary Ann Heidemann appeared before the commissioners last Friday asking for the transfer of ownership from the county to the EDC. The property is slated for development and the creation of jobs. The deed was received from the state two weeks ago.

?If you are willing to transfer to the EDC, sell it to the EDC for $1 — we hope — we feel it would make it a lot easier to deal directly with potential investors for the Renaissance Zone,? said Heidemann. An EDC committee reviewed the situation and made a recommendation to the EDC board at its last meeting two weeks ago.

HEIDEMANN SAID the transfer of property would allow the EDC to sell the parcels without bringing every applicant to the county board. There are stipulations on Renaissance Zone lots, in both Rogers and Onaway, that three jobs per acre need to be created. It?s part of a grant agreement with the Economic Development Administration, which has provided two large sums of money to assist with the installation of water and sewer at the airport parcels. Some of the lots in Onaway are anticipated to be for commercial uses. The larger parcels inside the airport could be for light industrial. Other uses include office and residential, related to the airport, Heidemann said. Commissioners Gary Wozniak and Bob Schell, a couple of businessmen, expressed their concern about the potential of an unfair situation to existing businesses. Wozniak owns an auto repair business in Posen, while Schell sells auto parts and recreational vehicles in downtown Onaway.

?IT?S A TOUCHY subject,? said Wozniak. ?You look at businesses that have been here for years, they are paying taxes, and a new business comes in and does the same thing and they are not having to pay taxes. They?ve got the upper hand right off the bat.? Schell said he was approached by a couple of Onaway businessman who were concerned about some existing businesses, just hanging on. They pointed out the possibility of competition in a tax-free zone in the area could force them to close their doors. ?Are you considering the potential of losing existing jobs by (having) unfair competition?? asked Schell. Schell also doesn?t want to see an exodus of existing businesses to the lots, which are tax free for another 13-a-and-half years.

?We don?t want to see people move an existing business out to a Renaissance Zone just to get out of paying taxes for 15 years, which is a substantial amount of money,? said Schell. ?We don?t want to see new businesses come in and run existing business out of business. It?s a delicate situation.?

HEIDEMANN SAID existing businesses are eligible, but not to just move jobs. As an example, if a local business runs out of space or is preparing to sell a new product line and needs to add w

orkers, the creation of three jobs per acre will remain a requirement. ?The issue of will that competition end up taking away jobs, is more speculative and harder to predict,? said Heidemann.

The EDC director said this issue has been brought up for a number of years, and goes back to before Renaissance Zone lots were designated in Presque Isle County. In addition, there was a recent situation in Rogers City that raised some questions. A Renaissance Zone lot owned by the county library board was sold to a businessman from Florida, who plans to sell ice cream and candy. The lot is on Wenonah Drive, near US-23.

?IF YOU LOOK right across the street you can see an ice cream store. If that had been a county lot, should we have refused it, because somebody else in town already serves ice cream?? asked Heidemann. ?Our Renaissance Zone committee has met and has kicked it around and found it difficult to make a decision to not allow sales based on competition. We would never sell a lot.? At the end of the discussion, Wozniak expressed his confidence in the EDC, the board and its committees, which have been set up to deal with the issues involving the sale of the lots. Wozniak made the motion, which passed on a 4-0 vote.

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