By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

AUBURN – A proposed Auburn business park could have its first tenant next week, according to city and growth council officials.

A business is looking to put a 150,000-square-foot warehousing facility along Kittyhawk Avenue, according to city Economic Development Director Roland Miller. It would be the first tenant in the first phase of a proposed 800-acre industrial park.

“This is a very real project,” Miller said. “This is a party that could take special advantage of where this park would be situated.”

Miller and members of the Lewiston Auburn Economic Growth Council presented details of the park to the City Council on Monday night at a workshop meeting.

Councilors are scheduled to consider the industrial park at their meeting next Monday, voting on $3 million in debt to support the project and creating a tax increment financing deal.

Ben Hayes, economic development specialist for the growth council, said he expects to announce an option agreement with a developer at Monday’s meeting. Miller and Hayes declined to identify the company but said it was looking at building a distribution facility at the Auburn park.

“Chances are good that once we do announce this, people will be knocking on our door, looking to be involved,” Hayes said.

According to Miller, Auburn would invest $3 million in the area around the Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport. Auburn’s investment would pay for infrastructure and utility improvements – roads, sewer and water, electrical work, natural gas and rail crossings.

The city would create a TIF district for the entire development, devoting all new tax revenues to paying off the $3 million bond.

But some councilors said they were concerned about the bond payment structure. According to the projected tax revenue, the TIF district would collect about $8.74 million in new property taxes over 30 years. That would easily pay off the bond in the long run. The bond would total $3 million plus about $1.4 million in interest.

However, the TIF payments wouldn’t pay for the bond for the first nine years. The city would have to come up with another $1.27 million for those nine years.

“I’m in support of this project,” Councilor Belinda Gerry said. “I think we need the jobs, the tax revenues and the investment in the community. I’m not so sure I can approve it, not knowing what other city accounts will have to be cut.”

But Miller said the new developer solves that problem. With that company’s investment at the beginning, TIF revenues would start paying off the bonds after five years. About $371,000 in general fund revenues could still be needed to cover bond payments for those five years.

“We have at least that much available in other business park accounts, so I don’t think anything would have to come out of the general fund,” Miller said.

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