04/26/2008
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Morning Sentinel staff photofrom the Kennebec Journal
FAIRPOINT PLAN TARGETS DEBT
Wind project off Mass. meets strong resistance
Three bills seek tougher rules for petitioners
New rules for special education debated
Happy apples
AUGUSTA: Cuts to French curriculum run into opposition
HIGH SCHOOL BOYS BASKETBALL: Hall-Dale drops MVC title game to Mountain Valley
HIGH SCHOOL HOCKEY NOTEBOOK: Different stakes in Gardiner-Winslow rivalry
All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Kennebec Journal
from the Morning Sentinel
'At the time ... he was psychotic'
Man answers door, is attacked with Mace and then robbed
FairPoint reorganization plan aims to slash company's debt
Concerns over special-education changes aired
FAIRFIELD: Clinton man, 21, arrested on rape, assault charges
Stun gun, arrest of suspect end high-speed, 2-town chase
HIGH SCHOOL HOCKEY NOTEBOOK: Gardiner, Winslow take to ice again
GIRLS BASKETBALL: Skowhegan wins KVAC A title game
All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Morning Sentinel
Today, the U.S. Route 150 location is home to Northgate Industrial Park, an economic success story.
Two manufacturing enterprises, a large-scale trucking firm and a handful of other businesses represent an assessed valuation of $3 million.
In 2007 alone, the park businesses pumped back into $51,000 the community in property taxes and $104,400 in excise taxes. More than 200 people hold jobs at the various firms, which, at a minimum of even $25,000 per employee, represents an annual payroll of $5 million.
"And it all got started because people in (economic development) in Skowhegan had the foresight to invest $100,000 (in tax dollars)," said Maitland Richardson, a former state legislator and a veteran member of Skowhegan Economic Development Corp. (SEDC), which oversees development projects.
Richardson said the Skowhegan Economic and Industrial Development group -- now SEDC -- purchased the original 78 acres from Parkman and Leitha White in 1972 for $53,000.
Richardson, who provided some history of the park, said he hopes to make his point that the benefits of economic development, including the $900,000 Skowhegan Renaissance Center currently under construction downtown, often don't show up until many years after the initial investment.
"This is economic development, this is what we do," Richardson said. "This is what successes we've had and it's well worth what we're doing now."
He said the town's economic development group spent $6,000 on site development in 1973 and another $47,000 was taken from town surplus in 1974 and used as matching funds for a $200,000 federal grant to build infrastructure.
Jeffrey Hewett, the town's director of economic and community development, said the industrial park was instrumental in drawing businesses to the community that might not otherwise have located here.
Hewett said industrial parks such as Northgate -- and now Southgate on U.S. Route 201 -- lure businesses with easy access and ready-to-use infrastructure such as roads and electrical power.
"The way the state puts restrictions on businesses, creating an industrial park cuts the cost for a lot of businesses because it eliminates the need for them to go to the Department of Environmental Protection or the Department of Transportation themselves," he said. "It's much easier for them."
Genplex Inc., which manufactures extruded, flexible and rigid plastic tubing products, including such items as the tracks for foot brackets inside Old Town kayaks and parts for medical supplies and a mosquito magnet, bears out Hewett's statement.
Owner Duane Colford said he had specific needs when he was looking for a home for Genplex in 2000-2001 and Northgate filled that bill.
"We had looked for a long time for a place, in Waterville, Augusta, and there were no buildings available. (Northgate) had what we needed," said Colford, adding that three-phase power, loading docks, offices and compliance with disability requirements were already in place.
Colford, who employs 14 people, said manufacturing operations such as his provide more than the immediate employee base.
"For every job in manufacturing, it creates an additional six jobs," Colford said, pointing to people who produce their parts, truckers, contractors such as electricians, people who provide raw material and packaging and box-making companies.
That trickle-down effect applies to Northeast Doran, a steel-fabricating company owned by Donald Williams of New Jersey, who brought his business to the park in 1989.
Williams said this week that the move has proved to be a good one.
"It was the right thing to do," Williams said this week of a building he bought when it was in foreclosure. "I'm doing very well. There is a fair amount of talent available in this community."
Today the company employs 26 people in two shifts, according to Plant Manager Jim Peters.
"We have some of the biggest equipment north of Boston, we do stuff other fabricators can't do up and down New England," Peters said during a tour of the facility. "We cater to other fabricators, rolling, forming and bending steel."
Peters said the company has for several years been building tugboat sections for a company out of the Boothbay area.
"I've never regretted a minute of being here," said Williams, who owns a successful concrete pipe company in Leeds and has other plants in New Jersey, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Richard Carrier Trucking Co., the biggest presence in the park, moved there in 1987 for the centralized location, according General Manager Jimmy Carrier.
Today, the trucking company occupies more than 50 acres of the park, maintains a fleet of 80 tractor-trailers and employs as many as 140 people. Carrier said the business has expanded and diversified to include mulch, lumber and logs and bulk bark chip sawdust.
The company, and the Carrier family, which moved here from Jackman, also maintains 30 tractor-trailers in St. Joseph, Quebec and 40 in St. Come, Carrier said.
The company also has major chip and lumber plants in Maine and make pallets at a plant in Henniker, N.H., Carrier said.
Richardson said that, in 1976, a 20-year bond was used to build the Laurel Textile building, which several years ago served as a shoe factory and today serves as storage and place of transit for Kennebec Lumber Co. hardwood flooring. The bond for that building was retired in 1991.
Hewett said that, in 2000, SEDC built the structure that now houses the Central Maine Power Co. base of operations in the area, salvaging as many as 20 jobs that were scheduled to be moved to Farmington. He said having the operation here also means a quicker emergency response time for Skowhegan.
The SEDC building that houses Genplex also provides space to D. L. Machine Shop and Decal Gymnastics.
Although the gymnastics operation is not manufacturing, Hewett said it draws a lot of business to Skowhegan. Families and participants use area restaurants and hotels often, according to Hewett, who said space is still available in that building.
Hewett said because Decal was exploring another location in Waterville, keeping them in the park is a big plus for Skowhegan.
Richardson said Skowhegan Economic Development Corp., a quasi-municipal group, is always looking to the future. He said its members have been instrumental in developing Southgate Industrial Park, handling revolving loans funds that help businesses grow and promoting downtown efforts such as the construction of Skowhegan Renaissance Center.
"It doesn't happen overnight, it takes time," Richardson said.
Darla L. Pickett -- 474-9534,
Ext. 341
dpickett@centralmaine.com
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