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from the Fredericksburg Standard
City 'In The Running'
Mar 01, 2006 - 16:15:59 CST.
Economic development leaders in Fredericksburg are keeping their fingers crossed these days, hoping for good news as an Oregon airplane manufacturer finalizes its search for relocating in Texas.
Fredericksburg is one of five finalists for Lancair International Inc., which manufactures advanced composite kit planes in Redmond, OR.
Other Texas finalist communities, which were chosen from a field of 12 semifinalists by Lancair, include Kerrville, Brenham, New Braunfels and San Marcos.
Lancair, according to Greg Snelgrove, economic developer with the Gillespie County Economic Development Commission, is looking to move to Texas within 12 to 18 months, depending on the availability of existing building space or an opportunity to construct a new facility.
He said the firm, which is part of a growing kit plane industry that reportedly outsells the production market fleet by more than 3-to-1, is looking for a centrally located place in which to better market its product.
"The kit business is huge in our country," he said and pointed to Lancair as being on the "high end of the kit market" manufacturing business in producing a state-of-the-art product.
He explained that one of the factors which make kit planes attractive is that individuals buying kit planes can be licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration to maintain an aircraft if they will build at least 51 percent of a plane. Meanwhile, the overall cost of purchasing a kit plane is considerably less than that of a fully assembled aircraft.
The first Lancair was developed in 1984 by founder Lance A. Neibauer, and today there are reportedly more than 1,870 Lancairs sold in more than 34 countries on five continents.
Snelgrove said the company's goal in relocating to Texas is to employ around 80 employees that would be made up of 35-40 new jobs and 30-35 relocated Lancair employees. The annual payroll would be in the neighborhood of $2.4 million, with the average wage being around $31,000.
Jobs would consist of airframe and power plant mechanics, assemblers and office staff (administrative, warehouse, management and sales).
Pat Gonsoulin, executive assistant to Joe Bartels, the owner of Lancair, said yesterday during a phone interview from Redmond that he and his wife, Lynn, were "very impressed" with Fredericksburg and representatives of the city during a Feb. 1 visit to the community.
"Fredericksburg itself is quite nice; I personally prefer a small town like yours," he said in underscoring Lancair's interests in seriously considering quality of life issues and re-locating in a small community. "We particularly liked the small town feel there and the fact that everything was so clean."
During the Gonsoulins' visit here, they took part in a 1½-hour discussion with a group of community leaders, were given a "windshield tour" of Fredericksburg and went on a detailed inspection of the Gillespie County Airport where a new Lancair plant would be located.
Dave Fulton, executive director of the Texas Department of Transportation's Aviation Division, took part in the Feb. 1 visit with the Gonsoulins as did Gillespie County representatives Jeff Bourgeois, Tim Crenwelge, Dick Estenson, Sam Golden, Roger Hansen, Keith Keller, Linda Langerhans, Mark Stroeher and Marc Williamson.
"They were absolutely tremendous," said Gonsoulin of the local delegation. "All went beyond being helpful and were very knowledgeable."
He said yesterday, concerning Lancair's criteria for choosing a Texas site, that Fredericksburg fits the bill for having an modern general aviation airport, for being within 75 miles of a commercially served airport, for being within the desired community size (10,000-25,000 residents), for having access to major highways and for offering shipping services like UPS, Fed-Ex and DHL.
However, while some funding may be available through the Texas Enterprise Fund (managed by the governor's office) and from at least one grant program, the city's case is not being helped by the lack of a local incentives package.
"While Fredericksburg is at least equal to or better than other communities in other ways like the town itself and its very fine airport, there are no local tax incentives available there," Gonsoulin said.
"That certainly does not eliminate Fredericksburg at this point," he said. However, he acknowledged, in mentioning that the other four finalists offer some sort of incentives to industrial development, "at the end of the day, it may come down to that."
Snelgrove pointed out yesterday that, on the subject of local tax incentives, government representatives here have said they would be willing to consider some sort of tax abatements at a later time.
Gonsoulin said Lancair, whose lease agreement in Oregon expires in May of next year, hopes to make its decision by April or at least by May in order to make a move by the last quarter of 2007.
"We feel that Lancair's best long-term prospect is to come here because of our wonderful community and our outstanding airport," Snelgrove said Tuesday.
Gonsoulin said that, even if Lancair did not come to Fredericksburg, it would a prime location for its annual fly-in.
Snelgrove said that ordinarily, Lancair's annual fly-ins attract around 60 planes to Oregon, but he suspects that, if held here, "they ought to be able to draw around 125."
winmail.dat
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