COALINGA — At a special City Council, redevelopment agency, public finance authority meeting last Wednesday, the city gave the go ahead for Economic Development Coordinator Dennis Watt to pursue option agreements for the purchase of property for industrial development.

“What we’re doing is fixing a price, so that when we invite a major industry to Coalinga, they will have opportunity … to buy the land,” Watt said.

Richard Wells and James Wells Testamentary Trust own three parcels of land, that sum up to 175.5 acres, that are adjacent to Juniper Ridge Industrial Park on Jayne Avenue, or Highway 198.

It is Watt’s and the Coalinga Development Project’s hope to obtain the land for the purpose of creating interest for clients to buy it and to build a facility here in Coalinga.

This is for the specific purpose of decreasing “the symptoms of blight that remain within … the area, which include unemployment, joblessness, and diminished market demand for commercial franchises,” according to the staff report prepared by Watt.

The Redevelopment Agency will pay $50,000 for this future land option.

The option period is for one year and can be renewed for two additional years upon consideration from the council and agency on the progress and status.

Watt said it is his hope in buying this land that it will “create jobs for our area. The people who benefit are low and very low income families. We can bring in industrial clients who will pay a decent wage.”

He said he believes the area will attract big-name companies, which will improve the area’s appearance as well as help many men and women find stable employment.

He reflected on how one city lost out on a Wal-Mart Distribution center because of the company’s uncertainty about acquiring the site.

He said 175 acres of land for Coalinga will attract large clients.

“We’re talking big-name clients,” Watt told the council.

Watt said having the land as an option will create more opportunities for Coalinga in the end by attracting warehouse distribution companies.

Watt estimated 500 Coalinga residents are unemployed.

That number will attract a client such as a warehouse corporation, he said, since it will not be looking into population for consumer interest, but for how many people will be available for work.

However, some council members were hesitant to the proposal Watt described.

Councilman Tito Balling said he felt the $50,000 being spent on the land could be used in other locations in Coalinga that are still works in progress.

“I’m just thinking of our plaza and how we should be spending the money there,” Balling said. “I have to listen to what I’m feeling and I have to say no.”

Mayor Ron Lander also said no to the motion.

He previously said he believes there were more relevant things in the community to spend the money on.

Overall, Watt said, “It’s important for a city to attract more business.”

(May 13, 2006)