Day & Zimmermann, Inc., is currently putting together two proposals for continued ammunition-making projects at the Great Plains Industrial Park located between Parsons and Oswego.
The company is bidding on a large contract but officials says it will be some time before the successful bidder is chosen by the Department of Defense.
There are also other contracts open for competitive bidding and D&Z needs to adapt its material production with known demands in munitions.
The U.S. Army left some equipment behind when it decommissioned the KAAP, because D&Z had expressed interested in using some of it.
Although production for D&Z is currently at a standstill, the company is still operating under a contract to provide caretaker services for the Army through the remainder of the transfer process of the plant to the Great Plains Development Authority.
GPDA deputy director Ann Charles is working on the process of assuring the industrial park with rail service.
She said at last week’s public meeting that she had received verbal assurance that the Union Pacific Railroad would work with the industrial park to provide rail lines. She emphasized the importance of such lines in locating new industries.
Scott Road, which is the main tributary road to the entrance of the industrial park, will be overlaid soon with asphalt after final bids and specifications are approved.
Charles said the plan is for GPDA to mill and overlay one eighth of a mile of Southern Street, providing an attractive entry to that end, in addition to a third sign being installed announcing entrance to the Great Plains Industrial Park.
Brian Kinzie, ex-officio member and Labette County Commissioner, said the county has applied for Southern to be overlaid to Pratt Road with funds possibly coming from the $4 million stimulus which the Kansas Department of Transportation is providing to a 17-county area. Kinzie said the cost of the project in Labette County would be $432,000 with the county providing a $100,000 local match.
Also last week the GPDA, executive director Dan Goddard gave a report on acquiring land in the former KAAP site, pending approval by the Environmental Protection Agency and other appropriate agencies.
Significant cleanup of properties has already taken place, and majority of the land has no environmental problems, but there still are buildings, land and equipment that will need cleared before they can be transferred to the GPDA.
Over the next two months, contractors will be removing contaminated dirt from an old pistol range. Goddard said there is a 50/50 chance that private contractors from this region might be utilized rather than those requiring certification by the U.S. Army.
The cost of the land conveyance has yet to be determined.
