Sparta works to get industrial park

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The Sparta Community Development Organization, a nonprofit organization formed in August, has announced plans to bring an industrial park to Sparta, a Christian County town east of Ozark.|ret||ret||tab|

Ken Lupton, a member of the Sparta City Council and the SCDO board, said the industrial park, which has not yet been named, will be located on 70 acres of land located on the northwest side of the city of Sparta.|ret||ret||tab|

Lupton said the land is owned by Lindel Lipes. The SCDO has an exclusive lease on the 70-acre parcel, which allows the organization to sell the land to businesses interested in locating in the industrial park, he said.|ret||ret||tab|

Lupton said the SCDO wants to bring companies that are expanding and adding a satellite location to Sparta's industrial park.|ret||ret||tab|

"We're looking for small companies 30 to 40 people is what they would employ. We're not looking for the big 150-, 200- or 300-people (companies)," Lupton said.|ret||ret||tab|

Allan Markley, principal of Sparta High School and appointed spokesman for the SCDO, said one of the reasons the group wants to bring smaller companies to Sparta is so the community atmosphere won't be lost.|ret||ret||tab|

"In the long run, they'd like to see the industrial park be in cooperation with other community projects, programs, resources, the school and everybody has some type of ownership in it. And when you get those big factories in there, that's a difficult thing to do," Markley said.|ret||ret||tab|

Lupton said the reason for wanting an industrial park in Sparta is simple more local jobs.|ret||ret||tab|

"When the kids graduate from high school, they have to go to wherever to find a job, because there's just none here," he said.|ret||ret||tab|

Markley agreed.|ret||ret||tab|

"If they want to work at any kind of job that can pay them so that they can move out and start out on their own, those jobs aren't available (in Sparta) anymore ... if they want any kind of income, they're having to go somewhere else," Markley said.|ret||ret||tab|

"We're kind of a small town that's got a few shops and some gas stations and those kinds of things. We'd like to have places for people, to boost the economy here and not have to drive into Springfield to work anymore," he said.|ret||ret||tab|

The SCDO is applying for grant money from the Missouri Department of Economic Development to fund the construction of a spec building, an example of the types of structures the park can accommodate.|ret||ret||tab|

"Once we get that, we can sell that, of course, to a company, and that will give us some money to start building some other buildings. It just depends on the availability of the money," Markley said.|ret||ret||tab|

Lupton said a public hearing about the park's development will have to be held prior to the construction of the spec building, but the date for that hearing hasn't yet been determined. He added that the SCDO has spoken with several companies about locating in Sparta's industrial park, but none have yet made a firm commitment.|ret||ret||tab|

In the meantime, the SCDO hopes to take advantage of assistance available from the Ozarks Regional Economic Partnership. Allen Kunkel, manager of regional development with the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, said OREP is a voluntary partnership of cities, counties and chambers of commerce in a 10-county area. Kunkel said its members represent 27 area communities, including Sparta. |ret||ret||tab|

Kunkel said the partnership's philosophy is to market the southwest Missouri region as a whole.|ret||ret||tab|

"When companies start looking at an area, they don't start looking at one individual community, they start looking at the region as a whole and seeing what the region has to offer," Kunkel said.|ret||ret||tab|

The partnership will offer different types of economic development assistance for the industrial park in Sparta, Kunkel said.|ret||ret||tab|

"The biggest thing that we can do is, from a marketing standpoint, help in lead generation, because being the largest city in the region, we do get a lot of leads and we can help those smaller communities attract new business," he added.|ret||ret||tab|

Kunkel said there is competition among the communities in the partnership, but the goal is to get them to think about the economy of the region as a whole.|ret||ret||tab|

"A job opportunity in Sparta is still going to be good, maybe for a resident of Ozark or a resident of Nixa or a resident of Springfield. By having communities work together, businesses are more excited ... because it's a friendlier business environment to be in," he said.|ret||ret||tab|

Kunkel said he's noticed that more small communities have begun to consider creating industrial parks, or expanding what they already have.|ret||ret||tab|

The city of Nixa is one southwest Missouri community that has reaped the benefits of having an industrial park.|ret||ret||tab|

Nixa City Administrator Brian Bingle said the industrial park in Nixa has been good.|ret||ret||tab|

"The city of Nixa has outgrown its bedroom community status and in essence, is starting to see a self-sustainability, meaning that we have places to shop, places to work, a place of education, place of recreation, where, in its earlier days, Nixa did not have those types of opportunities," Bingle said.|ret||ret||tab|

Bingle said Nixa's industrial park is primarily a private development the city provides the necessary infrastructure, such as streets, sewer and utilities but only after the land is developed by a private owner.|ret||ret||tab|

"It (the industrial park) goes hand-in-hand with all the other development in the city, with respect to, certainly, assisting and complementing economic development here in Nixa," Bingle said.|ret||ret||tab|

According to Bingle, Nixa's industrial business park is nearly full. |ret||ret||tab|

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