Second CP&L Proposal Gets Warmer Reception

BY WESLEY YOUNG
SALISBURY POST

U.S. 70 is an industrial corridor. A huge polyester fiber plant sits right across the street.

Even environmentalist Mike Baranski says he can't think of any big reason to oppose Carolina Power and Light's plans to build a peak production power plant at the junction of N.C. 801 and U.S. 70 near the town of Cleveland.

''That kind of industry seems to be about as low impact as we can probably get,'' Baranski said. ''Once developed and built, it does not attract large numbers of people. The impact is absolutely minimal. It would provide an increase of the tax base at low cost, in terms of infrastructure needs and workers coming into the area.

''On the surface, I can't say I have any great opposition. I don't see any huge negatives.''

County officials are stressing huge positives: A chance to add possibly $1 million in tax revenue to the county each year, at a time when schools, courts and jails are jampacked with people.

''Rowan County has never received or been part of an industry'' that pumps this kind of investment into its operation, County Manager Tim Russell said.

Rowan County will provide CP&L with an incentives package to locate here, but Russell said it is ''premature'' to speculate on what those might be. Commissioners have not had a chance to discuss what they're willing to do to lock down the company, Russell said.

The county has a standing policy of helping companies with water and sewer lines. The county could also help connect the plant to natural gas or electricity service, Commissioner Steve Blount indicated.

''I think most of the commissioners were comfortable with it going on the 601 site,'' Blount said. ''We were assured that the noise would not have been a problem, site and smokestack emissions not a problem. Those things still hold true.

''I don't know what surprises could come up that would convince the commissioners not to approve a project like this.''

The county suggested the U.S. 70 tract, along with other sites, when CP&L backed off the U.S. 601 site in November. The Powlas property has long been considered an industrial property and was zoned industrial when the county put zoning in place last year.

The county must still hold a public hearing, since the plant must get a ''conditional use'' permit to locate on the industrial property. To do that, the company must present the county a diagram of its building plans, along with usual hours of operation and other information.

''They are supposed to show they won't create hazardous conditions,'' County Planner Marion Lytle said this morning. He added he ''just got off the phone with a guy who can't decide whether to oppose it or not.''

The property was the scene of a large public protest in 1987, when the property was a finalist in a state search for a site to place a hazardous waste incinerator. State officials eventually dropped the site from their list.

''We marched on that site,'' County Manager Tim Russell said.