Glass factory, business park on City Council agenda Tuesday

Lynn Walker, Wichita Falls Times Record News
·2 min read

Wichita Falls City Councilors on Tuesday will make decisions related to business and industry in the city.

They’ll be asked to authorize the sale of 28 acres at the Wichita Falls Business Park to BHD Land Development LLC for $1.96 million which will help offset spending $2.8 million for the design and construction of an extension of Production Boulevard along with related utilities.

Business and industry will dominate part of the Wichita Falls City Council's next agenda
Business and industry will dominate part of the Wichita Falls City Council's next agenda

This is to support a yet-to-be announced warehouse project at the park which the city’s Economic Development Board says will bring in 75 to 100 jobs.

The councilors will be asked to sign off on an application by the Vitro company to the governor’s office for a rebate of sales and use taxes in exchange for making capital improvements at the glass factory north of Wichita Falls and promising to hire economically disadvantaged workers.

PPG employed about 1,000 workers after opening the plant in 1974. It sold the factory to the Mexican Vitro company in 2016. The company said it plans to spend $60 million on repairs and upgrades. Vitro promises 35 percent of its hires in new permanent jobs will be economically disadvantaged people, enterprise zone residents or veterans.

Vitro currently employs 335 workers.

The company received a similar designation from the governor’s office in 2019.

Council members will also consider authorizing the city’s Type B Sales Tax Corporation to provide up to $398,000 to Sheppard Air Force Base to support the airfield Bird Air Strike Hazard (BASH) reclamation project. The money would be spent at $99,500 per year for four years to replace weed-infested open areas at the base with grasses that do not attract birds that could collide with civilian and military planes.

In other business, councilors will consider:

  • Spending $99,000 for five new mowers for the Parks Department

  • Applying for a grant for up to $32,000  for Law Enforcement Terrorist Prevention Activities

  • Authorizing a guaranteed maximum price of $16,389,745 with Anthony Inman Construction, Inc. Memorial Auditorium Building renovation project

  • Amending ordinances to modify the location of regular meetings and special meetings of the city council during the overhaul of City Hall.

This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Glass factory, business park on City Council agenda Tuesday