LELAND — The Town of Leland has received a voluntary annexation petition that has enormous economic development potential.
The petition covers nearly 220 acres, roughly a third of the land in the Leland Innovation Park. Despite the name, the park currently sits outside the town’s corporate limits — but the annexation could give Leland a major foothold in the park, an economic victory for the town, even if no one immediately builds on the land.
Related: The Leland Hub, Leland’s first foothold in the industrial park, to bring ‘innovation’ to ‘industry’
Thursday, Leland Town Council voted to authorize the town clerk to review a voluntary annexation petition from WCM Enterprises, LLC.
Just two small areas in Leland are currently zoned industrial in Leland’s C-3 Commercial Trucking District: one 8.4-acre area off Division Drive and one 3-acre parcel within the industrial park. Upon accepting the 220-acre area in the park, the town will create a new industrial zoning district for the three parcels. The new zoning district will be intended to attract job creators.
Eye on the prize
For years, Leland officials and partners worked to find a way into the industrial park off Highway 74, which at the time, was outside of town limits. Still, Windsor Park, a Leland residential neighborhood annexed into the town in 2004, borders the park. Over the past two years, the town’s limits have crept up closer to the area, with more satellite annexation requests coming through.
Because the town lacks industrially-zoned land in its limits, the Highway 74 park was an obvious target to accomplish its long-held goals of creating high-paying job opportunities for its residents. Plus, industrial properties tend to pay big property taxes and utility fees.
The voluntary annexation request marks a major shift in progress at the park for the town. The town has eyed the industrial park for years, spawning the non-profit, Leland Innovation Park, Inc. led by Gene Merritt, out of its economic development committee in 2018.
When the town first unveiled its plans to rebrand and rename the park outside of town limits, the announcement was met with frustration from county officials who were not included in the initial planning.
Closer to Navassa’s corporate limits than Leland’s, Leland entered into an annexation agreement including park property with Navassa in June 2018. Navassa’s leaders had no interest expanding into the park, so they gave Leland permission to accept annexation requests, per state law. Now, this agreement has paved the way for the town to somewhat seamlessly accept annexation petitions in the park, like WCM Enterprises’, even though the land is outside of its town limits and closer to another town.
Leland accepted its first industrial park property the same month it cemented the Navassa agreement, annexing a 3-acre parcel owned by Kingfish Investment Properties LLC. Leaders behind the park’s rebranding efforts intend to turn this property into the Leland Hub, a co-working space.
Though not technically in the park, last month, the town approved an offer to purchase a 17-acre property outside its limits and across the highway to be used as an operations complex.
Attracting clean, high-tech employers
Gary Vidmar, Leland’s Economic Development Director, explained the importance of securing this industrial property in town limits.
“The Town has long had a desire to attract clean, high-tech manufacturing companies and other businesses to the Town to provide sustainable, high-paying job opportunities for its residents. Without any significant amount of industrial-zoned land within its corporate limits, achieving this goal is impossible.
“Due to the makeup of the residential and commercial zoning that presently exists throughout the Leland community, there are no sizable tracts of land within the Town’s corporate limits where it would be appropriate to rezone to industrial without adversely affecting the adjacent properties. Annexing land located in the Leland Innovation Park by way of voluntary annexation would go a long way toward accomplishing the Town’s goal,” he explained in an email.
It’s not clear if WCM Enterprises has immediate plans for the undeveloped land it has owned for decades. A representative for the company could not be reached. Vidmar said the proposed annexation and initial zoning will take place without any specific user in mind.
Leland has an obvious incentive to accept this voluntary annexation petition: increase its boundaries in an area it has already identified, increase the town’s tax base, help encourage economic development activity, etc. But what’s in it for the property owner? What do they gain from asking to be annexed into the town? Vidmar explained:
“Staff plans to draft a zoning text amendment to create a new zoning designation that would coincide with the annexation and initial zoning of the WCM property. This new zoning district will be intended to promote and encourage job-creating uses that fit Leland’s character and desired brand of being a place for clean, innovative, sustainable companies to start, grow or relocate, such as advanced manufacturing, distribution, research and development, and associated support functions serving both the needs of the community and the region.
“The proposed zoning regulations would be ‘user friendly’ and support maximum effective use of the property. Moreover, if the property were inside the Town’s corporate limits. Leland would be in a better position to actively support the efforts of the landowner(s) to market the sites and to support efforts of LIP, Inc. and existing businesses in the Park to make general improvements throughout the Park and raise it up to more attractive and desirable standards,” Vidmar said.
Below, view a map of the Leland Innovation Park, formerly the Leland Industrial Park:
Send tips and comments to Johanna Ferebee Still at johanna@localvoicemedia.com
