FREDERICKSON, WA — On Saturday morning, the Frederickson Clover Creek Community Council (FCCCC) held their monthly meeting and had Denise Dyer, the Director of the Pierce County Economic Development Department as speaker.

Her comments included discussion of the Boeing Frederickson plant and the 777x. There are currently 1803 people working at the plant in Frederickson. There has been concern that because of the size of the wing for the 777x, it will have to be made in Everett as the railroad crossings and road corners are not big enough to transport the completed parts. So the county is working to ensure that Boeing jobs are kept at Frederickson in some fashion. Each completed 777x is $350 million.

The Frederickson Industrial Park has a total of 2268 acres. Taking out the railroad right of ways, roadways and long-term residential acreage, there is 2102 acres and only 785 of this is developed. There is still 1318 acres available to develop.

Ms. Dyer also spoke about recruiting Niagara, the new water bottling company and of an increase in jobs at the IKEA warehouse, where there will be more “picking” being done.

The tax base in Frederickson is a combination of property taxes, business taxes and the tax on equipment called personal property tax. Businesses in Frederickson pay anywhere from $11,000 to $100,000 per year in personal property tax.

Dyer spoke of development coming to some of the properties. A new Jack in the Box location on the NW corner of 176th and Canyon. The remaining parts of which will be commercial and community oriented development. There is currently a shortage of places to have lunch for all the workers in the Industrial Park.

Toray Composites has broken ground on a new 150,000 square foot addition which will include 100 new jobs. SHe noted it is the most productive pre-preg plant in the world. Toray is also building in Alabama and South Carolina. to be near other Boeing sites.

james Hardie is working on a 350,000 s.f. expansion that will add another 100 jobs. Start of construction is planned for 2015 and completion around 2016. There are other items in the works that cannot be discussed due to confidentiality agreements. Those are generally given code names, so the businesses involved are not disclosed.

Dyer then spoke about the U.S. Open which is expected to deliver a $150 million impact in the region. Hotels will be filled up in King, Kitsap, Pierce and Thurston Counties for the event.

Cuts that are upcoming in the Department of Defense has the county worried as JBLM is the largest employer in the county. The Cross Base Highway was then brought up. She quickly discovered the support for the project is 100% in this area. Members told the story of how 3 upset horse businesses went to Seattle environmental groups to sir the pot against the project. Locally, people are fully supportive.

The Cross Base Highway Project is being put together by sections, the next being the most expensive. It is the Thorne Lane Interchange Project. There are legislators that are adamant against it. [Editor Note: she didn’t say who, but he’s a newly appointed House member from the 28th]

There is a letter from Norman Schwartzcopf fully supporting the Cross Base and the military is working on the internal infrastructure pieces. Since 9-11, interest in the project has increased within the military.

Dyer noted attracting businesses to the state has its challenges. They don’t like the industrial insurance system here or the business and occupation tax. They have also tried to keep the state from forcing them to have business licenses in the unincorporated county.

She briefly touched on standards for air and water quality being pushed by the state Department of Ecology including storm water regulations that don’t take into consideration the varying soil types. Also that some standards they have required are higher than scientifically detectable.

Overall, it was a highly informative hour and a half that flew by chock full of information. The EDD has certainly been working hard to being new jobs to Pierce County.

In other Frederickson announcements and projects, April 19 is the Easter Eggstrvaganza. On April 15, there will be an event planning  meeting at 5p.m. at Ricky J’s for all those who want to voounteer. They need many volunteers to help out.

Cross Park had a Capital Budget item on the state legislative agenda this session that passed unanimously in the house, but failed in the Senate by 3 votes. Joan Cross is confident that it will be back next year and make a better showing. The good news is they learned they could do this and will surely have success in the near future. Then Frederickson will have a real community park.