Local EZ News: Siskiyou and Delano

The Siskiyou Daily News reports that communities in that county have been awarded over $3 million in economic development grants:

Great Northern Corporation (GNC) in a recent press release announced that the State of California Housing and Community Development (HCD) program has awarded over $3 million in funding for both their Planning and Technical Assistance Awards (PTAA) and their Economic and Community Development Block Grants (EDBG).

Part of this money will apparently be used to apply for a new Enterprise Zone designation in the upcoming application round:

“This was an impressive collaborative effort led by GNC,” Siskiyou County Economic Development Council Executive Director Tonya Dowse said in the release. “It is really unheard of to have so many communities come together on one project. With this funding we will be able to put together a quality Enterprise Zone Application.”

And in Delano The Bakersfield Californian reports on plans for a new $65 million retail development project:

Delano, where one in five residents is behind bars, is hoping an ambitious commercial development project will free the town from economic lockdown.

At first glance, Delano comes across as a sluggish, why-go-there town struggling with its always-uncertain agricultural economy -- a town perhaps distinguished most for the 11,148 inmates it holds in two state prisons within a total population of 53,037.

The city is imprisoned by a double-digit unemployment rate, antiquated roads and sewers and an anemic retail market.

But construction of a proposed $65 million project, now planned for some 20 retailers including a Wal-Mart Supercenter and Lowe's home improvement store, could begin as early as this fall.

Geary Coats, project director of the 45-acre Delano Marketplace, said, if approved, construction would take 12 to 18 months and provide more than 600 jobs.

Bill Bopf, a city economic development consultant, said the marketplace should generate $120 million to $150 million in annual sales.

That, he said, translates into $1.1 million in sales taxes.