Mostly clear. Low 69F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph..

Mostly clear. Low 69F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.

Mostly clear. Low 69F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph..

Mostly clear. Low 69F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.

(Shenandoah) -- Shenandoah city officials are throwing their support behind a large expansion project at the Green Plains campus.

Meeting in regular session Tuesday, the council unanimously approved a resolution of support of proposed terms to be included in an agreement for development between the city and Green Plains Shenandoah LLC. This spring, Green Plains announced plans for a $50 million expansion of the Shenandoah Biocampus to add a clean sugar facility for producing dextrose and fructose with dry milling. At the Shenandoah Chamber and Industry Association's annual meeting in July, Green Plains CEO Todd Becker said the low-cost sugar has a variety of uses.

"Sustainable aviation fuel out of ethanol or alcohol is coming in our future," he said. "I'll bet you that in the next 10 years, we'll be flying in airplanes that contain jet fuel made from alcohol right here in Shenandoah--I absolutely believe that. Sixty-percent protein that we're producing, renewable low-carbon corn oil that we get out of the kernel, making dextrose and glucose into renewable chemicals and other products that we're going to do with our clean sugar through innovative technologies, are all going to be part of what I call 'the Shenandoah experience.'"

In addition to attracting investors "in the trillions of dollars," Becker says the new facility will create high-paying jobs luring young people back to the community.

"We're attracting college graduates again," said Becker. "We're attracting (graduates) with engineering degrees, with technology degrees, with biology degrees into high-paying jobs. And, they're all going to be available in your local community. For me, that's really exciting, because we lost a lot of kids to the big cities. And, they're coming back because we can offer them amazing opportunities."

With the resolution of support, the city has agreed in principle to provide tax increment financing to support the project, which will also receive some funding from the Iowa Economic Development Authority. In a previous interview with KMA News, City Administrator A.J. Lyman says offering a tax rebate may help add additional jobs to the community.

"Off the start, they'll be adding some employment there to Green Plains, but it will also be looking at all the downstream partners that will be coming as part of this bio-campus," said Lyman. "That's what we're banking on there is that with the addition of this clean sugar process, that we'll be getting some additional employers in town and adding to the job base here."

In other business, the council approved the voluntary annexation of 700 South Fremont Street and 602 South Fremont Street, approved the purchase of a new UTV for the Parks and Recreation Department for $30,000 and approved several street closure requests.

At KMA, we attempt to be accurate in our reporting. If you see a typo or mistake in a story, please contact us by emailing kmaradio@kmaland.com.

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