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Letter: County voted on car factory without enough information | Letters to the Editor

Two recent articles in The Press referenced Falcon Car Factory: One referenced a public records request to the Sheridan County Board of Commissioners and one regarding how Falcon selected Sheridan. The purpose of the request was to learn what information the commissioners considered in determining if Falcon Car’s application was compliant with the Sheridan County Airport Business Park covenants, conditions and restrictions.

The airport covenants, conditions and restrictions are minimum standards to be met by all Airport Business Park leaseholders, to ensure public and private investment is protected against incompatible and improper development. The standards also require the scale and character of the development be maintained as “anticipated by the community.”

Commissioners voted to lease Falcon Car lots at the Business Park on Feb. 16, 2021. However, on Feb. 16, 2021, response to the records request showed the commissioners had little information to determine total impact before they voted. They had no impact studies of the plant; no information on the facility itself; no artist’s renderings; no estimation of the number of vehicles to be manufactured or number of jobs; no traffic, property value or environmental studies; no vetting of the company; in essence, no information required by airport standards.

It would have been hard for the public to comment on this lease before a vote, as the commissioners could not have supplied information that they, themselves, didn’t have. Again, negotiations with Falcon were done in secret so Falcon would not be undercut or outbid for the property. One commissioner stated his considerations for the approval were: telling the public they brought jobs to Sheridan so Sheridan’s kids would stay or move back; and the lease agreement.

At a recent commission meeting, I was asked where I got information on the amount of vehicle traffic that would be created by Falcon Car going through the neighborhoods. I answered it. The question should have been asked of Falcon Car before any vote and provided to the public, not asked nearly a year after the vote.

One email obtained by the public records request to a commissioner from the airport manager, dated June 25, 2021, states, “The issue with all this complaining is that they (the public) have no idea what to expect. Nobody does!”

I think the county, city and community have a right to know what to expect. 

You can contact the commission at 307-674-2900 or at its meeting every first and third Tuesday of the month at 9 a.m.

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