Jobs Plus Touts Watson Site For Coveted Micron Factory

If Micron Semiconductor Inc. decides to plunk its $1.3 billion wafer plant in Kootenai County, it will be built on the site once promoted as the future home of one of the largest retail developments in the West.

Jim Watson’s proposed site for International Expo would “be the perfect site for Micron,” said Bob Potter, president of Jobs Plus Inc. The site has many technical advantages, but also a big disadvantage - its price tag.

Micron continues to scrutinize 13 contenders nationwide for the expansion, which would bring 3,500 jobs to one lucky community. The Boise-based company will chose a winner next month.

Developer Watson & Associates had wanted to build a large retail complex called International Expo, but failed to attract the big-name stores to make it happen. Owner Jim Watson offered the site to Micron as one of seven that Potter presented to Micron in December.

The Expo site rose above five Rathdrum sites that, while meeting Micron’s specifications, would have required too much road improvement to be feasible as plant sites. Another Post Falls site owned by Gary Schneidmiller also bowed to Watson’s land.

For Watson, the Micron consideration marks a grand opportunity to put the 640 acres to use after struggling to bring his Expo vision to life.

With two exits off the freeway, the site has easy access. Other competitors for the plant such as Butte, Mont., have had to gain commitments from highway departments to build interchanges for proposed Micron sites.

The plant would be a whopper in terms of water consumption, both coming into the facility from underground and out of it as waste water. The Rathdrum Aquifer would easily provide the 2 million gallons needed each day for the chip plant, said Anne Pressentin of the state Division of Environmental Quality. About 480 million gallons of relatively pure water flows underground near the site, she said.

The plant recycles a great deal of that water, but 1.1 million gallons would be discharged each day, according to Paul Diener, public works director for Post Falls. Aside from some trace chemicals, that water is relatively clean and could be used to irrigate land during the summer.

During the winter, the city would move the water from the plant to its water treatment plant through a new line to be constructed, Diener said. The water would be filtered and released into the Spokane River.

As for the thousands of cars driving to the site, Diener said that improvements would have to be made to Pleasantview Road and Seltice Way, work that is already on the drawing board.

“Frankly, I’m not too worried about the kind of impact that Micron would have on the roads and sewers,” he said. “Sure, we’d have to make some improvements here and there to make it happen, but a lot of that we’re already doing to handle the growth we have now.”

Half of Micron’s work force would likely live in the Spokane Valley and half in Kootenai County, spreading the burden of thousands of new people. The plant construction and addition of new workers would occur over a four-year period say Micron officials.

The big drawback to the Watson property is the price. While other Micron competitors in Iowa, Oklahoma and Indiana will probably offer free land as part of their incentive package, the Watson property won’t come cheap.

As a key provision in Kootenai County’s bid for Micron, Potter understandably won’t discuss the land price issue. Clearly, some agreement will need to be reached between Watson and Micron for the Kootenai County area to remain competitive in the bidding war.