FARMING IN THE 21 ST CENTURY

Transcription

1 CITY OF QUINCY Where Agriculture Meets Technology FARMING IN THE 21 ST CENTURY By Jim Hemberry Mayor Friday June 28, 2013 Presented at the AWC Conference Kennewick, WA

2 A city built on traditional agriculture Quincy is a rural city of 7,000 people located in the Columbia Basin The economy has long been driven by local agriculture. Two major food processors are the leading employers: ConAgra Foods Quincy Foods

3 Technology comes to Quincy in new server farms In 2007, a new kind of farm sprang up in the City - Microsoft constructed a server farm or data center Since then, five other companies have built data centers in Quincy: Yahoo! Vantage Intuit Sabey Dell

4 Data Centers add Cloud Computing economic cluster Microsoft and Yahoo! have constructed additional phases Dell and Sabey are planning to add additional phases. Intuit has planned capacity in place Total direct jobs created; approximately 350, with an estimated 700 indirect jobs Each new facility employs as many as 400 construction contractors for months

5 Why Data Center Companies Choose to be in Quincy Large available and affordable tracts of developable property Favorable climate hot days & cool nights Stable weather pattern Abundant and affordable power Dark fiber optics City services

6 City actions to promote technology growth Local Partnerships * Quincy Valley Leadership Group Grant County Commissioners Grant County Emergency Management 12 th and 13 th District State Legislators Big Bend Community College Hospital District Grant County Health District City of George Quincy Valley Chamber of Commerce Serve Quincy Grant County Economic Development Council Grant County PUD Commissioners Fire District School District Port District City of Quincy

7 City actions to promote technology growth Internally - Build Quincy Technical Team Design & Engineering Construction Financial planning Legal assistance Government affairs and communications

8 City actions to promote technology growth Legislatively Supported sales tax exemption for data center development in rural areas Locally Protect opportunity for existing data centers to expand Provide streamlined permit process for construction of mirror facilities Coordinate with stakeholders on innovative solutions to infrastructure concerns

9 Infrastructure solution; Wastewater Reuse Utility Microsoft, Yahoo! and Intuit initial facilities use water circulated through cooling towers to cool computer servers Cooling tower system requires discharge and flushing after 2 3 cycles U.S. Bureau of Reclamation decides to not renew City s 50 year discharge permit City faced with developing solution for source water and wastewater treatment

10 Wastewater Reuse Utility Project Original design used reclaimed water from the municipal reclamation facility as a source Data centers have become more efficient developing alternate cooling methods Project shifted from a data center project to an industrial wastewater project due to the U.S. BOR decision, establishing September 2015 for discharge deadline

11 Wastewater Reuse Utility Project Revised project provides City with the ability to discharge up to 6 million gallons per day of Industrial Wastewater facility effluent Effluent from wastewater facility will be treated and applied to: public land to reduce TDS (total dissolved solids) levels, and private land to increase dry land farm production

12 Wastewater Reuse Project Public - Private Partnership City negotiated a lease to own agreement with Microsoft for demineralization plant upgrade into reverse osmosis (R/O) facility R/O facility treatment will eliminate discharge and generate a reliable source of Class A water for reuse City has secured federal and state grants for various phases, final loan required for project completion

13 Wastewater Reuse Project Benefits Provides wastewater solution for food processing industry Improves ground water quality by reducing TDS levels in wastewater Provides source water for dry land farm irrigation and increases production Allows City to add an additional food processor without major facility upgrades Facility permitted for 5 million gallons per day but USBOR permit limits discharge to 3.2 million

14 Biogas Project Partnership with American Waters for Pilot Project Wastewater facility lagoon covered and methane gas captured Additional lagoon can be covered to increase gas production Currently, gas is flared off while City determines best use McKinstry analysis CNG versus cogeneration

15 Benefits To the City Prior to data center construction the City s annual sales tax revenue was approximately $600,000 Since data center construction, the City s annual sales tax revenue has been between 3.0 and 4.0 million dollars The City s assessed value has increased from $265 million to $1.1 billion Junior Taxing districts

16 Benefits To the City Sales tax revenues have been used for important capital improvements: New library Park Improvements Street Improvements Fire Protection Public Services Building Senior Center remodel Museum remodel

17 Benefits To the City Sales tax revenues are being planned for these capital improvements City Hall remodel Police Station Animal Shelter Amphitheater

18 Benefits To the City Property tax revenues have been used for operations and maintenance improvements City Recreation Department Increase Police Personnel City Engineer Safety Coordinator

19 The Future Is Bright Data centers are expanding and new companies are still making inquiries Port Intermodal Project Distribution Center Amway facility New housing starts Potential third food processor

20 Questions? Thank you for your time Jim Hemberry Mayor