The plan to bring a greenhouse lettuce farm to Yorkville may well depend on the city’s success in obtaining a $1 million federal grant to help pay for the extension of sanitary sewer service to the property.
Grower Bright Farms wants to build the lettuce production facility on a 100-acre site at the northeast corner of Eldamain and Corneils roads on the far northwest side of the city, north of the Menards Distribution Center.
The city has applied for a $1 million federal Community Development Block Grant to help cover the cost of the $2.8 million sewer extension. Other financial sources negotiating over the costs include the city, the Yorkville Bristol Sanitary District and Bright Farms. At a Yorkville City Council meeting on Feb. 22, Alderman Dan Transier asked Bright Farms Project Developer Sean O’Neill the question that was on everyone’s mind: What happens if the city does not receive the grant money?
“It would cause a ripple in our budget,” O’Neill replied, but not ruling out the project if the grant is not obtained. City officials are eager to see the lettuce farm project come to Yorkville for the jobs and property tax revenue it will bring to the community. O’Neill told the council it will start with one of the gigantic greenhouses and then add a new one about once every two years, depending on how quickly the market absorbs the grower’s product.
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