SHASTA LAKE - A proposed green technology business park has gotten a federal boost.
Working with the Economic Development Corp. of Shasta County (EDC), Shasta Lake has received $70,000 to spend on research, analysis, design and planning for 22 acres near the northwest corner of Pine Grove Avenue and Ashby Road.
The McConnell Foundation, a Redding philanthropic organization, owns the property and has agreed to participate in the joint venture with the EDC and Shasta Lake.
EDC President Greg O'Sullivan anticipates the business park will attract clean technology companies and generate roughly 100 full-time jobs once it's operating.
Both Sullivan and Shasta Lake Project Manager Fred Castagna emphasized the green park would not compete with Stillwater Business Park, Redding's 673-acre industrial complex north of Redding Municipal Airport.
Stillwater boasts parcels up to 100 acres. Plots in Shasta Lake's green park could be from 1 to 5 acres.
"We actually think it will be complementary. If some large company lands at Stillwater, they will need some ancillary business that will have to serve them," Castagna said.
O'Sullivan said Stillwater's target manufacturer might be a large-scale wind-turbine manufacturer. The park in Shasta Lake could accommodate a firm that makes a component in that manufacturing process.
The U.S. Community Development Block Grant money will include a cost-benefit analysis of the site that would address infrastructure needs, as well as environmental concerns. It also would include a market analysis and a preliminary conceptual plan.
Castagna said McConnell purchased the Shasta Lake site, formerly known as the Ladd Property, about the time the philanthropic organization was pitching its idea for a horse park on the Gore Ranch in southwest Redding. McConnell eventually dropped those plans in March 2006.
"The idea was to use that land to relocate the commercial and industrial businesses" from the Gore Ranch area to Shasta Lake, Castagna said. "Since that (horse park) project didn't go through, they were left with a piece of industrial property in Shasta Lake."
So Castagna and O'Sullivan spoke to McConnell officials about studying the land for a green technology park.
"The idea is the businesses that go in there would be connected with renewable energy or other green processes," Castagna said.
Said O'Sullivan: "This is a private sector development with public sector participation, so this is truly a public-private sector partnership."
A phone message left Monday at McConnell headquarters wasn't returned.
The research and analysis study for the green park could be finished by next fall.
Reporter David Benda can be reached at 225-8219 or at dbenda@redding.com. | 
