Continental Dairy recommended for Ottawa County ARRA bonds
Pete Daly

GRAND HAVEN — The Ottawa County Planning and Performance Improvement Department will recommend to the county board Tuesday that the county's entire allotment of ARRA subsidized construction bonds for private enterprises be allocated to Continental Dairy for its milk processing plant in Coopersville.

The staff recommendation, which is contained in the on-line information packet for the county commissioners' meeting tomorrow, said the allocation would be contingent upon several conditions being met by Continental Diary, including "securing all sources of financing" and issuing the bond within 120 days.

Continental Dairy Products, supported by Coopersville city officials, is going to invest $100 million in a powdered milk processing plant inside the vacant former Delphi automotive parts plant.

The staff report concludes that the dairy plant project "is the closest to being shovel-ready although it still must secure other sources of financing."

Two of the three other projects that applied for the ARRA bonds are Alden Place and Beechtree Development, both of which "will require substantially more work before they are shovel-ready and able to pursue bond funding," according to the report. The third project, the Hilton Garden Inn and Conference Center proposed in Grand Haven, "has the potential to create many jobs. However, it has many substantial hurdles to overcome before it is ready to issue bonds," states the staff report.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will rebate part of the interest on construction bonds, which will presumably encourage some financial institution to loan the money. The ARRA Recovery Zone Facility Bond allocation for Ottawa County is $31.1 million.