Tuesday, June 2, 2015 • Developers have big dreams for Herlong airstrip

Publisher’s note: This story originally appeared in the Tuesday, June 2, 2015 edition of the Lassen County Times.

Things finally seem to be falling into place for Herlong Surplus Properties, LLC (owned by Hal Hays, Larry Smith and Steve Pezzullo) regarding the former Lassen Reuse Authority property near Amedee Field in the South County.

Larry Smith, one of the company’s owners, said the group’s goal is economic development of the area.

“We’re just asking for the opportunity to try to get this accomplished,” Smith said. “We can’t make guarantees that it’s absolutely going to happen, but nothing happens unless you try. The county wasn’t going to do anything with it, obviously. If anybody’s ever read the plan for that area that was developed by Lassen County, it spells it out pretty clearly what they were calling for … We own the property, and we’re going to be working hand and hand in conjunction with the base on the airfield.”

The group does not own Amedee Field itself, but use of the army airstrip could be the real key to future development in the area.

“The main thrust of what we’re trying to do with the airport property out there is to attract a major air flight carrier such as UPS or FedEx or both,” said Smith. “We’ve contacted UPS, and we’re just waiting to see if we can make a deal with them. If we can get an air freight terminal built out there at the airport, it should probably create somewhere around 400 jobs, and they’d be good paying jobs … We’re just trying to get some more jobs and some more opportunity in the South County.”

Smith said this is exactly the kind of development the Army envisioned for the area when it gave the excess property near Sierra Army Depot to the county.

“This is what the army expected,” Smith said. “We’re working with them. They’ve been very cooperative and it’s all been positive. I’ve had a good response from them. This is what they wanted. It’s all in their master plan they gave to the county when the property was gifted to them … All the stuff we’re trying to do is spelled out in there… ”

According to Smith, the army expected the county to give the property to a developer or sell the property cheaply. Instead, for years the county tried to get an economic development plan of its own off the ground, but it never came to fruition, partly because, according to Smith, “the county’s not in the business of developing.”

Believe it or not, a similar plan may have been in the works years ago, but it was shelved due to the military conflicts in the Middle East.

“From what I understand, FedEx had started this a number of years ago and was real close to getting it done when the Gulf War broke out and the army changed its mind,” Smith said. “FedEx was ready to go in there and build their terminals and do it. That’s the understanding I got, but I didn’t have anything to do with that … . I think if we can attract an anchor tenant to start this, we can attract a lot more. There are other overnight delivery companies besides UPS and Fed Ex … We’re just tying to make something happen. Nothing’s going to happen if you don’t try and put out an effort. As soon as we get a firm commitment, we’ll move forward as quickly as we can … There’s just so much room. That runway is over a mile long — you could land the Shuttle out there.”

Smith said the Amedee Field property is perfect for this kind of development today. Even though similar facilities are available less than 50 miles away in Reno, Smith said Amedee Field has several major advantages over Reno, which is being overwhelmed with commercial airline traffic and noise concerns.

“We don’t have that over here,” Smith said. “There are no real air traffic problems, and they’re just getting overloaded in Reno. We don’t have the noise limitations they have there or the air traffic congestion.”

And Smith said commercial users have created other opportunities at an airfield even closer to Reno than Amedee.

“I think Herlong/Amedee is kind of similar to the Stead facility,” Smith said. “You know, that started out with nothing but an airport, but with Penny’s, now there’s a lot of big warehousing going out there.”

Hal Hays, one of the HSP partners, owns a successful construction business with many large projects in its portfolio.

“Hal’s a large contractor out of Riverside,” Smith said. “He’s certainly capable. He’s done huge projects before.”

But the actual construction of the terminal buildings may wind up being the responsibility of the carriers themselves who will build the buildings on land leased from HSP, Smith said.

Hays could be responsible for building a road to the airfield when HSP attracts a major client.

“At some point an 8-mile road needs to get put in there, and we’re capable of doing that,” Smith said, “but there’s got to be some reason for putting it in … And at some point we’d like to see if we could get some housing going up. Really, there’s not much housing to pick from right now.”

But there are other viable possibilities as well beyond terminals for airfreight carriers.

Smith also envisions an aircraft storage facility or an aircraft recycling center such as one in Mohave, California or even an aircraft maintenance center.

Smith said Lassen County’s dry climate is perfect for those uses as well. Sierra Army Depot stores thousands of military vehicles at the base because our climate is ideal for such use.

Despite these big dreams, HSP probably still has a tough row to hoe.

“There are so many rules and regulations these days to do anything, whether it’s building a house in town with permitting and fire sprinklers and everything else,” Smith said. “You know buildings of that size out there, it takes years to get it all approved.”

And beyond those challenges, there are environmental issues such as the Carson wandering skipper — a moth-like insect that has only two known populations centers— one near Carson Hot Springs in Nevada and one in Lassen County near Amedee Field.

“There’s a whole book written about it,” Smith said. “They only nest out in that area.”

Some of the land around the airstrip also may be littered with unexploded ordnance — another challenge to potential development in the area.

Some critics have complained the county should have sold the property for more than HSP offered, but the county sold the property through a public bid process open to everyone.

“It’s not what you paid for it, it’s what you’re going to do with it,” Smith said. “The dollar value is immaterial. It’s silliness.”

Background
The U.S. Army gave the property near the airfield and other property near the Herlong town center to the county more than a decade ago, but the county was never able to create a viable economic development plan for the area.

The Lassen County Board of Supervisors approved the sale of nearly 3,000 acres of land near the airfield in April, escrow closed last week, and the new owners are finally in a position to begin trying to bring their plans to fruition.

HSP paid $25,000 for the Amedee property and returned the One-Stop building to the county — reportedly sold in error to the group when it purchased the Herlong town center property last year.

HSP has also agreed to pay approximately $48,000 for an airport land use study now in progress. The county may need as much as a year to complete that study.