Barstow looks to land major aluminum plant

Project would bring 2,000 badly-needed jobs to the High Desert region, which hasn’t been helped much by the state’s economic recovery. However, major obstacles remain before the project can be approved.

Officials from Barstow and San Bernardino County are scheduled to travel to China today, where they will visit two aluminum plants that are virtually identical to one that an Orange County developer plans to build in Barstow.

If the five-member delegation likes what it sees at both locations, it could be a watershed moment, not only for the city but the entire region.

“This is a potential game-changer for the High Desert,” said Joseph Brady, founder and president of The Bradco Cos., in Victorville, the largest commercial real estate brokerage firm in the Victor Valley. “With the jobs it would create, it could reshape the entire High Desert economy.”

Barstow Aluminum Corp. would process and refine aluminum rather than manufacture it from scratch, said Oliver Chi, Barstow’s assistant city manager and one of five officials scheduled to make the China trip.

Barstow Mayor Julie Hackbarth-McIntyre, council member Merrill Gracey, City Manager Curt Mitchell and Kelly Reenders, administrator for the San Bernardino County Economic Development Agency will also make the five-day excursion. In addition to the Zhongwang plant in Liaoning province, the delegation will visit an aluminum production facility under construction in Tianjin in northern China.

That project, which is expected to be finished during the fourth quarter of this year, is similar to the operation that is planned for Barstow.

Barstow Aluminum would cover nearly three million square feet and employ at least 2,000 people when it opened, according to plans submitted in March to the Barstow City Council by Scuderia Development in Newport Beach.

Scuderia Development has built aluminum production facilities throughout the world. It’s been hired by Zhongwang Group, a holding company based in China, to develop its Barstow operation.

Barstow Aluminum will be developed on approximately 965 acres and will cost $1.5 billion to build. Scuderia, which already owns 260 acres in Barstow, has asked the city to help it buy an additional 706 acre to accommodate the project.

The project would be built on what is now open space between Lenwood and Hodge roads immediately south of the former Sun & Sky Country Club. Barstow Aluminum would be the largest manufacturing operation in the High Desert and one of the largest aluminum production facilities in North America, according Scuderia.

Council members were impressed enough with the proposed project last month that they voted 5-0 to enter into an exclusive negotiating agreement with Scuderia. Barstow Aluminum would be built in phases, with the first phase expected to be operating in about three years, Chi said.

Barstow and the High Desert in general are desperate for jobs; 2,000 well-paying manufacturing jobs would be an immediate spark for the region, and perhaps lead to similar projects in the future.

The project has the stamp of approval of the Inland Empire’s leading economist.

“I’ve talked to some people up there and they seem to think this thing is real, that it will happen eventually,” said John Husing, who constantly harps on the need for the Inland Empire to attract more manufacturing jobs. “Adding 2,000 jobs would do great things for the [High Desert] economy. It would be worth its weight in gold.”

The High Desert is desperate to add any jobs, according to Chi.

“We’re still at about 11 or 12 percent unemployment,” Chi said, about three points higher than all of California. “The economic recovery that is happening in most of the state hasn’t manifested itself in the High Desert yet, so we need to do something. This would start at 2,000 jobs, but ultimately it could be a lot more than that.”

Last summer, the Zhongwang Group first approached Barstow officials about possibly locating their project there. They were looking at several other U.S. sites, but settled on Barstow because it has available land and is close to the ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach, Chi said.

Both sides then began discussing how they could make the project happen, along with the potential difficulties in bringing a large manufacturing operation to California, which has reputation for being unfriendly to manufacturing.

“For us it was a green light from the start,” Chi said. “But obviously there are a lot of details that have to be worked out.”

First among those details is entitlement. The city must hold hearings to determine if the land proposed for Barstow Aluminum is suitable for such a project. After that, the city must start working on an environmental impact report, a process that could take several years, or more, given the size and scope of the project.

Also, a formal development agreement between Barstow and the Zhongwang Group must be put together, along with a financial impact report. Ultimately, the project will go before the planning commission for a vote and, at the end of the chain, the city council for final approval.

So far, there’s been no opposition to project, but there’s a chance there will be some at some point, perhaps from residents in the cluster of about 100 single-family homes immediately northwest of the proposed site, Chi said.

About half those homes are in Barstow, the other half in unincorporated county territory, and a well-organized effort – extra traffic, more noise and pollution, other environmental concerns – could extend the permitting process for months or years.

“There could be some opponents, but we really believe this is going to happen,” Chi said. “I would say we’re cautiously optimistic. If it doesn’t happen, it will be because of circumstances beyond our control.”

Should Barstow Aluminum happen, a lot of developers might change their perception of Barstow and all of the High Desert, Brady said.

“Not only would it bring a lot of money into the region, but it would change Barstow’s image,” Brady said. “The city is out there trying to sell itself and make something big happen. That’s a whole new attitude.”