Spunstrand mulls Wallace annexation
An artist rendering of the proposed Public Safety Building. This 32,000-square-foot structure would include a new Sheriff's Office, 911 center and jail facility. It would be constructed on Frontage Road next to Spunstrand Inc.'s factory in Wallace.
Courtesy image
The question of whether or not Spunstrand Inc. wishes to be part of a land annexation by the city of Wallace remains up in the air, following a meeting between representatives and the Shoshone Board of County Commissioners on Wednesday.
Spunstrand, the Coeur d’Alene based manufacturer of fiberglass reinforced products that has a factory just outside the city limits of Wallace on N. Frontage Road, recently became involved in the county’s plan to purchase 49 acres of land in that area currently owned by the Union Pacific Railroad. The purpose of this purchase is to make way for a new Public Safety Building that would be constructed on approximately 5 acres of land.
“Ours is just not going to make it,” Huber said in a previous Wallace City Council meeting. “The jail is costing us hundreds of thousands of dollars a year and it is in such bad shape — it will continue to force us to throw good money at it with nothing to show for it.”
Huber explained in that meeting that the Union Pacific Railroad isn’t interested in piecing out the 49 acres and will only sell it all as one big package.
According to Idaho Code, a county’s public safety building must reside within the county seat, meaning that it must be part of Wallace’s city limits — and currently the Wallace city limits ends just east of the property occupied by Spunstrand. In order to annex the property the county is purchasing, it may require the city to annex the property Spunstrand sits on.
In the Wednesday meeting, Spunstrand representatives expressed their uneasiness about the annexation, due mostly to losing their healthy relationship with the county.
“The county has been wonderful to work with for the 60-plus years that it's (the factory) been there,” said Spunstrand representative Kirk Nelson.
By the end of the meeting, it was agreed upon by both parties that further consultation with the city of Wallace was needed to fully understand what would change for Spunstrand if they were incorporated.
The county’s plan to purchase the land this year will be done in part with money from the sale of county land in Smelterville to Maverik. Huber tells the News-Press that the county already has two businesses interested in buying some of the 49 acres.
As for the design of the to-be public safety building, plans have remained largely unchanged since the proposal to levy the funds for the construction was shot down by voters in November 2019.