TERRACE BAY — When your main employer is shut down and your town is desperately in need of revenue, a chance to get $200,000 a year during a long-term lease looks pretty appealing.
That's the opportunity being presented to Terrace Bay by EDF Renewables, a subsidiary of a France-based utility specializing in renewable energy production.
If the township council agrees to the deal, though, it will mean the end of the annual Terrace Bay Drag Fest operated for the past 25 years by the Superior Classics Car Club.
That's because EDF wants to set up a solar park on 200 acres of property at the municipally-owned Terrace Bay Airport, where drag races take place each Civic Holiday weekend.
The airport runway has been closed since 2005.
"The amount of money that it would take to lay down a track this long...we don't have the pockets for it. So definitely I would think it would be the end of the Drag Fest," said Ray Gionet, the car club's president and race coordinator.
In an interview Tuesday, Mayor Paul Malashewski acknowledged the races have been a been "a big event" in the town for a long time, but added "it would be hard for council to turn down revenue of $200,000 a year."
According to a presentation made to township council earlier this year, EDF has noted that its solar farms generate additional community benefits including construction jobs (up to 200 at peak), up to 10 permanent jobs during operation, and increased spending on locally-provided goods and services.
Malashewski said negotiations are ongoing with the developer, but speculated the lease agreement would be for about 25 years, and that payments would go up in small increments annually.
"I would hope that we would have something in place by the end of the year," he said.
The mayor believes "If the agreement was signed tomorrow, they would still have a couple of years at least left to hold the Drag Fest."