When competing for an economic development project, communities often focus on what can make them stand out to the prospective business. While this is important and can be what ultimately lands the project, equally as important is ensuring that your proposed site can check the boxes to stay in contention in the initial search. The NPPD Site Readiness Assistance Program (SRAP) can help check those boxes.
The SRAP was created in 2019 to help fund due diligence on potential development sites in the NPPD service territory to help them become “shovel-ready” for new development opportunities. Over the past four years, due diligence items such as ALTA surveys, geotechnical investigations, Phase 1 Environmental studies, property maps, and several others have received funding through the SRAP.
Seward County Chamber & Development Partnership have been some of the most proactive participants in the program and have reaped rewards for that, with several sites in that area receiving funding over the life of the SRAP. One of those sites includes the Seward Rail Campus, which recently was selected as the site for a new heat exchange unit service facility. Click here to learn more about NPPD’s involvement in that project.
“The only way businesses will take a site seriously is if due diligence has been done on it,” said Jonathan Jank, president and CEO of Seward County Chamber and Development Partnership. “We are looking for the opportunity to compete [for development projects] and that doesn’t happen if you don’t get past the first round of interest. We are competing on projects because of the due diligence that we were able to complete with the SRAP funds.”
Some changes are being made to the SRAP program for 2023. In previous years, the application and selection process ran roughly from January to May, with funded work to be completed by November of the same year.
The selection process for 2023 will run in the fall of 2022. The 2023 applications are due in December, with announcements made by mid-January, and deliverables due by the end of October. Awardees will have closer to nine months as opposed to six to complete due diligence items that receive funding. A formal pre-application and extension process have also been added for 2023.
SRAP Key Dates for Applicants
Informational Webinar- Zoom September 10, 2022, 10 A.M.
Registration opens August 8.
Pre-Application Due October 31, 2022
Full Application Due December 2, 2022
Awardees Announced January 16, 2023
Deadline to complete work or apply for extension- October 31, 2023
Deadline to Complete work with Extension- December 31, 2022
If you have any questions about the Site Readiness Assistance Program, contact the Program Coordinator Austin Hamm at aphamm@nppd.com.