As Kubota Tractor project inches to finish line, Elk Grove leaders tout deal as jobs engine
Elk Grove’s bid to land Kubota Tractor Co.’s new headquarters is nearing the finish line despite criticism from some that city officials rushed the process and ignored environmental concerns.
City approvals of design plans, parking and tree removal permits earlier this month cleared another path for the planned centerpiece of Elk Grove’s long-sought industrial and business park on Grant Line Road at Waterman Road, the tractor giant’s 630,000-square-foot western base and manufacturing hub.
City staffers continue to work on sale and purchase paperwork, officials said, but City Council members have been eager to tout the Kubota project as an economic catalyst for Elk Grove and a signal that the city is ready to be a business hub.
Economic development officials say the tractor campus could bring as many as 300 jobs to Elk Grove and entice more manufacturers to the city.
“The idea of having an international company here sends a powerful message to everyone not only in California but the world that Elk Grove is open for business,” said Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen in voting to reject an appeal by project opponents at the council’s Aug. 11 meeting.
Elk Grove and Kubota have been in discussions for three years on a new, larger Elk Grove site that would replace Kubota’s present West regional base in Lodi, the 17-acre, 180,000 square-foot facility the conglomerate has called home since 2005.
The proposed campus would also be a final equipment assembly facility, house executive offices and become home to Kubota University, the company’s U.S. training and education center.
Attorneys for the group Sacramento County Residents for Responsible Government had argued before Elk Grove planning commissioners and council members that city officials looked past the project’s potential for “significant, unmitigated” environmental impacts of heavy truck traffic and greenhouse gas emissions on the project’s neighbors in granting approvals.
“Residents support sustainable development, but a number of residents will be affected,” the coalition’s attorney, Kevin Cumberland, argued in his appeal at the Aug. 11 council meeting.
But Elk Grove City Council rejected the coalition’s appeal, satisfied the project passes environmental muster.
“We want to be a welcoming community for business that will in the long run help our working families and really lift our community,” Singh-Allen said.
Elk Grove council member Pat Hume said the planned south city industrial park with Kubota Tractor Co. as a lead tenant could be a jobs producer for years to come and would counter claims that California is an unfriendly climate to business.
“This is a catalyst for economic development that we’ve been cultivating for a long time. The fact that Kubota wants to stay in the region — wants to stay in Elk Grove — bodes well for a lot of work here in Elk Grove for the foreseeable future,” Hume said.
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