FILLMORE : Bond Sale to Benefit Industrial Park OKd

City officials are moving forward with plans to sell $5 million in bonds after landowners overwhelmingly agreed to finance public improvements in an industrial park with new taxes, an official said Monday.

The 128-acre industrial park is the largest commercial project planned in Fillmore. An estimated 1,500 jobs may be created when it is completed, officials said.

Thirteen property owners where the park will be located approved new property taxes in a special mail-in ballot, City Manager Roy Payne said.

The measure won by a 91% margin in last week’s vote, he said.

The City Council is expected to certify the election results when it meets Aug. 14.

Approval of the new tax gives Fillmore officials authority to issue bonds to raise money for road, sewer and storm drain improvements to develop the industrial park.

Landowners will later be assessed to pay off the bonds.

The per-acre assessments are $655 for water lines, $787 for sewers and $2,950 for storm drain and street improvements.

Construction of the improvements will begin in early 1991, although landowners will not have to pay the new taxes until a year later, Payne said. The taxes will be spread out over 20 years, he said.

Development of an industrial park is part of a strategy to lure new businesses to the town of nearly 12,000. The park is expected to change Fillmore’s agricultural employment base to industries that generate more assembly and office jobs.

The industrial park will be located north of Old Telegraph Road on a site now occupied by citrus groves and a few businesses.

Plans conceived by city officials call for an industrial park occupied by assembly plants, warehouses and small distribution centers.