The Perry City Council and Planning and Zoning Commission combined for a joint special session Tuesday evening, with the purpose of discussing potential industrial expansion and development projects.

The focus of the meeting was on a proposed expansion of the Progressive Foundry plant, which would require closing a block of 2nd Street downtown. Foundry Owner Kirk VanKirk presented the project to the Council and Commission, which included a purchase agreement with Wiese Industries that’s currently in the works. VanKirk said the proposed expansion would close off 2nd between Bateman and Rawson streets, between the Foundry’s current location and the block they plan to buy from Wiese. He emphasized that the company is growing too large to fit in their current space, but it’s their desire to remain in Perry in spite of their landlocked location.

In closing off the street, the Foundry would build a new 14,000 square-foot building at the intersection of 2nd and Rawson, and then renovate the other buildings to include a training center, lunch room, locker rooms and showers, and new offices. Aside from needing more space, VanKirk pointed out that the truck traffic in the area currently creates several safety hazards for motorists, pedestrians, and the trucks themselves. He also mentioned that expanding the facility would create new jobs and increase the overall tax base of the company. For Wiese’s part, after selling the block east of the Foundry, they would build a 30,000 square-foot building on the block between 3rd and 4th streets.

City Administrator Sven Peterson said the proposal would require several steps to complete, including vacating the block of 2nd, creating a new zoning classification of Central Heavy Industrial, and rezoning the entire eight block stretch that includes both Progressive Foundry and Wiese Industries. The City would also look into a project to widen Bateman Street to better accommodate the truck traffic. The Council members each seemed supportive of the proposal, while some members of Planning and Zoning had misgivings about its effect on traffic. The Council and Commission will both take up initial items related to the industrial expansion at their regular sessions next week.