(Disclosure: Rose Law Group represents Atlas Global, developer of the I-40 TradePort.)
By Shawn White | The Tribune
At the most recent meeting of the Winslow City Council, two measures were passed that get the ball rolling on the creation of a plan for the I-40 tradeport. These two measures do not commit the city to developing the tradeport once they are done with the planning phase, and there is a method for withdrawal from the plan for Winslow if the city ultimately decides this isn’t right for them.
The first thing passed was what the council had tabled in their second meeting in May, which was a commitment to a public coalition to develop a plan for the tradeport and the I-40 corridor at large. This plan includes only public partnerships with entities like Bernalillo County, City of Kingman, City of Albuquerque, Village of Los Lunas, N.M., and a few others. This coalition would be managed by Bernalillo County; they would be in charge of the acceptance of all grant dollars and then distributing them to the other partners. This coalition at this time is only committing to raising money for the planning phase to fully vet this as an idea and see if it’s something they will want to develop.