Colfax moves forward with RFPs for rail spur

By LeAnn R. Ralph

COLFAX  —  The Colfax Village Board has approved proceeding with Requests For Proposals for  a new rail spur in Colfax.

The RFPs would not focus on the actual design and installation of a rail spur, but rather, would focus on costs for engineering services and for grant writing, said Scott Gunnufson, village president, at the Colfax Village Board’s December 27 meeting. 

In many cases, Gunnufson noted, the companies that supply grant-writing services do not charge an up-front fee, but rather, take a percentage of the grants that are awarded as their fee for writing the grant.

Another rail spur in Colfax would benefit existing businesses, such as Woods Run and Timber Technologies, and would help attract new businesses to the industrial park, Gunnufson said. 

The Colfax Plan Commission, along with village board members, met with representatives of Woods Run Forest Products and Timber Technologies December 20 to discuss the possibility of another rail spur in Colfax.

The plan commission subsequently approved a motion recommending that the village board pursue RFPs for a rail spur.

The proposed rail spur would be located on the west side of village, extending south from county Highway BB.

An estimate from the construction company of Market & Johnson places the cost of a rail spur at $190 per lineal foot. 

The proposed rail spur would be about 4,000 feet long, so the cost for the spur would be somewhere around $760,000, not including development costs such as a drainage pond and rail access.

The land where the rail spur would sit is expected to sell for $20,000 an acre for 20 acres in phase one and 20 acres in phase two, for a total land acquisition cost of $800,000.

“We know the village cannot fund a $2 million project. We would need grant help to do that,” Gunnufson told the other village board members.

If grants are received, and the cost to the village would still be $200,000 to $300,000, then the village board would have to make a decision about whether to move forward with the actual construction of the rail spur, he said. 

When asked by another village board member whether there were any lots remaining in the village’s industrial park, Gunnufson said the last lot had been sold to Timber Technologies.

“If grants are available, we would need to purchase more land for the industrial park,” he said.

Market & Johnson has experience with building rail spurs because they have built rail spurs for the sand mining companies, Gunnufson noted.

If there were grants available and the village board decided to move forward with building a rail spur, the village would advertise for bids for constructing the spur, he said.

The Colfax Village Board unanimously approved a motion to move forward with the recommendation from the Colfax Plan Commission to seek Requests For Proposals regarding a new rail spur in Colfax.

Village Trustee Casey Rihn was absent from the meeting.

In addition to Gunnufson, Village Trustees Mark Halpin, Carey Davis, Dave Wolff, Anne Schieber and Keith Burcham voted in favor of the motion.