The New Mexico Economic Development Department (EDD) has awarded\nits third rural LEDA infrastructure grant to the Town of Taos for airport\nindustrial park investments that will help attract new businesses and better\nserve passengers, Economic Development Department Cabinet Secretary Alicia J.\nKeyes announced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The awards from the Local Economic Development Act (LEDA)\ncome under recent authority given to EDD that allows assistance to rural\ncommunities for important infrastructure improvements that can boost jobs and\nexpand economic capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The agreement is pending local government approval and would\nprovide up to $1.7 million from EDD for a water distribution extension to the\nTaos Regional Airport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Secretary Keyes said the state’s new 20-year Statewide\nStrategic Plan specifically address inequities between urban and rural areas –\ngaps that have been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Rural communities have fewer project-ready locations\nand this puts them at a disadvantage when competing for business development\nprojects,” Keyes said. “This inequity is what led Gov. Michelle Lujan\nGrisham to expand LEDA and focus on rural infrastructure to level the playing\nfield for smaller communities. This will remain a key goal for our department.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Moriarty Municipal Airport received a $283,000 grant in\n2020 and was the first to benefit from the new initiative to better assist\ncommunities with improvements to publicly owned industrial properties and\nattract business development. Last month, the City of Clovis was awarded a\n$2.13 million LEDA grant to extend a municipal waterline to serve its airport, which\nserve residents as well as Airmen and families at Cannon Air Force Base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Taos, the new infrastructure will allow for light\nmanufacturing and distribution businesses to grow, accommodate aviation-related\nservices, and allow the community to expand its foothold in alternative energy,\nfilm, and technology services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The airport improvements will also allow for better\nemergency response with a greater capacity to transport and treat severely ill\npatients and stage emergency medical personnel if needed, which has been a\nconcern during recent COVID-19 surge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Funding to support smaller airports provides strategic\neconomic assistance to the region,” New Mexico State Sen. Roberto\n“Bobby” J. Gonzales said. “Economic Development is an avenue to\ncreate jobs and support community businesses. The LEDA funding to the Taos airport\nfrom the state is an example of building a stronger and more sustainable\neconomy for the Taos region and all of New Mexico.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis award is an important step in helping our region\ndiversify and strengthen our economy with new good-paying career jobs and new\nclean industries that we could not compete for until now,\u201d Town of Taos Mayor\nDaniel R. Barone said. \u201cThe town has already received proposals for over\n440,000 sq. ft. of commercial space and 510 new positions over the next three\nyears as part of this project. Our thanks to Cabinet Secretary Keyes, her\nstaff, and the governor for their hard work and continued support of our\ncommunity, the state, and our shared vision of better jobs for all citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Taos Airport project includes a 6.5-mile water\ntransmission line extension as well as a pump station and several easements.\nThe project is a collaboration among local, state, and federal entities. The\ntown received a $2 million CARES Act grant from the U.S. Economic Development\nAdministration for utility improvements on airport grounds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The New Mexico Economic Development Department (EDD) has awarded its third rural LEDA infrastructure grant to the Town of Taos for airport industrial park investments that will help attract new businesses and better serve passengers, Economic Development Department Cabinet Secretary Alicia J. Keyes announced. The awards from the Local Economic Development Act (LEDA) come under […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20335,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-mexico"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Taos-Airport-LEDA2-2-edit-2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20334"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20337,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20334\/revisions\/20337"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}