» Mitsubishi to bring 400 jobs to Fort Chaffee
Mitsubishi Power Systems Americas has announced it will build a $100 million wind turbine manufacturing plant on 90 acres at Fort Chaffee that will employ up to 400 once fully operational. Ivy Owen, executive director of the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority (left), and Fort Smith City Administrator Dennis Kelly share a laugh prior to the start of a press conference detailing the decision by Mitsubishi to build a plant at Fort Chaffee. Construction on the 200,000-square-foot building is set to begin in early 2011. The company issued a press release around noon on Friday (Oct. 16), and officials with the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce, city of Fort Smith, University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority (FCRA) and the Arkansas Economic Development Commission gathered at 1 p.m. at the chamber for a press conference. “We are very excited to announce today the future MPSA Wind Turbine manufacturing site in Fort Smith, Arkansas,” Koji Hasegawa, president and CEO of MPSA, based in Lake Mary, Fla., said in the Mitsubishi statement “After an intensive site selection process conducted during the last fifteen months, we concluded that Fort Smith, Arkansas offers the most attractive site and community support for building and operating our wind turbine plant.”
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FORT SMITH - The city’s enforcement against signs in rights of way has been so lacking that many people believe the practice is legal, a staff member told city directors Tuesday. Wally Bailey, director of planning, presented a draft ordinance to city directors Tuesday that would for the most part ban placement of signs next to city streets. Signs for businesses, real estate, schools and special events have proliferated in city rights of way to the point they could be an eyesore and distraction to motorists, Bailey said.