Stampede Packing Co. took another step toward expanding its facilities on Wednesday with a state grant.

Kalispell-based Stampede received a $27,000 Big Sky Trust grant at the Columbia Falls industrial park Wednesday. Lt. Gov. Mike Cooney traveled to the Flathead to hand the check over and survey the potential site for Stampede’s future facility.

“It’s the small businesses that do the heavy lifting,” Cooney said. “The state can give them a little help in the right direction. When one part of the state does well, we all benefit.”

Sam Laurens, son of Stampede owner T.S. Laurens, was at the industrial park to accept the grant, which will be used to cover the costs of research and design work for the future meat-packing facility.

“We’re pretty excited,” he said. “We’ve already done a 10 percent schematic and saw how intense it’s going to be. This is really going to help all that planning.”

Laurens said the grant will cover the next 60 percent of the initial design plans and research.

While the Wednesday gathering took place in Columbia Falls, Laurens said the industrial park site is not a guaranteed deal.

The industrial park still needs to be connected to city services, including water, sewer and lighting, which would cost about $1.2 million. City officials are hoping to fund the infrastructure needs through bonds, which could be leveraged by future money generated in the newly created Targeted Economic Development District. The development district employs tax-increment financing, which directs any additional tax revenue above the current tax base toward infrastructure projects.

SmartLam, another Flathead Valley business, is considering a new facility in the industrial park as well. Stampede is awaiting financial support from Montana’s new market tax credit program, which would help finance their new plant for fabricating cross-laminated timber products.

To leverage bonds that would cover the cost of infrastructure projects, SmartLam and Stampede would need to begin their new projects around the same time, according to Columbia Falls City Manager Susan Nicosia.

“It would need all the pieces coming together at the same time,” she said. “It would ensure that the development happens here.”

Laurens said Stampede hopes for the Columbia Falls location, but acknowledged it would require several pieces to come together simultaneously.

“We want to be in Columbia Falls but there’s a lot of planning,” Laurens said. “It’s more with [SmartLam] and talking about it all coming together.”

Prior to the check-handoff photo shoot, Cooney met with Nicosia and Flathead County commissioner Pam Holmquist to look at an industrial park map for a bird’s-eye view of the potential development ahead for Columbia Falls.

Nicosia said there are about 90 developable acres remaining in the 120-acre industrial park. Nicosia said SmartLam is looking for about 20 acres while Laurens later said it’s unknown what acreage Stampede would need. Nicosia also said Stampede has expressed interest in relocating to Columbia Falls for the past two years.

“Hopefully in a few months we’ll know if it’s all coming together,” Nicosia said.

As Stampede continues designing its future packing plant, SmartLam waits for June 1, when the state will announce which companies will receive the new market tax credits. There are several uncertainties still involved, but one assurance is that both companies will build new facilities, whether in the Columbia Falls industrial park or not.

“I guess it’s not concrete, but we’re excited nonetheless. This is the only thing that’s concrete,” Laurens said, holding up the large cardboard check signed by Montana Gov. Steve Bullock.

Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.