Marion couple to build business in retail industrial park

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN JERRY ENGLER
A new manufacturer of Tiffany marble counter tops and related accessories was expected to break ground Tuesday in the Marion Retail Industrial Park following approval Monday of sale of lots by the Marion City Commission.

The commission voted to sell David and Laura Yates lots 35 and 36 and the north 80 feet of lot 13 in the northwest corner of the park behind Seacat Hardware.

The Yates marble business will operate from a 2,132-square-foot beige-with-white-trim metal building which will house manufacturing area, show room and office space.

David Yates, who works in production management at Boeing, will begin work at the new company by himself.

Laura will continue to operate The Hair Company in downtown Marion.

Susan Cooper, Marion development director, said the business is the type of well-developed idea from local people that the city wishes to see become reality in the industrial parks. It is a business with potential for orderly but fast development and expansion, she said.

Cooper encouraged other residents to bring their ideas to the city.

The Yates will purchase the lots and a city package of incentives for $5,000.

Yates said the 80 feet of Lot 13 was necessary for the business to have a turn-around space for large trucks and expected traffic while still giving high visibility from Industrial Street.

Cooper said since Lot 13 was larger than others in the park it will not detract from the city’s efforts to further use it by selling the driveway space.

Yates said he plans to landscape and plant trees.

The company will be able to custom-make cabinetry, counter tops, bathroom enclosures, tiles and related items, Yates said, using a fiberglass cool mix with minerals such as limestone from Marion’s Martin Marietta Quarry.

The resulting sturdy mix is so much like marble that it could be used for bank building walls, he said.

Cooper expects the business to greatly aid local builders who sometimes have to wait 30 days or more on cabinet orders with Yates saying he can deliver a custom product in as little as 48 hours.

The business is expected predominantly to sell wholesale although retail sales will be done too. Yates predicted that customers will find the company’s abilities to match colors and textures very helpful.

“Ninety percent of the marble businesses I have investigated are ready to expand within the first year they open because they can’t keep up with demand,” Yates said.

Commissioners approved a city donation of $200, identical to last year’s, to Big Brothers & Big Sisters for the “Bowling for Kids” event.

City Administrator David Mayfield said up to $500 could be made available for a donation, but Commissioner Jim Crofoot suggested the commission save part of the money for possible donations to the organization later in the year.

Commissioners approved a mutual-aid agreement upon request from the city of Herington that would allow response of either city’s fire department to the other town in case of disaster.

Mayfield said Marion already has such agreements with Burns, Lost Springs, Hillsboro and Lincolnville, and that it helps all of them on insurance rates.

The commission authorized Mayor Eloise Mueller to sign a proclamation designating April “Fair Housing Month” in Marion in response to a request from Norma Phillips, director of the Housing Development Division of the Kansas Department of Commerce.

Commissioners approved a three-year contract with Justin Youk for mowing the Marion Airport to succeed a three-year contract with Youk that expires in March.

Harvey Sanders, public works director, noted that problems have continued in old city concrete sewer lines, probably built in the World War 2 era, where the concrete has been eaten away by sewer gas leaving only “holes through the ground.”

Sanders and Mayfield said the City may have to begin consideration of replacement of the lines within the next few meetings.

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