LJWorld.com

• Email
• iPod-friendly
• Print

Lawrence and Douglas County officials will continue to investigate the possibility of purchasing the vacant Farmland Industries plant despite interest from a private developer.

Douglas County Commission Chairman Charles Jones said Thursday that city and county officials wanted to learn more about a Missouri resident's proposal to convert the 467-acre property just east of Lawrence into a manufacturing facility for hydrogen fuel cells.

Jones also said the governments were still interested in buying the site for a possible expansion of the adjacent East Hills Business Park and for use as green space.

"We're like an oceanliner -- we don't stop and go on a dime -- so we'll still keep gathering our data," Jones said.

But Jones said he was intrigued by a proposal from Roger Billings, a software developer and hydrogen researcher, who has signed a letter of intent with bankrupt Kansas City, Mo.-based Farmland to purchase the property.

"It would be great if Mr. Billings wants to put this together, but we really don't know if it will happen," Jones said.

Jones said he had some skepticism about the proposed deal because he had talked with several companies that were turned off by the site's environmental damage. The plant operated as a fertilizer plant from 1954 to 2001.

"But here comes along Mr. Billings who doesn't seem to be afraid of that," Jones said. "His proposal is so far out of the bell curve that I really don't know how to judge it."

Steam bellows from Farmland Industries' Lawrence fertilizer plant in this September 2000 photo. The plant has been closed since May 2001, but a Missouri resident has made a proposal to buy the plant and use it to produce hydrogen fuel cells. A county official on Thursday said the county and city would continue to investigate buying the site as well.

The governments have hired a consulting firm to compile a report on the property's environmental condition. That report is expected to be completed within the next two weeks. Jones said he expected the governments to make a decision around May 1 on whether to continue investigating the property.

Billings had consultants examine the site and thinks the environmental situation is manageable. Billings also said he had financing in place to purchase the property. A price hasn't been disclosed by Billings or Farmland, but Billings said it was a multimillion-dollar venture.

Billings said he was in a financial position to buy the property because he had owned several successful computer businesses during the past 20 years.

His name is known in the computer industry. Billings has been in trade publications since 1991 when he filed a $200 million lawsuit against software giant Novell. The lawsuit is related to an alleged patent infringement and is tied up in court.

Billings has been researching hydrogen as a fuel source for more than 25 years, he said. He is a founder of the nonprofit International Academy of Science in Independence, Mo.