WESTBROOK — The Press Herald recently reported on a study that purported to show the fiscal impact on the city of Westbrook if Pike Industries is unable to consolidate its operations at the quarry it owns on Spring Street ("Pike's expansion would hurt Westbrook's goals, study finds," Sept. 30).

This study, commissioned by the opponents of Pike's proposal, examined only half of the story.

Pike owns quarries and related facilities at both Main Street and Spring Street in Westbrook. The Main Street quarry has been in operation for decades, and the Spring Street quarry since it was zoned as an industrial site more than 40 years ago.

Today, Pike is proposing to consolidate its Main Street quarry operations at its Spring Street quarry and invest $5 million in improvements there.

Having vacated the Main Street property, Pike proposes to work with developers to transform that site into a 400,000-square-foot, mixed-use downtown gateway more consistent with the surrounding properties and development potential.

But under pressure from Idexx Laboratories and others, the city has proposed rezoning the area around Pike's Spring Street quarry and the Five Star Industrial Park to prevent Pike from going ahead with its plans.

This decision would not only prevent Pike from proceeding with its plans for Spring Street, it would also preclude redevelopment of its Main Street site.

The impact study commissioned by Pike's opponents failed to consider the huge benefits to the city if Pike is able to close and redevelop its property at Main Street.

Pike's plans for Main Street hinge on what happens at Spring Street. Yet, the study failed to consider the costs to the city if Pike is forced to remain at Main Street.

According to a study conducted by Planning Decisions, Inc. for Pike, a decision forcing Pike to stay at Main Street would cost the Westbrook taxpayers at least $3 million over the next 20 years, even assuming that doing so would limit further growth of the Five Star Industrial Park.

The impact study by Pike's opponents ignores the huge opportunity cost of keeping Main Street from being redeveloped. To meet their responsibilities to Westbrook taxpayers, city officials cannot do the same. They must consider the whole picture.

The impact study by Pike's opponents is incomplete in other ways. The study failed to consider that the city has given Idexx and two other businesses in the industrial park multimillion-dollar tax breaks.

In the case of Idexx, two-thirds of all property taxes paid go back to Idexx to help pay down the cost of its investment, and one-third will be spent for infrastructure improvements to property owned by or adjacent to Idexx.

In short, the impact study commissioned by Pike's opponents radically overstates the fiscal benefits to the city associated with Idexx and other similar development.

Pike's quarry may not have an appraised value as great as Idexx's factory, but 100 percent of Pike's property tax payments go directly to the city's general fund to help pay the cost of all city services.

The opponents' impact study assumes that high-tech businesses would move to the Five Star Industrial park only if the area is rezoned.

Experience tells us otherwise. Idexx and others have located near the Spring Street quarry even though it has been in active and continuous operation for more than 40 years.

Idexx invested millions of dollars expanding its facility before the city took any action to stop Pike from operating its quarry at Spring Street.

The study reports that D&G Machine, which operates a high-tech steel fabrication plant closer to the quarry than Idexx, does not consider the quarry to be a detriment to its business.

Many other communities, including Auburn, have a busy, growing industrial park right next to a working quarry.

Only when the opportunity costs of the proposed...