In November, Pure Flavor (formerly MightyVine) invited representatives from the City of Rochelle to Windsor, Ontario, Canada to see a similar facility that could be built in Rochelle. Pure Flavor currently operates a greenhouse in Rochelle and is considering expansion, City Manager Jeff Fiegenschuh told the News-Leader Dec. 18.
City representatives on the Canada trip were City Council Members Rosaelia Arteaga and Ben Valdivieso, Economic Development Director Jason Anderson, Fiegenschuh, Lee County Industrial Development Association Director Tom Demmer, City Building Inspector Geoff Starr, and Rochelle Fire Department Chief Dave Sawlsville.
The facility city representatives toured in November is over a million square feet. It includes on-site living quarters and participation in a federal visa program that allows people to come in and live and work there for up to three years to help with packaging and picking of tomatoes.
"They're thinking about doing something similar here," Fiegenschuh said, "It'd be a 10-month program. Their property isn't zoned for it now, so they couldn't do it here unless the property was rezoned and they haven't issued any type of application to rezone the property. They bought out MightyVine and wanted us to see their operations there. It was an opportunity for us to meet the ownership and their leadership team and talk about what some of their priorities for Rochelle are going into the future and their expansion plans. It gave us a chance to see their facility and how they operate. I was impressed. It was a very sophisticated operation."
Read more at Rochelle News Leader