PLATTSBURGH — The company that wants to build a transit-bus assembly plant in the Banker Road Industrial Park would like to be operational early next year.

Speaking at a Plattsburgh Town Council public hearing about rezoning property for that use, The Development Corporation President Adoré Flynn Kurtz said the company wants to utilize the assembly plant by Jan. 5, 2009.

CONSTRUCTION PLANS

The company is believed to be Nova Bus, a subsidiary of Volvo Bus Corp.

The Nova Bus Web site calls the company one of the largest manufacturers of city, suburban and shuttle buses in North America.

Multiple bids for construction of the 140,000-square-foot assembly plant were submitted Feb. 1.

Kurtz said The Development Corporation submitted a proposal to build the plant in partnership with Murnane Building Contractors and Luck Brothers. She would not reveal the projected construction cost but did say it was in excess of $20 million.

ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN

The plan calls for a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified building.

A program of the U.S. Green Building Council, LEED certification requires an independent third party to certify the building project is environmentally responsible, profitable and a healthy place to work.

Kurtz said she has talked with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to seek state support for the LEED design.

The bus company would lease the property from The Development Corporation or whichever developer is awarded the construction project.