RV maker plans phased growth.

Byline: Sherri Buri McDonald The Register-Guard

JUNCTION CITY - Country Coach Inc.'s proposal to nearly double its existing plant would be just the first step in a multiphase expansion over the next decade or so, company President Jay Howard said Thursday.

The maker of high-end motor homes aims to triple its sales to more than $1 billion in 2010, and to support that growth, it could build up to 1 million square feet of factory space on farmland south of its existing plant, according to materials the company has filed with Junction City.

To make way for the expansion, Country Coach - the Junction City subsidiary of National RV Holdings Inc. - is asking the city to bring a 74-acre ryegrass field into the city's urban growth boundary and to rezone it from agricultural use to light industrial use.

The City Council will review most of the lengthy application next month, but probably won't take any action on it until early April, City Administrator Mike Leighton said.

Howard said he has been told that the approval process could take four to six months.

But he said he is optimistic that approval will be granted.

Despite wetlands on the site and potential concerns about traffic at the intersection of Highway 99 and First Avenue, `No what I call a `show-stopper' has shown up yet,' Howard said.

Country Coach is Junction City's largest employer, with more than 1,600 employees and a payroll that tops $43 million.

Some sectors of the RV market have slowed in the past few months, but Country Coach's high-end niche remains strong, Howard said. Country Coach's motor homes sell for $250,000 to $1.5 million.

"We redesigned our entire line over the past 18 months; we have a very hot product," Howard said. And the company is working on adding five new products in areas where it doesn't already compete, he said.

The plant has increased its capacity, mostly by expanding night shifts, and business has doubled in the past 20 months, Howard said.

If city officials agree to bring the 74 acres inside the urban growth boundary and rezone them, Country Coach plans to buy the land from Junction City's Reerslev family. The parcel abuts the 12-acre piece of Country Coach's sprawling factory complex that is owned by its parent company, National RV, which is based in California. The rest of the 450,000-square-foot campus is owned by Country Coach founder Bob Lee and Lee family members.

National RV also owns 17 acres of farmland immediately south of its 12-acre parcel. So, if Country Coach buys the Reerslev property, it would have 91 vacant acres for expansion.

Howard said the company needs all the land to build a 320,000-square-foot plant and to accommodate growth.

"We're not making can openers," he said. "Motor homes are over 400 square feet a pop and 13 feet tall; they take up a lot of space."

The company also says it must expand next to its existing factory, rather than operating a satellite location. Country Coach produces many of the components for its five lines of motor homes, including chassis.

If the company had to truck those components to a distant site, it would worsen traffic congestion and increase operating costs for the company.

"Unless the company's expansion needs are permitted on the adjacent 74-acre site, the company may have no alternative but to close the existing facility and move the entire operation to another city or state where there is a site large enough to accommodate the expanded operation at a single location," Country Coach wrote in its application to the city.