# Project Stratus Next Steps and Sequence [[Jamie Gates]]'s April 1, 2025 internal email memo to Mayor [[Bart Castleberry]] and the Conway City Council laying out the sequencing of Project Stratus downstream actions. Sent from `[email protected]` at 14:14 to [[Felicia Rogers]] (Chief of Staff), who forwarded it to all council members at 19:32, ~3 hours before the April 1, 2025 Special Council Meeting at which the MOU was adopted 8-0. The memo is a load-bearing document for understanding the project's pre-adoption planning: it establishes that the Chamber/CDC had a fully-developed sequencing plan in hand at the time of the Council's MOU vote. ## What's inside - `Project Stratus Next Steps and Sequence.pdf` — Gates's April 1, 2025 email memo plus an attached version of the MOU ("3092_001.pdf"). 6-page PDF; the email body extracts cleanly. ## Key takeaways - **Four-party adoption sequencing.** "The MOU is a four-party (the Company, City, Conway Corporation, Conway Foundation) agreement. The desired action item tonight is a council vote for the city to enter the MOU. The three local entities in the MOU will all need to independently adopt to move forward. We've been working with the Company to jointly develop this MOU. During that process we've involved leadership and legal counsel from the city and Conway Corporation." - **Conway Corp Board adoption timing.** "The next action item is adoption of the MOU by Conway Corporation at their Board of Directors meeting on April 15th. I talked to Bret Carroll this morning and we looked at the most recent version of the MOU. He said that he was comfortable with the sections covering Conway Corp/local utilities." - **Conway Foundation Board adoption timing.** "We will schedule a board meeting of the Conway Foundation for later this month for their adoption and signature." - **Annexation/rezone expedited path.** "Our intention is to go before the planning commission on 4/21 with a request for annexation and to expedite that commission vote to the council at your regular city council meeting on 4/22. Annexation will allow us to close on the property and begin the IRB(tax abatement), planning, and permitting processes. It's also a necessary step in due diligence by the company as we move forward." - **Conway Corp design work already underway.** "I expect the company, Conway Corporation, and CDC to spend the remainder of 2025 (and early 2026) on design, planning, and permitting. For example, Conway Corporation has already initiated the design process for the cooling water system. That design work is being paid for by the company. The construction of the grey water infrastructure will also be paid for by the company." - **Downstream Council ordinances forecast.** "The MOU spells out some future action items for the city council as well (beyond the land use work later this month). The council will need to create/adopt the following ordinances at the appropriate time. Many of these will be come after completion of utility rate and other associated design/engineering studies. In some cases the design and engineering will be a lengthy process. A few of the things the council will eventually need to take up: An ordinance allowing Entergy to provide high voltage power within the city limits / An ordinance establishing the rate for grey water used for cooling / The typical suite of council actions related to property tax abatement / Relocation of Lollie Road and associated exchange of right-of-way." - **Closing framing.** "All this is to say that signing the MOU is an initial public statement that we will all work together under agreed-to terms toward the spelled-out deliverables. This is obviously a large project that will require a lot of planning and moving parts. **The goal is no surprises along the way.**" ## People and orgs mentioned - [[Jamie Gates]] — author; CDC / Chamber. - [[Felicia Rogers]] — Chief of Staff, Office of the Mayor; forwarded to Council. - [[Bart Castleberry]] — Mayor; CC. - [[Brad Lacy]] — Chamber CEO; CC on the original Gates-to-Rogers send. - Jenifer Kendrick — Chamber staff; CC. - [[Brett Carroll]] — Conway Corporation; referenced as having reviewed the MOU's Conway Corp / utility sections. - [[Andy Hawkins]] — Councilman; on the distribution list (city + `[email protected]`). - David Grimes — Councilman; on the distribution list (Gmail address). - Drew Spurgers — Councilman; on the distribution list (city + Gmail). - [[Shelia Isby]], [[Shelley Mehl]], Mark Ledbetter, Spencer Hawks, Theodore Jones Jr. — Councilmembers; on the distribution list. - [[Charles Finkenbinder]] — City Attorney; on the distribution list. - [[Denise Hurd]] — City Clerk; on the distribution list. ## Concepts invoked - [[Project Stratus]] — codename. - [[Act 9 Industrial Revenue Bond]] — "the IRB(tax abatement)" path. - [[A-1 to I-3 Rezoning (Conway)]] — annexation + rezone path. ## Events documented - [[2025-04 Conway City Council Approves Project Stratus MOU]] — the April 1 Special Council Meeting (the memo was sent ~3 hours before the vote). - The April 21 PC meeting and April 22 Council meeting that the memo previewed — see [[2025-04 Conway Planning Commission Recommends Project Stratus Annexation and Rezone]] and [[2025-04 Conway City Council Adopts O-25-37 O-25-38 and O-25-39]]. ## Cross-references - [[Project Stratus MOU and April 1 Special Council Meeting]] — the primary record of the April 1 meeting; this page covers the Gates memo specifically. - [[Project Stratus Permits Sequencing and Stormwater]] — the operational permits/stormwater coordination that flowed from the memo's "design, planning, and permitting" forecast. ## Open questions / follow-ups - The April 15 Conway Corporation Board action adopting the MOU is referenced but the Board's record is not in this production — that record would be with Conway Corporation's custodianship (see [[2026-05 Conway Corporation Interim FOIA Response]] and its pending rolling production). - The Conway Foundation Board's adoption record is similarly not in this production — that record would be with the Foundation directly. - The "3092_001.pdf" attachment Gates references ("the latest version with the clarification about tax abatement") is not present as a separate file in the production — it may be the same as `MOU.pdf` in this production.