Greenfield’s industrial park, known as the South Central Ohio Industrial Park, is now certified with the state, something that will increase its visibility to prospective businesses, and an accomplishment that has been sought after for the last couple years.
Greenfield City Manager Todd Wilkin said Wednesday that the village received word less than a week ago that the park was to be “authenticated,” or certified.
Wilkin and council members thanked the Highland County Board of Commissioners and commission clerk Nicole Oberrecht and local groups like the Greenfield Foundation for their efforts along the way to get the park to its now-certified status, an accomplishment that local officials hope will attract new industry to the area.
Wilkin said that according to information provided by the Appalachian Partnership for Economic Growth (APEG), the park is “one of two in Highland County, one of five in the region, and one of 20 in the state” to be certified.
Leesburg’s industrial park was certified last year. It belongs to Highland County, while the Greenfield park belongs to the village of Greenfield.
Greenfield’s park is a total of approximately 180 acres, and all but 24 of those acres are certified for use. Wilkin said there are two areas within the 180 acres that, due to potential archeological significance, would require more scrutiny before certification could be considered for the 24 acres. However, according to council member Bob Bergstrom, those 24 acres could be put to use as a green space without any further assessments.
The industrial park has been through its share of inspection over the last two years – like a phase one environmental site assessment, an archeological investigation, a wetlands determination, rare or endangered plant and/or species report, and a preliminary geotechnical study – on the road to meeting the requirements to become certified.
The South Central Ohio Industrial Park is ready for development as it possesses high-speed fiber optic cable, excess water and sewerage capacity, and many other features, according to the village’s website. Anyone wanting more information can go to greenfieldohio.net and click on the “industry” tab, or contact the village offices at 937-981-3500.
A site plan, which includes current businesses in the industrial park along with the undeveloped acreage, has been made with renderings of buildings suitable to the available acreage. It will be available soon on the village’s website.
Prior to meeting on the undeveloped west end of industrial park for a photo on Wednesday, council members held a special meeting to hear from Wilkin about grant opportunities that he would seek permission from council to pursue.
The city manager received the go-ahead at last week’s council meeting to pursue a NatureWorks grant through the Ohio Department of Natural Resources that, if awarded to Greenfield, would go toward a number of improvements at Mitchell Park. Wilkin also reported that he plans to pursue other grants, with council’s approval, in the near future that would address the area of North Washington Street and Mill Street, which has no curbs and sees its fair share of flooding.
While there were no details provided on the particulars of the grant opportunities discussed Wednesday, Wilkin said the opportunities will officially come before council as legislation at its next meeting on May 15.
The Greenfield Village Council meets in regular session on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. in the council chambers on the first floor of the City Building. The meetings are open to the public.
Angela Shepherd is a stringer for The Times-Gazette.
