Appraisal of land underway for second county industrial park

A preferred site has been chosen for an industrial park on the west side of the county and the results of an appraisal will soon be available.

Pulaski County Community Development Commission (CDC) Executive Director Nathan P. Origer said an appraisal of property is currently underway for the Pulaski County Center for Agriculture and Renewable Energy.

A second industrial park in the county was suggested in the 2010 economic development strategic plan but 2013 is when CDC moved forward with the project and initiated an engineering study that was completed in 2014.

The study included three potential properties. To support the project, the Pulaski County Commissioners appropriated $52,000 toward territorial engineering and site selection. The final report was analyzed and a committee decided which property had the most potential.

“There was a little bit of a back-burner time when we finished the engineering studies and we really started looking at this,” Origer said. “I do feel that we finally have some momentum on it now.”

When the strategic plan was created, the idea of a second industrial park was to attract businesses that center around agriculture and renewable energy.

“That is still something that we would like to see, but really we would like to see anyone who needs: A. rail; B. creates value-added opportunities for our agriculture economy; or C. in some way complements our existing industry,” Origer said. “We obviously are going to do our best to avoid bringing somebody that is going to compete. It’s enough they’re a labor force competition but we don’t want to put all of that taxpayer money into a new industrial park to bring in somebody who is going to compete.”

The preferable piece of property that is being appraised is about 55 acres. The park would be in the area of U.S. 421 and the CSX railroad, south of Medaryville, near the co-op. The hope is that the park will attract some smaller businesses because the property has the potential to house about two to five businesses.

Origer said a portion of the property will be set aside for a rail dock that could be used by any area business wanting to use the rail system.

As the appraisal is underway, federal guidelines of one appraisal and one review appraisal are being followed. An agricultural appraiser has been hired to complete the appraisal while the review is being completed by someone who focuses on industrial/commercial appraisals.

“Once we’ve got that appraisal done and we know what the appraiser says it is, I will informally negotiate with the property owners to get a feel for what they think of that appraised value,” Origer said. “We want to make sure that we are close enough that down the road we don’t hit an obstacle that we can’t surmount.”

Origer will ask the commissioners’ permission to work with the county attorney to develop an option on the land to offer to the owners. The initial offer would be a certain percentage of the total appraised property. Origer said there is funding set aside for an offer.

“That amount would go toward the total amount of the land when we someday would acquire it,” he said. “Once we have the option on the land that is when we move forward with shoring up the numbers that the engineers estimated for the development costs, running the infrastructure to the property.”

To help fund the land costs and utility development, grant funding will be applied for but there will still be the cost of the grant match. The infrastructure estimates that CDC has are based on running utilities from the north side of Medaryville to the south side where the proposed property is located. Origer said the utilities may only be installed a portion of the distance until there is a need to move forward.

Another issue that will need to be addressed is when the Medaryville utilities can handle an industrial park “or if as part of the project we have to include some costs for upgrading their capacity,” Origer said. “The farther you get from a town, the more expensive developing the utilities is.”

As for attracting businesses, Origer said that will take some time. The financial aspect of the project could take some time because grants are not always awarded on the first application. There will also be a question of if a bond should be obtained.

“There’s no way we could start reaching out because we don’t know when it will be shovel-ready,” Origer said.

Origer said he hopes to start applying for grants soon and possibly having grant funding sometime next year.