BIDWELL — The Gallia Economic Development Office is partnering with JobsOhio and InSite Consulting to prepare the Dan Evans Industrial Park Phase II site of State Route 850 near US 35 in an authentication process to make it “shovel ready” for job creators to invest in Gallia’s economic future.
According to Gallia Economic Development Director Melissa Clark, JobsOhio has a SiteOhio Authentication Program which serves as a site certification program.
“What they’re doing is trying to identify ready-to-go, project ready, shovel ready sites within the state,” said Clark. “They’ve hired a third-party consultant group called InSite Consulting and they are the ones evaluating sites for JobsOhio. To be considered for this program, it’s a lengthy process.”
Efforts to authenticate the 77-acre Gallia industrial park site parcel began last spring.
“We made it through this initial paper evaluation. We were notified in the summer, and since that time in order to get ready for this authentication process, we have been doing site due-diligence studies,” said Clark. “We’ve done a wetland determination study. We’ve done an endangered species study and we’re getting ready to do an archaeological research study. My office has applied for grants to cover these studies.”
Clark said her office has gathered around $50,000 in grant money to have the studies done.
“They essentially do a mock site visit,” said Clark about parts of the authentication process. “The consultant comes and we’ve had seven people from JobsOhio. These are program managers…These are the folks that touch projects. They’re the ones that when the state gets site leads, they are identifying sites in the entire state that would meet (standards). We did an entire presentation to them and our utility partners were all there. We did a site visit and showed them the site.”
Clark said the recent visit and presentation went well and received high marks focusing on the site and the Gallia community. Clark said that pending the results of a few more studies, she was confident the site would be authenticated.
According to jobs-ohio.com, “Authenticated sites are marked by the SiteOhio seal. The seal indicates a site is ready for immediate development on day one, guaranteeing that all utilities are on site with adequate capacities and that due diligence studies have been completed. The SiteOhio seal also ensure the site is free of incompatible uses, with no limitations or insurance liability based on surrounding property.”
Additional information regarding the site, as well as a complete site listing can be found here.
http://www.mydailytribune.com/news/23816/industrial-site-seeks-certification
By Dean Wright – deanwright@aimmediamidwest.com
Dean Wright can be reached at 740-446-2342, ext. 2103.
