A project officials say will aid in bringing new investment and more jobs to Knox County got a vote of approval from the Area Plan Commission this week.
Kent Utt, president of the Knox County Development Corp., explained that the project calls for carving out a little more than 50 acres of the U.S. 41 Industrial Park for creation of a “mini-park” more suitable to small-business use than the type of investment that's historically been attracted to the site.
“We've got Futaba with nearly 800 workers and Farbest and the other large-scale employers in the industrial park, but what we've been missing is space for smaller-sized businesses looking to move here,” he said. “And we've had interest from those businesses with 5-25 employees that are looking for smaller facilities.”
Utt added that even with designating the space for small-business development, KCDC would still have 100 acres in the park to accommodate a larger project.
“We're not closing the door on considering a bigger project, like a Futaba, if that should come up, not at all,” he said. “But we've had inquiries about space for buildings in the 20,000-square-foot range, and there just isn't that kind of inventory available.
“We see a need for the type of facilities we're considering.”
Utt told plan commission members that, long-term, KCDC is looking at having 12 lots available for development in the mini-park, but the initial plan calls for making just two of those ready for development right now.
“We'll start with these two and expand as the demand dictates,” he said. “And we anticipate there will be demand for more than just two.”
KCDC's project wasn't new to some members of the commission. Dick Vermillion serves on the APC and is also the county surveyor and a non-voting member of the county drainage board, so he's been involved with the project in various ways, as has Colt Michaels, the executive director of the planning commission.
Vermillion said the only change he had seen in the proposal involved the construction of what's to be Commerce Avenue, the access road into the mini-park.
Jeff Banning, president of Banning Engineering in Plainfield, said that after meeting with county highway superintendent Benji Boyd, they had decided to go with a different sub-base for the road.
“We were going to be above and beyond the qualifications for a local street,” he said. “And we're going to be even more so now.”
Eventually, the county would assume responsibility for Commerce Avenue.
Vermillion also asked about some of the language in the covenants that set out the qualifications for building on the lots.
“In some places you refer to following the county zoning code or state code as of a specific date,” he said. “That may lock you in if the code changes in the future, and we are looking at updating the code in some places.”
Vermillion suggested that, where the covenants reference the county zoning code, KCDC remove specific dates.
“I know that sounds like a minor thing to be worried about, but we've had to live and learn on stuff like this over the years,” he said. “We've even had to deal with this sort of thing in the county code when state laws change and we're referencing a section of state code that doesn't exist anymore or says something entirely different.”
Utt and Banning said “tweaking” the covenants wasn't a major undertaking.
“That's not going to be a problem,” Banning said. “And that really makes sense.”
The plan commission agreed to pass the project on to the county commissioners with a favorable recommendation.