SWEDA Awarded Funds for Industrial Projects
Daniel Carney, executive director of the Springfield-Washington County Economic Development Authority, said the group has been awarded a pair of $100,000 grants to develop industrial development property.
Daniel Carney is expecting to be a busy man when industries supplying the BlueOval SK plant in Glendale start looking for places to locate.
The Springfield Washington County Economic Development Authority is one step closer to being ready for the visitors after receiving a $200,000 grant from the Kentucky Product Development Initiative.
“When the BlueOval project was announced, the state legislature realized the state needed more industrial parks to get ready for the companies that would be coming,” he said at last week’s Fiscal Court meeting. We applied for two grants and received them. We can apply for more funds in the fall and we are going to do that as well. “
It is a matching grant, he told the court, but noted the SWEDA board has earmarked the funds to comply. The money will be used to prepare for development two pieces of property totaling 60 acres. The first is a 20-acre plot located near Springfield Inn.
“This belonged to the City of Springfield and they asked us if we would be interested in it,” Carney said. “We took them up on the offer.”
The plan is to build and pave a road from Lincoln Park Road to the property and then install the utilities. The other property is in the industrial park.
“We are going to cut a road to that area and make it build ready,’ Carney said. “That will make it more attractive to people who are coming to look at Washington County.” Carney was at the meeting to ask the court to pass a resolution to act as a pass-through for SWEDA to receive the money.
“The money has to go through a local municipality,” he said.
The court agreed to accept the funds that must be spent by December of 2024.
“We’re ready to move now,” Carney said.
