Despite a slight setback, officials with the Knox County Development Corp. are still pursuing the state’s highest-rated shovel-ready status for a recent 100-acre expansion of the U.S. 41 Industrial Park.
Holding out for the best, they believe, will give the organization its best chance at attracting top industry leaders to Knox County.
John Hidde, chairman of the KCDC’s site development committee, said after applying for the state Office of Community and Rural Affairs’ gold-rated status, officials there came back with some additional requirements that must be met before the request is fully considered.
KCDC must work with CSX Corp. in developing a plan — albeit a conceptual one — on how a railroad spur could be connected into the property, Hidde said, and additional care must be taken in providing a plan for the addition of high-speed communication as well.
And while it will take time — they have had a difficult time reaching anyone with CSX so far — KCDC officials remain confident they can still get it all together.
There are other, lower-rated shovel-ready status designations the project would already qualify for, but they want the gold.
“We are moving along with it, and I’m confident,” said KCDC president Kent Utt. “We really want to just wait and get that gold status because we believe we can.
“We’re already marketing it now, but the (Indiana Economic Development Corp.) will pay more attention when we get that shovel-ready status. And I believe we’re close.”
Hidde said it’s also possible that KCDC will need to do another traffic study of the industrial park to meet the gold-level criteria, even though one was done just prior to the construction of the Farbest Foods Inc. turkey processing plant there.
“We’ve just got to get all our ducks in a row,” Hidde told the group, which met Friday at Pioneer Oil Co.'s headquarters at 400 Main St.
And in marketing the property, Utt said he is looking to learn more about a method called “industry clusters,” where county officials determine what kind of industry development the area is best suited for and go after those investors specifically.
“We just need to figure out what those are,” Utt said.
Utt also offered an update on the KCDC’s efforts in securing a $250,000 OCRA grant to offer worker training in operating new, technology-driven heavy equipment.
The state is looking to award a total of $2 million, or eight $250,000 individual grants.
The money would be targeted at training about 50 low-to-moderate income workers, and to make Knox County more appealing, Utt said he is looking to collaborate with counterparts in Gibson and Sullivan counties to make all three more attractive as an entire region.
The Southern Indiana Development Commission in Loogootee is acting as the grant administrator.
Utt said KCDC is also launching a new student-focused event this year called Tour of Opportunity that will bring about 400 area high school students to visit Vincennes University.
In addition to talking about the kinds of technology and manufacturing training programs offered at VU, Utt said they are making arrangements for these students to tour major manufacturing companies here, ones like Futaba Indiana of America, SCHOTT Gemtron, Wabash Steel and KCARC as well as others like Farbest Foods Inc. and Good Samaritan Hospital.
“We want these kids to be able to tour these facilities, see what’s going on inside them,” Utt said. “I’m guessing many of them have never had the opportunity to do that.
“And if they like what they see, then we’ll be able to expose them to all the training available through VU.”
Utt said the event, to be held Oct. 9, is being modeled after a successful one held annually in Lafayette.
The idea, he said, is to work toward keeping more high school graduates in Indiana.