With almost everything being parceled in ‘instant packs’, it is but understandable that large companies are shying away from putting up a plant or factory in lands where access to necessary utilities are hard to come by. Allen County officials understand this and that’s why they approved a land bank program to buy and prepare huge chunks of property and turn it into a shovel-ready site.
In its desire to lure in big businesses to the community, the council has approved last Thursday a $4.7 million redevelopment capital fund. Since the announcement, 15 owners have come forward offering a sale, says council member Paula Hughes. The highest asking price is at $2.9 million; the largest land, at 202 acres, is for sale at $2.8 million.
Talks of a program just like this have been going on for almost a year now. Finally, officials have put their money where their mouth is.
Officials are looking at purchasing lands that are at least 100 to 200 acres big – or even bigger. Utilities will be tapped into purchased lands so that prospective clients no longer have to go through lots of red tape.
Whereas 20 years ago, a quiet negotiation takes place between a company and a landowner to look at whether there’s a good access to utilities and roads, things are different now.
Allen County Commissioner Nelson peters explains, “Before you get somebody like a Toyota or General Motors to begin to look at you, you’ve got to have a huge parcel of land that has infrastructure, roads, streets, sewer, water, electricity already leading to it that’s move-in ready.”
Hughes expounds that companies like everything ‘assembled’ – with all approvals, title work, and surveys in place. This makes it easier and quicker for them to move in,
With the economy still trying to recover from the worldwide recession, Allen County officials should be commended for still being able to allocate cash for such efforts. Council members say that they think this will be a sound investment as luring in a company will also be bringing in more jobs and a huge property tax.