The Guernsey County Port Authority has been awarded a $2 million Congressional Earmark through the office of Cong. Bill Johnson. The funding is targeted for the development of a forty-five (45) acre parcel in the western portion of the D.O. Hall Business Center. The development of shovel-ready sites is a critical component of efforts to attract new investment to the county. Dr. Glenda Baumgarner, President and CEO of the Appalachian Partnership, Inc., has recognized this need and selected the D.O. Hall site for consideration as a potential recipient of the grant. After moving through the Congressional process, President Biden signed the Omnibus spending bill in mid-March, confirming the expenditure.
Engineering for improvements to the site was completed back in 2018, projecting a cost of $3.7 million. This included $770,000 for permitting the mitigation of a stream that bisects the site. Both of these projections will now be updated to re-establish the parameters of the project. One projection delineates three construction pads of approximately fifteen (15) acres each, while a second–and the most expensive–would develop a single40-45 acre development site. Parcel improvements would include a new access road and all infrastructure needed to serve established facilities.
The D.O. Hall Business Center is owned the Community Industrial Association (CIA), which is a non-profit board of local philanthropists who work in partnership with the Guernsey County Port Authority on a variety of projects. They will likely provide a significant portion of match funding necessary to execute the project. It should also be noted that Hannah Stillion, EDA Program Manager for OMEGA, has worked with the Port Authority to assist in creating the case for funding the project, which has been cited frequently in grant/loan applications.