by Carla Knapp
Both Cass and Pulaski counties recently earned a distinction to help them compete for business opportunities alongside nearby urban areas such as Hamilton, Marion and Tippecanoe counties.
Locations in the Logan-Cass Industrial Park, as well as the Winamac Industrial Park, have been added to a growing list of sites throughout Indiana that are considered shovel ready.
“It’s the first in Cass County,” said Skip Kuker, president of the Logansport-Cass County Economic Development Foundation, which has spearheaded the effort to prepare the site in Cass County. “For a community of our size, it’s a nice thing to have. It took a lot of work.”
Eleven new sites were certified last week, bringing the total to 30 out of Indiana’s 92 counties. The shovel ready distinction identifies locations that are prepared for faster development under the state’s Shovel Ready program.
The program began in 2006 and was designed to decrease site development costs, improve permitting efficiency and enhance marketability, said Brad Moore, the Shovel Ready project manager for the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, which helps to oversee the program.
According to Moore, these sites go through extensive title work, proof of ownership, legal reviews, mapping and environmental surveys, all of which helps to qualify them for matching grants to help cover any application costs as well as expedited permitting with state regulatory agencies.
Once the locations are prepared, they are reviewed by representatives of the IEDC, the governor’s office, and the state’s departments of natural resources, environmental management, transportation, health, agriculture and homeland security.
Kuker said he and his office prepared roughly 300 pages of paperwork for the Cass County site, but he was pleased with the end result.
“With more and more companies looking for sites where they can have a shovel in the ground as quickly as possible, this program gives Indiana an advantage when it comes to competing with other states for new investments and new jobs,” Nathan Feltman, chief executive officer for the IEDC, said in a statement. “This is another vital tool in our economic development toolbox that will help give Indiana the edge when attracting new and promising investments to the state.”
Carla Knapp can be contacted at (574) 732-5150 or via e-mail at carla.knapp@pharostribune.com
