JACKSON, Mich. — A new road project is coming to the County Farm-Springport Corridor as a technology park inches closer to becoming a reality.
Jackson County Commissioners recently approved an additional $1.1 million to get road work done and begin the arrangement for full development of Jackson Technology Park-North.
This is what you will see: road rehabilitation and the widening of County Farm Road to include paved shoulders, new sidewalks, drainage improvements, new signals and the construction of what will be called Ayrshire Lane at the new technology park.
“I envision seeing somewhere between one and five companies getting involved there to start with and the expansion of jobs and then becoming more career oriented job where people would be spending 20 to 35 years working for companies and looking forward to the next generation of alternative energy and auto production going on in there,” Jackson County Commissioners Chair Steve Shotwell said.
The estimated cost of the entire park project is $9.9 million. Of that amount, $5.9 million is provided by an economic development grant. $2.9 million is covered by Blackman Township through a local development financing authority that allows the use of tax increment financing.
According to the Michigan Municipal League, it was created to replace the TIFA and be more focused.
A little more than $1 million is covered from the county’s general funds.
“An economic development grant is used to spur growth and development and to assist in property development,” Shotwell said. “Normally, a county doesn’t get directly involved in this. The last time we were involved in a program similar to this was the TAC and MACI operations, which generationally have created jobs in Jackson County and also a lot of spin-off jobs as they support the different companies involved.”
The new industrial park will be located on a 181-acre piece of former farmland off of County Farm Road near Chemetall U.S. and Technique, Inc.
Blackman Township purchased the land, the former Jenkins dairy farm, for a little more than $900,000 in 2018. One side of farmland has already been developed where Chemetall and Technique are located.
County officials say roadwork will begin this fall, and they’re hopeful to see the technology park start to be developed sometime in 2023. For now, they are in the pre-construction phase.
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