LAWRENCE COUNTY – During the Lawrence County Redevelopment Commission meeting Thursday morning, the commission shared Marshall Township TIF project updates as well as plans with the Lehigh TIF district funds as part of their 2022 goal of contributing to economic growth and quality of place investments.
Commission President Jeff Quyle provided updates to the memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the Marshall Township TIF projects including the Avoca Park project, The Volunteer Fire Department utility vehicle, and the Briarwood sewer treatment plant upgrades.
The Briarwood plant needs upgrades and replacements and has provided invoices to the commission, while the Fire Department request for a $17,500 utility vehicle is in the works, an invoice is still needing to be presented to the commission for approval of funds.
The commission then heard from Lawrence County Attorney Dave Smith on updates to the use of TIF funding with the Lehigh TIF district.
The commission has plans to upgrade the roadways near the Lehigh plant once their construction is complete, as well as constructing a shell building in Mitchell that would open more jobs in the area, and acquiring land for the purposes of building a residential area for affordable housing.
These plans are all on the forefront of everyone’s minds within the Lehigh TIF funding, however, the funding will not be available for some time and is dependent on the completion of the Lehigh Construction Project. If the construction is completed by 2023 as planned, the TIF funding would be available as early as 2025.
The conversation focused on ways to begin these projects with funding from other areas to begin working on them sooner and reimbursing the money once the TIF funds become available. With that in mind, the projects will have to be done in an order that would best fit the commission financially.
The commission then discussed plans to assist funding to the Marion Township Volunteer Fire Department, after they were approached by the township trustee.
The old building is in need of repair and the township has been diligently saving funds for an expansion and renovation project for the building.
They have saved over $800,000 to build an addition to the existing building and then repair or replace the original space to be able to fit their new ladder truck. This will be discussed by the commission before moving forward.
