Council OKs ABM Enterprise Zone accord

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Van Wert City Council approved an Enterprise Zone agreement in connection with a proposed $13-million facilities project by Advanced Biological Marketing and also passed legislation allowing the city to apply for more than $400,000 in Issue I funding during Monday’s regular meeting.

Because Vision Park is not part of the city’s Community Reinvestment Act areas, an Enterprise Zone agreement was needed to provide real property abatement for the project. The building is expected to cost approximately $10 million and sit on 14 acres of ground in Vision Park.

Mayor Don Farmer said the project would add a minimum of 30 jobs to ABM’s workforce of 25 employees. “This is a proposed venture … that will be going before ABM’s stockholders and board here in the very near future,” he said. “This is not a definite item.”

Although the mayor noted that ABM has looked at other sites in other communities, he said he felt that, with the company’s current facilities located on Bonnewitz Avenue, he feels Van Wert has “an inside track” on getting the project.

“We’re trying to put together a package that will secure them in our community,” Mayor Farmer said.

He added that retention and expansion of existing businesses is very important to community development.

“If you look at the national statistics, you’ll see that the growth of a community, in jobs, basically, the majority of them are coming out of what you already have in existence, and maintaining them and helping them grow,” Mayor Farmer noted.

The Enterprise Zone agreement would provide for 100 percent abatement on real property taxes for a period of 10 years.

Council also unanimously approved legislation that would allow the city to apply for more than $400,000 in Issue I money that Safety-Service Director Jay Fleming said would be used to help defray the cost of a water main replacement in the area of the city’s south water tower on Glenn Street where a number of waterline breaks have occurred in recent years. The new water line would be installed under the sidewalk, Fleming said, instead of the street to avoid the cost of street repairs.

During his report, the safety-service director also noted that the city street paving projects would likely begin with chip-and-seal work this Thursday, with paving likely beginning the last week of September or the first week of October. Fleming said approximately 20 days of work would be needed for the paving projects.

He also noted that this fall’s city brush pickup service would end Monday, October 6.

City Council also prepared legislation to approve rezoning 11 acres of land adjacent to the Sunrise Court subdivision from R-1 to R-2. The new zoning would decrease the amount of setback needed and allow construction of duplexes, if the land were developed. Mayor Farmer said there were no plans to develop the land, at the present, but the zoning changes would likely make the property more marketable. Several people also noted that drainage problems in the area would also have to be addressed if the land was developed.

Other legislation approved included a then-and-now certificate and supplemental appropriations ordinance related to the Jobs Ready Site on the north side of the city. Mayor Farmer said efforts to certify the site are also “about home”.

Council also excused Councilmen John Marshall, who is recuperating from a serious illness, and Jerry Mazur, whose wife, Sonia, passed away suddenly late last week.