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BY DIANA BOWLEY OF THE NEWS STAFF - GREENVILLE - Selectmen were encouraged Wednesday to embrace and pursue a set of long-term goals for the enhancement and expansion of Greenville Industrial Park. The underlying effort is to attract larger manufacturing businesses to the town to provide more job opportunities. That, in turn, would help draw to the community younger families with school-age children and would create a more diverse tax base. The goals, identified by Town Manager John Simko and Greenville Steam Plant General Manager Scott Hersey after much study and discussions with current and potential park tenants, cover basic infrastructure needs. They include development of a rail siding at an estimated cost of $500,000, delivery of water and sewer to the park at a cost of about $337,000, acquisition of more land to offer developers larger lots, and a boundary change along Depot Street that would shift about 45 acres from Moosehead Junction Township to a state-owned parcel in Greenville adjacent to the park. "I see this as total economic development," Hersey told selectmen. He said a lot of interest has been expressed for development in the park but that interest likely would be cemented if the park had the amenities. "It's important for us to provide this infrastructure," he said. The town already has a competitive edge over other communities with industrial parks, according to the pair. "We're got something that almost nobody else has - a steam plant," in the park, Simko said. The 15-megawatt biomass power plant's presence, which offers cogeneration relationships within the park, along with the installation of water and sewer and a rail siding would help draw developers to the town, the officials believe. "It's basically, do we build it and they will come or do they come and we will build it," Hersey said. Since the latter hasn't occurred, the two believe the town should pursue grants to put the infrastructure in place. Simko called the goals "feasible" and noted that grants are available to fund the improvements. Another aid to the town would be Piscataquis County's selection as one of eight Pine Tree Enterprise Zones. This designation would provide significant tax breaks to qualified firms who develop within the zones. |