MAHONING VALLEY Industrial parks to share in state grants
The state awarded $140,000 for two local road projects.
COLUMBUS -- Industrial parks in Mahoning and Trumbull counties will get a share of the $2.7 million in Business and Roadwork Development grants awarded this week to nine private and public entities in Ohio.
Mahoning Valley Economic Development Corporation will receive a $40,000 grant to help pay for a road expansion project at the Youngstown Commerce Park in North Jackson.
The project will allow for a 10,000-square-foot addition at Precision Machine Controls, a designer and manufacturer of industrial electrical control and testing systems. Precision Machine's existing plant is a 13,000-square-foot facility.
In addition, this expansion will allow for development of an additional 20 acres in the Mahoning County industrial park for future tenant facilities. Overall, the road work and resulting expansions are expected to create 15 jobs.
Trumbull projects
Trumbull County will receive a $100,000 grant to assist with road improvements at AEROPark Drive and Vienna Parkway. Current tenants, Timken and Delphi Packard Electric, have poor road conditions, which are an impediment to future expansion at the park.
The Trumbull project is expected to cost more than $120,000.
The grants, administered by the Ohio Department of Development, were approved by the State Controlling Board, and are intended to assist in the growth and development of Ohio businesses and the creation and retention of jobs.
The lion's share of the funds, $1.68 million, will be used in Pike County for road improvements and bridge construction to service a new commercial uranium plant that will be constructed there. Ohio was in competition with Kentucky for the $1.1 billion project, which is expected to create 500 jobs.
In all, projects funded are expected to create 849 jobs and retain 1,294 positions.
The Business Development Account is a program to assist companies and communities that are creating or retaining jobs with the necessary infrastructure improvements needed to ensure a project move forward.
The Roadwork Development Account, funded with gas tax dollars, provides grants to communities for highway and public road projects related to job creation and retention.