The Ohio Job Ready Sites (JRS) Program, authorized by Ohio voters in 2005, was created to improve Ohio's inventory of available facility locations served by utility and transportation infrastructure. Sites improved under the JRS Program are kept at-the-ready for business prospects seeking locations for new or expanded operations.
In Ohio's first round of JRS Program funding in 2006, 63 qualified applications were reviewed by a team of Ohio Department of Development staff and site consultants. After a comprehensive adjudication and scoring process, the team identified twenty projects for funding assistance, awarding a total of $60 million.
Wapakoneta, was selected as one of only five manufacturing sites awarded grants in this first round of JRS Program funding. The $1.9 million grant will be used to finalize a 471-acre manufacturing site near the intersection of Interstate 75 and US 33 in the City of Wapakoneta.
The Wapakoneta JRS site, in conjunction with existing, adjacent industrial properties, creates the 700-acre West Central Ohio Industrial Center with fully-developed properties ranging from 4 to 471 acres.
The City of Wapakoneta identified the West Central Ohio Industrial Center at I-75 and US 33 as a potential regional manufacturing site in 1991. The City, Dominion Gas, TSC Communications have since invested more than $6 million in developing the site. City improvements include 16" water lines, a 1.5 million gallon water tower, 12" sanitary sewer lines, a sanitary sewer lift station, 69KV electric lines, an electrical substation, and roadway construction. Dominion has installed 4" gas lines and TSC Communications has installed fiber optic at the site.
In January 2006 the City and the Wapakoneta Area Economic Development Council (WAEDC) decided to be among the first Ohio Job Ready Sites (JRS) Program applicants. Wapakoneta's experience in 2002 as a finalist in Hyundai Motor Company's search for a United States site brought national attention to the community and its economic development efforts. Local leaders were convinced this site had important potential for Ohio.
The WAEDC staff worked with 17 individual property owners to assemble the proposed JRS site. Options were prepared, surveys done, title examinations completed, and environmental reviews conducted. Annexation, zoning, and Tax Increment Financing agreements were negotiated and ratified between the City, Auglaize County, and Pusheta Township. By July 2006 this cooperative efort had created the new 700-acre West Central Ohio Industrial Center.