Port Authority seeks $2M for abandoned mine reclamation
During it's recent meeting, the Guernsey County Port Authority Board voted to seek grant funding from the State of Ohio's Abandoned Mine Reclamation program and heard all remaining space in the Willett-Pratt Training Center has been leased.
The $2 million sought by the Port Authority would be used to grout underground mines in the D.O. Hall Business Center. The specific target would be a four-acre building pad as part of a 10-acre parcel north of the D.O. Hall Detroit Diesel facility.
The presence of deep mine tunnels is a detriment to surface construction due to the possibility of mine subsidence. The port authority was previously successful in obtaining $1.5 million in grant funding to grout mines in a parcel between the Detroit Diesel and FedEx buildings in the park. The improvements to the 10-acre plot after the mine grouting, funded by the Community Industrial Association, generated 140 new jobs.
Port Authority Director Norm Blanchard also briefed the board regarding initiatives to secure grant funding from Gov. DeWine’s Appalachian Community Grant Program for several county-wide projects focusing on downtown issues. Details will be provided by the Community Improvement Corporation at its regular monthly board meeting on August 5.
Blanchard told board members the Willett-Pratt Training Center on the Zane State Cambridge Campus is now fully occupied. Colgate-Palmolive, a long-time tenant in the building, will increase its occupancy requirements, with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources leasing virtually all of the remaining available space.
Zane State will retain some classroom space for periodic training needs, Jobs for Ohio Graduates (JOG) will continue to maintain a training office, and the CIC/Port Authority will remain as tenants in their current office suite.
With the Paul R. Brown EPIC Center now occupied by the Guernsey-Monroe-Noble (GMN) Head Start Program, all former Zane State College education classroom space has been re-purposed to accommodate office or industrial training space. The utilization of the Zane State facilities is great for the college presence in Cambridge, but also, sadly, has removed higher education from Guernsey County.
Additionally, it was also reported that an airport charter service is looking to locate at Cambridge Municipal Airport. Contact with the Port Authority was made with the request to assist in locating office space. Location of a charter service would be a real asset to the airport, with an increase in flight operations considered a valuable resource when airport leadership applies for grant funding to satisfy various airport requirements or upgrades.
Norm Blanchard is the director of the Guernsey County Port Authority.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Jeffersonian: Port Authority seeks $2M for abandoned mine reclamation
