Public meeting Monday on Jeffboat site redevelopment
Jan. 20—JEFFERSONVILLE — Although Jeffersonville Mayor Mike Moore isn't sure what developers will ultimately do with the former Jeffboat property along the Ohio River, he's excited.
Moore will attend Monday night's public meeting called by American Commercial Barge Line at the Carriage House at Howard Steamboat Museum.
The event, which will be an open house forum, is from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and the company plans to give presentations at 6:20 p.m. and 7:20 p.m. about the site. ACBL and site developers OMH Advisors will also accept feedback from residents at the meeting.
"I think it's wonderful the owners of that property want to hear what the public would like to see there," Moore said. "That doesn't happen very often. For them to host a bunch of public meetings to get the input from the community, I think it this is fantastic the developer wants to fit in with Jeffersonville."
OHM Advisors is leading the redevelopment study for the property and representatives from the group will be available to address concerns, answer questions and present an overview of the former property.
ACBL is encouraging community members and stakeholders to attend. A second meeting is also planned, and that's where the findings of the redevelopment study will be presented, along with concepts for the property.
"I think it's going to be something that's spectacular, it's going to create a lot of interest for residential growth," Moore said. "(And) commercial growth, it's the beauty of the Ohio River with a mile of frontage in front of it. It's a blank canvas."
Moore said he encourages residents to attend the meetings and that he knows neighborhood groups have met about the the topic in the past.
The redevelopment of the property was announced last September. The master planning process of the site will take about 10 months.
When the redevelopment was announced, ACBL CEO Mike Ellis said extensive environment and geotechnical studies had been conducted at the site, 1030 E. Market Street, to see what could be built there.
"The good news is once we thought we had limited use of this property from the condition of this property," he said in September. "We actually have an unlimited use of this property in terms of what we could do with it from this environmental and geotechnical standpoint."
Ellis said any limitations on what the property could be used for would be more from a flood plain standpoint than an environmental standpoint.
No decisions on what the property will become have been announced.
"JeffBoat has been extremely valuable to the city, we grew because of it," Moore said. "I don't want to see that site used for heavy industrial anymore, I would love to see public access on the property. I'd love to see the Ohio River Greenway expanded to where there's a beautiful walking trail."
Jeffboat launched its 12,917th, and final, vessel in April 2018.
It was established in 1938 and then was awarded a U.S. Navy contract during World War II to build boats at the location, as well as the neighboring Howard Shipyard.
During that time period Jeffboat went from employing 200 people to 13,000 people, its highest staff number.
The company began major layoffs in 2017 and closed one year later.
"My one plea to the community is please be there and please be heard," Moore said. "Who knows what is going to go there. I'm hopeful it's a beautiful attraction for not only Jeffersonville residents, just for everybody."
