Future shovel ready site area in town of Ripley (Google Maps)
The Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency board has approved the first phase of acquiring property in the town of Ripley for a shovel ready site.
IDA CEO Mark Geise said the four parcels of the site are across the street from the Love’s Travel Stop behind Regal Trucking on Shortman Road, “And this particular site rose to the top because, first of all, its location. There was a lot of work done prior, actually, to get it shovel-ready certified back almost ten years ago. So, really it checked most of the boxes. There’s no perfect site, we found that out by the way.”
Geise said the project will be in two phases with the first phase being the purchase of 64 acres for $2,892,000 based on an appraisal. He said the second phase will be to purchase 85 acres in the same location for $2.2 million.
Geise said the IDA has to show it has secured the land in order to apply for grants that will aid in developing the land.
He said they are targeting the site for distribution or light manufacturing, “147 acres in total. It’s 2.5 miles from the Pennsylvania border. It’s located in a C2 Commercial district. And that was about a year and a half ago, maybe, they had changed the zoning there cause it was ag (agriculture). But it allows general manufacturing, industrial parks, and business parks.”
Geise said phase two of the project will begin only when grant funding needed is received.
What is meant by the term ‘Shovel Ready’?