MILLERSBURG – A Clark Township business has been approved for a 10-year, 50% standard enterprise zone agreement with the Holmes County Commissioners.
D. Yoder Hardwoods on County Road 70 has outgrown its present facility and plans to construct a 99,000-square-foot manufacturing facility at a cost of $5.15 million on land the company owns on Township Road 164, according to Holmes County Economic Development Director Mark Leininger.
The company plans to invest an additional $2 million on machinery and fixtures for the facility.
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“They manufacture parts for hardwood furniture,” Leininger said. “They are out of space at their County Road 70 facility.”
All 60 full-time employees will move to the new building and there are plans to create an additional six new full-time positions.
Leininger added that notices have been sent to the school boards of East Holmes and Buckeye Career Center for their approval, and the agreement was approved by the Clark Township Trustees last week.
“There were some concerns about the township road and increased truck traffic on that road,” he said. “We are working with JobsOhio and Ohio Southeast to see if we can get some funds through ODOT and Jobs Ohio to help with the roadway a little bit. It’s in the works, and we’ll see what happens.”
Commissioner Joe Miller said he hopes to continue doing more enterprise zone agreements, and he appreciates the work Leininger is doing to make them happen.
“Keep them coming,” added Commissioner Ray Eyler.
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In other business, Holmes County Engineer Chris Young talked about a longstanding bridge project on Wally Road at the western end of the county that crosses the Mohican River.
“This bridge is our largest structure in the county,” Young said. “It has been in the planning stages for seven years now. Seven years ago, it was projected to cost just over $5 million. It has really changed these past two years. I got an estimate last week and it was up to $8.5 million.”
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Young explained he has $5 million toward the project coming from federal bridge funds through the County Engineers Association of Ohio.
“Unfortunately, there is a $5 million cap on the funds,” he said. “We need interim financing of an additional $4 million to build the project. In normal circumstances, I would probably delay the project, but my guess is right now prices are high and contractors are busy. Everything is sky high.
“The state infrastructure bank is what we’ve used before,” Young continued. “We need the $4 million to file the plans. The ODOT job will open in July and we have to have the in-stream work done by September. Then we have to have everything demoed and the piers constructed by Jan. 17.”
The goal is to have the Wally Road bridge open by Memorial Day 2023.
“The supply chain issues are delaying jobs by months,” Young said. “This one can’t be delayed, because Mohican gets more than a million visitors every year. Their economy is driven from Labor Day to Memorial Day, and we do not want to inhibit any of that.”
Young added that during a recent annual inspection of bridges, the weight limit was down to 15 tons last year, and now it is down to a 10-ton limit and it is a one-lane structure because it is deteriorating fast.
“If we let it go another year, we’d probably have to close it,” he said. “It’s got to be built. If we delay it, it would be devastating to the economy out there if we have to shut the structure down.”
Young will make a presentation before the state to try and have the $5 million ceiling on funds lifted. It has been in place for more than 30 years.
“More and more of these projects are getting more expensive, and everything keeps going up,” he said, adding the governor is adding $45 million into the statewide bridge program. “Muskingum County ran into this problem last month. But they are supportive, even though they didn’t get the ceiling lifted for their project.”
Young said there are 287 bridges in Holmes County. In Ohio, anything 10 feet or longer is considered a bridge.