GREENFIELD — The Hancock County Council is creating an economic development commission intended to enable development at the Gateway Hancock Health location in Mt. Comfort.
Hancock Health and NineStar Connect are planning to invest an estimated $23 million in infrastructure for business development surrounding the Gateway Hancock Health facility located at I-70 and Mt. Comfort Road.
The site needs infrastructure like streets, water service, stormwater drainage and landscaping before new businesses can move in. Hancock Health and NineStar have asked for the creation of a commission to issue bonds that would pay for the improvements.
The two entities plan to buy the bonds to fund the necessary improvements, and have tax revenue from future developments at the site pay them back. Jerimi Ullom, an attorney representing NineStar and Hancock Health, told the Daily Reporter in October they were not sure how long it would take to recoup the investment but hoped to designate the property as a distinct tax allocation area, a designation that would last for 25 years.
Because NineStar and Hancock Health will essentially owe money to themselves, they will not face consequences if they have a tax shortfall during one year, said Randy Sorrell, executive director of the Hancock Economic Development Council.
The county will supervise the process but will not contribute any funding.
“It’s a way to privately develop the site,” Sorrell said. “They can control the project start to finish, but it’s managed by a government entity.”
The county council previously created an economic development commission in the area for the development of Mount Comfort RV, but the commission automatically expired in 2018.
“Since it was terminated in 2018 and since more than a year has passed, we can’t resurrect this one. We have to create a new one,” Sorrell said.
The process for creating the commission starts with the county council, which authorizes a commission and nominates a member. The Greenfield City Council then nominates a member, as do the county commissioners. The commissioners then approve the three appointments.
The county council, at a special meeting this week, approved the ordinance creating the commission and appointed council member Mary Noe as its representative.
Sorrell said Hancock Health and NineStar hope to have bonds issued by late March.