BALDWIN COUNTY, Ga. — Sen. Jon Ossoff said this year's federal funding package is sending $1.1 million to Baldwin County to help upgrade one of its industrial parks.
Haly Hicks is working with Baldwin County to apply for grants. She said it was time for a project like this.
"It's time to have a place to attract you know industries that would ultimately create more jobs. The community definitely could benefit from that," Hicks said.
Hicks helped write to Ossoff's office about why Baldwin County needs the money.
"Based on all the job losses that have occurred in Baldwin County and Milledgeville over the years and we thought we had a really strong case," Hicks said.
Some of those losses include the reduction of Central State Hospital closing several buildings and Rheem Manufacturing closing in 2009. Rheem left 1,200 people without jobs and the county without federal funding, according to the Milledgeville-Baldwin County Development Authority Executive Director Jonathan Jackson.
"What we realize is that over the years the federal government has given us a lot of subtractions and now they have the ability to give us an addition," Jackson said.
The $1 million addition will help upgrade the water and sewer system at the newest industrial park, Sibley-Smith Industrial Park, according to a press release from Ossoff's office.
The county bought 1,500 acres for nearly $4 million in 2016 after it was added to the SPLOST. Jackson said voters approved it by a 70% margin.
"It was a clear mandate to buy the property and it was a clear mandate to develop it for economic development purposes and so from there we knew we had to do it," Jackson said.
Jackson said it wasn't just the acres that caught their eye. It was the access to Norfolk Southern tracks.
"So Norfolk Southern operates a rail line that runs right along the side of the property and access to that is what most companies are looking for when they're trying to find a large site for their new company," Jackson said.
Jackson said the plan is to focus on bringing manufacturing companies and distribution centers. Their master plan currently maps out 11 different builds on the land.
County Attorney Carlos Tobar said this project will help get Baldwin County back to where it was.
"There's nothing quite like having a place to go to work right there in your own community and that's what we used to have and that's what we're trying to get back to," Tobar said.
The development authority said they want to begin construction later this year. They're starting to show the site to companies interested in the space.