For Immediate Release
November 1, 2016
Barr South Announcement–State Certified as Silver
Indianapolis – The Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) announces the designation of Greenfield’s Barr South as Indiana Site Certified (ISC) Silver tier status.
The Indiana Site Certified program was created to help Indiana cities and towns by validating sites that are ready for economic development. By certifying a site, it illustrates that the community is committed to economic growth, mitigates risks for businesses who want to locate or expand their operations into Indiana and it serves as a marketing tool to promote sites that are ready for development.
“The State of Indiana and OCRA created this program to partner with communities who are working to further opportunities for attracting businesses to grow their local economies,” said OCRA Executive Director Bill Konyha. “This is the sixth site in Greenfield to be Indiana Site Certified, which goes to show just how dedicated they are to economic development.”
Barr South is one of two Greenfield sites receiving the Silver tier certification, the other being Barr North who received their certification in July 2016. Both sites are family-owned by the Barr family and mark the fifth and sixth Shovel Ready properties in Greenfield within the Indiana Site Certified program.
Barr South is 62 acres and has many features and benefits that made it a desirable candidate for the program, such as being served with low-cost municipal utility services and several motels and restaurants nearby to serve the local workforce. Additionally, the site is located less than five minutes from I-70 and is within ten minutes to the nearest airport.
“The City of Greenfield is fortunate to have great citizen land owners who see great value in doing the things necessary to prepare sites for development,” said Greenfield Mayor Chuck Fewell. “The Barr family is an asset and we certainly appreciate their contributions to our economic development efforts.”
The Indiana Site Certified program consists of three tiers of readiness: Silver, Gold and Prime. Barr South achieving the Silver tier means the site defines boundaries with a clear title, has an established price, demonstrates executive level local government support and defines utility capacity and distance. The site has also provided documentation such as Phase I environmental assessment, ALTA, topographical and property layout.
Indiana Site Certified is led by OCRA in partnership with the state’s Fast Access Site Team (FAST), comprised of multiple state agencies including the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT), Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM), Department of Natural Resources (DNR), and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC).
Communities of any size may apply for the designation through OCRA. Applications for certification are accepted on a rolling basis. The first step is to contact your regionally based OCRA Community Liaison who will be able to offer current program details, evaluate readiness to proceed and provide application instructions.
For more information regarding the tiers and general programmatic parameters, please visit the Indiana Site Certified webpage.
Media Contact:
Emily Duncan
Communications Director
Office of Lt. Governor Holcomb
eduncan@lg.in.gov
(c) 317-471-9048
