E

In a move geared to bolster the local economy, Franklin County has been selected to receive CSX Railroad’s Bronze Award for its effort to prepare the former Moon property to accommodate industrial development.

County Mayor Chris Guess and Franklin County Industrial Development Director Mike Cunningham formally announced on July 21 that Franklin County has been selected as a Bronze Award recipient because of the Industrial Development Board’s initiative to offer a rail spur on the county-owned, 136-acre land tract, near Baxter Lane and Modena Road, on the east side of Highway 64.

CSX offers communities levels of promotion through tools provided through its partnership with Global Location Strategies, a site-selection firm that is recognized worldwide.

Predetermined requests for information were developed using the historical sizes and scope of rail-related projects that CSX has been successful in attracting to its system, CSX said in a press release.

The RFIs are sent to communities across CSX’s system, and the data and responses are then consolidated and sorted through GLS’s Lasso and Site Shepherd programs. The Gold, Silver and Bronze designations represent how closely the respective sites align with the mock RFI.

Guess said the recognition from CSX is tremendous.

“We are very honored to have been awarded and recognized by CSX for being selected as one of the top eight sites in seven states to receive the CSX Bronze Award,” he said. “The CSX Select Site is for the east Moon rail site in Winchester for which the Franklin County Industrial Development Board submitted an application to apply for this award.

“CSX works with landowners and the county economic-development organization to capture site-specific data in Lasso which relates to acreage, utility infrastructure and site characteristics.”

CSX says that Lasso gives real estate developers and brokers, economic-development organizations, engineers, architects and others the aggregated data they need to make smart, informed site-location decisions.

As a CSX Select Site, the Franklin County Industrial Park is listed on CSX’s website as a top industrial location to consider. The listing includes key information about what the Moon property will offer and demographical information about Winchester and the Franklin County area.

The listing says that the east Moon site contains about 136 acres, situated within the existing Franklin County Industrial Park.

It also says that the property is adjacent to a divided four-lane highway with frontage on U.S. Highway 64, and the site is only 12 miles from Interstate 24.

The listing mentions that the site has more than 1,000 feet of rail exposure at its northern boundary and also says that the property has met environmental and ecological requirements.

Guess said prospective industries have shown interest in the Franklin County Industrial Park. However, he added that the county wasn’t able to offer the complete packages that they were requiring, and they chose to locate elsewhere.

Cunningham said the rail spur, access to city sewer service and property access improvements to Highway 64 are in the works. He explained that the three elements will be what major industries wishing to locate in Franklin County will be looking for.

He said the rail spur is a key component to the overall equation.

“This spur will be available, and that makes a huge difference,” he said, referring to the Bronze Award benefits and how prospective industries will view Franklin County. “This lets those who need it know that rail is available here.”

The industrial-recruitment picture improved greatly last year when Franklin County and the city of Winchester agreed to fund a $10.675 million sewer project that will serve the east Moon property.

The Franklin County Commission unanimously approved to fund $4.315 million for sewer service to improve industrial-recruitment opportunities, and the city of Winchester agreed to fund $6.36 million in city sewer improvements to accommodate the additional volume from the industrial property once it is developed.

Guess and Cunningham said the sewer availability will make a huge difference in the Moon property becoming an industrial drawing card.

Cunningham also said that the county will be working with the Tennessee Department of Transportation to determine the best access potential from the Moon property to Highway 64.