Hamilton County commissioners voted unanimously to increase the county's contract for engineering services at the former McDonald Farm in Sale Creek by nearly $500,000.
The increase is necessary to cover the cost for the design of a water line extension to provide "industry level" water access at the property, Nathan Janeway, the county's director of development services, said in a phone interview.
The county will pay one-third of the bill for the design, and the remaining funds will be covered by a $3 million grant from the state Department of Economic and Community Development awarded to the county in January for water infrastructure at the site.
The 2,170-acre McDonald Farm property was purchased by the county for $16 million in 2021 for the purpose of building an industrial park.
(READ MORE: Hamilton County seeks to buy McDonald Farm for industrial development)
Croy Engineering already completed preliminary engineering reports for water and sewer infrastructure and road access to the site. Those reports included the types of infrastructure needed, where that infrastructure would go and basic cost estimates, Janeway said.
The state grant was awarded to the county in January to extend higher-capacity water access from Highway 27 to McDonald Farm via the south entrance of Coulterville Road.
"This extension of Croy's contract is just to allow them to go ahead and proceed with design for that project," Janeway said.
The 6-inch water line on Coulterville Road is suitable only for single-family residential use, and extending the larger line from Highway 27 would allow for large-scale recreational, commercial or manufacturing uses of the property, he said.
"A lot of the motivation to go ahead and do this water project is that we have some fire suppression concerns with the fair," Janeway said of the Hamilton County Fair, which the county moved to the farm in 2023.
The water extension also would eliminate the need for the annual event's food vendors to bring their own potable water to the farm, for which a well is now the only water supply.
"We knew we were going to need expanded water access anyway, and the state is willing to step up and pay two-thirds of the project cost," he said. "It just makes it more enticing for us."
At a January town hall meeting where county Mayor Weston Wamp, Janeway and other county officials spoke about plans for the farm, citizens expressed concerns about what they felt was a rushed effort to rezone about half of the property for manufacturing.
(READ MORE: Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp promises recreation space at McDonald Farm)
The County Commission was originally scheduled to vote on the rezoning request in February, but the request was postponed for 90 days to explore other potential zoning options for the property.
"We intend to utilize the farm to its highest and best use while preserving its rich history, but this important process need not be rushed," Wamp said in a news release announcing the postponement of the rezoning request.
Contact Emily Crisman at ecrisman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6508.