Wood County Commission gives their backing to grant effort

PARKERSBURG -- The Wood County Commission approved a resolution supporting a grant application for the access road from Vienna to the new West Virginia University at Parkersburg Technology Center on the site of the former Ohio Valley University campus.

Wood County Development Authority Executive Director Lindsey Piersol appeared before the commission seeking support for the grant application.

The authority is eligible to apply for an industrial road access grant through the West Virginia Office of Economic Development for $400,000. If they have $150,000 in matching funds, they can apply for $550,000.

Piersol said there is a company, which is not ready to be identified yet, who will be locating on that campus and do "additive manufacturing." The road would assist them in that endeavor.

"This is a huge project for Vienna and the county," she said.

The matching funds would come from the manufacturer in question or the WVU Parkersburg Foundation. It will not cost the county anything.

"We are hoping to apply for the full $700,000 for the road," Piersol said.

WVUP President Torie Jackson said the road is expected to cost around $1.2 million and they were looking for grant funds to help pay for it.

Once completed the road would be turned over to the City of Vienna to maintain, she said.

The former OVU campus is within the city limits of Vienna.

Officials said they are looking at around 99.7 acres of land they want annexed into the city. The road they are proposing would allow future housing, mixed use, retail and more in that area.

The road would be built at the end of 12th Street between Lowe's and Sam's Club and would connect to the campus. Currently the campus is accessible from Briscoe Road off of Rosemar Road.

The company Piersol is talking about would be looking to start with 10 jobs with the potential to grow and add more jobs in the future.

The project would just be roadwork as the site already has water and sewer available, Piersol said.

The design work has not been done yet.

"It is important to note that the WVUP (Technology Center) project has so many moving parts," Piersol said. "This additive manufacturing is just going to be one arm of this," she said "There is going to be space for 25 business incubators some of which are already spoken for.

"There is going to be a lot coming out of this project. This roadway is going to help all of those people."

Piersol credited Del. Bob Fehrenbacher, R-Wood, with helping on applying for industrial access road grants.

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com