Editor’s Note: This is Part 2 in a series looking at how Intel’s new $20 billion semiconductor facility in Licking County will affect Knox County. Click here to read Part 1.
MOUNT VERNON — One of the most-heard statements from Knox County residents is that they want to preserve the county’s rural character.
Indeed, that is one of the bedrock goals of the Knox County Comprehensive Plan.
But the county is wrestling with the need for more housing. It seeks to attract new businesses that pay good wages. It is experiencing overall population growth.
And now, Intel is locating a $20 billion semiconductor facility — a site that could potentially grow to a $100 billion set-up — 15 miles from the southern county line.
Intel’s facility brings the need for employees, suppliers, and all of the services that cater to those employees and suppliers.
The Knox County Growth Strategy report projects Knox County needs 611,332 square feet of commercial, manufacturing, and warehousing space to meet the current growth trend.
That jumps to over 4 million, depending on whether the county pursues a moderate or aggressive growth strategy in response to Intel.
With all of these scenarios, to say that change is highly likely is an understatement.
So, how do you preserve the rural character in light of these challenges?
“I think at the end of the day it comes down to land use, the decision-making about the future of the natural and built environment,” Area Development Foundation President Jeff Gottke said. “And I think our priorities and goals drive land use.”
Land use
The townships, villages, and city must each determine their priorities for how much growth they want: moderate, strong, or aggressive.
However, Gottke said that, to some extent, it is not up to them entirely because a business will do what it wants.
“So it’s more about preparing the ground for what you want it to be,” he said.
Tools for preparing the ground include zoning, incentives, and infrastructure. If the goal is preserving open space, a lack of infrastructure can be a tool.
“We can point development in the direction we want it to go through all of those things,” Gottke said.
As far as steps to align their priorities with desired growth, Gottke said townships and municipalities are different. Townships have to follow the Ohio Revised Code. Villages and cities have more flexibility.
“But I think they all have to understand the potential development, and then of that potential development, they have to ask ‘how can we accommodate it here?'” he said. “That’s going to drive their zoning rules and land use.”
Gottke cited the example of a township that wants industrial sites. The township must create an industrial designation, consider where that designation would be best suited, and then apply that designation to the land.
Those designations are what Regional Planning Secretary Darrel Severns has asked the townships to provide. Gottke noted the designations are visionary, but they drive practical decisions.
To help the townships, villages, and the City of Mount Vernon determine the level and type of growth they want, the growth strategy report broke down Intel’s potential impact by zip code.
The analysis notes the total sales impact, number of direct jobs, number of units, and total square footage needed for those units. It also breaks down numbers by commercial services, retail, housing, and other sectors.
Impact by zip code
The zip code analysis assumes four semiconductor supply chain companies come to the region. One of those companies will be located in Mount Vernon’s 43050 zip code, and the other three will be located in Intel’s zip code.
Here are the top five zip codes Intel could affect:
• 43011 (Centerburg): $28.572 million in sales, 147 jobs, 19,691 square feet
•43050 (Mount Vernon): $400.064 million in sales, 1,884 jobs, 901,589 square feet
•43019 (Fredericktown): $65.723 million in sales, 233 jobs, 129,186 square feet
•43080 (Utica): $43.320 million in sales, 144 jobs, 58,751 square feet
•43022 (Gambier): $24.104 million in sales, 118 jobs, 16,964 square feet
The sectors impacted in each zip code differ. For example, the highest impact in 43011 involves 74 jobs in commercial services and retail.
The 44014 area (Danville) shows agriculture, commercial and retail, and schools.
Predictably, the most significant impact hits 43050, where the assumed Intel supplier would be.
What’s next?
Gottke said it is up to the various jurisdictions to decide how to use the information.
“The information says that if these things happen and this is the anticipated impact that you’re going to see.
“So the opportunity then is to align their efforts toward land use development incentives to acquire more real estate to accommodate that anticipated impact,” he explained.
He cited Fredericktown as an example, which shows 79 jobs, $34.72 million in sales, and a need for 115,737 square feet of space.
“So does Fredericktown have the space to accommodate that, or should it consider more?” he asked.
Fredericktown officials then use that information to decide whether to dedicate more land for manufacturing or cap manufacturing to what its current industrial park can handle.
Gottke said the zip code analysis provides the information each jurisdiction needs for a proactive approach to what each community wants to see.
Each jurisdiction then has a conversation with its members and ultimately includes its land use desires in the county’s comprehensive plan.
The goal is to get county residents “working together and preparing as a community instead of each individual jurisdiction doing its own thing.”
“That’s not to say that it will be standardized across all of the jurisdictions,” Gottke said. “What one township wants may be different from what another township wants. But the fact that they’re talking and coordinating is the goal.”
