Civil Municipal Magazine Aug 2023

65 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 8 gallons daily and will have seven times that amount available when the project is complete, she stresses that this abundant water supply will meet the county’s water needs on a 50-year planning horizon. “That to me is fantastic. To be that far ahead of where we need to be, to position ourselves that way opens us up tremendously for business and industry to locate here.” Strategic Location, Industrial Growth, and Job Opportunities Ben McDaniel, Director of the Barrow-Braselton Joint Economic Development Authority, shares that the county is also focused on industrial recruitment, which has its challenges in a geographical area spanning only 163 square miles. “We’re a very small county, so we have to be very deliberate about what we’re trying to get and where we can put it,” he acknowledges. Ideally located in northeast Georgia, Barrow County is positioned amidst significant economic developments, including the Rowan project in Gwinnett County which represents a 2000- acre life science campus. Also in the region, Meissner in Athens will add 1,700 jobs, SK Battery in Commerce is on track to add 3,000 jobs, while Rivian, an electric vehicle manufacturer, will add 7,500 jobs to the community. “And here is Barrow County, right in the middle of that,” he boasts. With the advantages of both a tourism corridor along I-85 and industrial parks along State Road 316, combined with robust infrastructure and a strategic location, McDaniel believes Barrow County is “in the perfect position for prosperity.” In 2022 Spring Mountain Center, a global manufacturer and distributor of bathroom and kitchen fixtures, announced Barrow County’s Park 53 industrial complex as the location for their new facility. “They made a $45 million investment that’s going to bring up to 205 new jobs to the area. We’re excited about that,” remarks McDaniel. He reports that US Lumber is also in the construction phases of a large facility in the BARROW COUNT Y, GEORGIA