Recognized as the first settlement of the Northwest Territory and often referred to as the “Gateway to the West,” the county’s location at the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio rivers, was a draw for early settlers. “We offer really nice museums here in order to embrace that history,” depicts Schilling. “That’s a part of the attraction that comes with Washington County. George Washington was a surveyor before he became president. He’d surveyed this area, and he thought this would be a great place to locate a city. So, there’s a historical perspective that assists us as well when it comes to travel and tourism.” ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE Washington County is in the midst of significant economic growth, with Executive Director Jesse Roush of the Southeastern Ohio Port Authority playing a central role in its development efforts. “Jesse is a real rock star for us,” remarks Schilling. “He has helped us transform a vision in this county that is going to be great for generations to come.” One significant project is the development of the Muskingum River Industrial Park, a 165-acre site that once housed a coal-fired power plant and is now being transformed into a hub for industrial and technological growth. “That’s really given us a bargaining chip to attract attention, attract investment opportunities,” Roush recounts.“ We recently just completed a pretty good sized high performance computing center, and that project really has helped us fuel a second project, which is a multimodal port facility on the river.” This 200- megawatt data center will encompass18 acres within the industrial park, and will incorporate a mix of advanced technologies, including cryptocurrency operations, artificial intelligence, and high-performance computing. “That 18 acres was not great for traditional development, it’s under overhead power lines,” he shares. “But in the rest of the industrial park there’s about 60 acres, which is a really strong traditional industrial commercial development opportunity.” Efforts are underway to attract traditional industrial and commercial businesses to the remaining land. Companies in methanol production, steel manufacturing, and electric vehicle battery production have shown interest, and the potential for a blue fuels project on the site has also been identified. Roush expands,“We’ve had it assessed, and we have 132 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 05, ISSUE 11
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