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02-23-09 Mega Park AnnouncementAGENDA FOR MEGA PARK ANNOUCEMENT ,.:~b~~J~ z'>,~`~I Call to Order - Coy E. Harville II. Welcome Remarks Sherman Saunders, Mayor, City of Danville Coy E. Harville, Chairman, Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors III. Recognition of Dignitaries IV. Announcement of Project Coy E. Harville, Chairman, Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors Sherman Saunders, Mayor, City of Danville Thanks to Dewberry, Inc., Sponsor of the Reception V. Reception PRESS RELEASE PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY, VIRGINIA The County of Pittsylvania, Virginia, and the City of Danville, Virginia, in their joint Regional Industrial Facilities Authority parmership, announced today the ground breaking for a 3,000 acre plus "Mega Park" located in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, west of the City of Danville, Virginia corporate limits and just north of Rockingham County and Caswell County, North Carolina, in the Berry Hill Community between U.S. RT58, Berry Hill Road and the Dan River. The property is mostly undeveloped land with the Norfolk Southern Railroad crossing a portion as well as the Transco Natural gas line and electric power lines from the City of Danville. This project site was selected after the Virginia Partnership and the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission began a state wide search for mega sites in November 2004. A site north of Chatham in Pittsylvania County was studied by the Timmons Engineering for the Commission. The Board of Supervisors began working with an industry in March 2007 in the Berry Hill area and changed its focus to this area for a"Mega Park". A mega park is a park with an area of 1,000 acres available for development. There are at least four parks in Virginia over 1,000 acres, but none over 3,000 acres. The County has had several options to partner with other jurisdictions, but the City of Danville was the best fit for a partner in this park. The intent of the Danville-Pittsylvania County Regional Industrial Facilities Authority is to create a marketable mega park in Southside Virginia that has project ready sites to accommodate the fast growing trends of business and industry for project ready sites. A key factor in these project ready sites is to insure all required development factors have been met. To assist the Danville-Pittsylvania County Regional Industrial Facilities Authority (RIFA), the prestigious nationally recognized consulting firm of McCallum Sweeney of Greenville, South Carolina, was engaged to assist the Authority in evaluating and designing a project that could be certified for a targeted market. This evaluation will determine whether the project should be a large single development or an industrial park. One of the largest engineering firms in Virginia, Dewberry, Inc., has been contracted to develop the Master Plan for the "Mega Park". It is the intent of this mega park to serve a fifty (50) mile radius covering part of Southside Virginia and parts of North Carolina. A population of 1,476,759 people lives in this radius with an available labor force of 746,733 persons. This will put Pittsylvania County and the City of Danville in the market to compete for projects such as: the 1400 acre Sever Orr Steel Mill in Columbus, Mississippi, the 1800 acre Paccar Truck engine plant in Columbus, Mississippi, the 1700 acre Toyota Plant near Tupelo, Mississippi, or the 1600 acre Volkswagen Plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. This Mega Park will create the spinoff industries to support it that will continue to multiply throughout the community, generating between six to eight jobs outside the park for everyone in the park. This park is located 52 miles north of the Piedmont Triad International Airport and the Regional Fed-Ex hub and only 70 miles west of the Raleigh Durham International Airport and the Research Triangle Park. The Board of Supervisors of Pittsylvania County and the City Council of Danville, Virginia, are very pleased to announce this Mega Park, the fourth major joint project of the City and County, a partnership equaled no where else in Virginia, and now we hope to be partnering with our neighbors in North Carolina to create a thriving Bi-state economic development mecca.