Village of Greenfield, OH

There’s a lot of activity going on near the industrial park relating to the solar farm projects. Can you tell us more about that? – Yes. So the yard next to Adient is sort of the operational hub for the construction phases of both the Fayette and Ross county solar farm projects. 

 

The work on Lover’s Lane and directly across from the AES substation is the construction of the Fayette solar field’s substation. They have to have their own substation to collect the energy from the solar panels. From that substation the energy will be introduced to the grid.

 

Something we are currently investigating the possibility of is regarding AES’s ability to expand its substation on Lover’s Lane, which they have the room to do. We are currently at a 20 megawatt capacity. So,  when we are trying to attract a business into our industrial park, those businesses need to know what our excess capacities are for water, gas, electric, and sewer. Right now, if we were to attract in one business that needs 20 megawatts of electricity, that’s it for our capacity on electric. So what we are hoping to work out is a way to store the energy from the solar panels, which is supposed to have the ability to generate 50 megawatts, at the AES substation so that the power can be used locally at the industrial park. This higher capacity would be a big draw to potential business for the industrial park. 

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So as we are getting closer, can you confirm the Halloween plans for later this month? – Yes. On Oct. 24 is the Halloween Parade sponsored by Paint Creek EMS/Fire District and the Greenfield Mothers Club. 

 

Line up for the Halloween parade will begin at the school colonnades at 5 p.m. with the parade beginning at 6 pm. The downtown business district Trick-or-Treat will follow once the costume contest is complete.

 

The community-wide Trick-or-Treat will be on Thursday, Oct. 26. 

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Do you have an update on the building work that’s been happening on the north side of the 200 block of Jefferson Street? – Yes, I do. There’s been a lot of false comments regarding 239 & 245 Jefferson St. We had to condemn those buildings. We have done some Facebook posts, including a video, to try to update the community on what we are doing there.

 

We have spent façade improvement money to fix the envelope of the buildings. We repaired the sidewall where it failed and fell. We are currently working on the front tuckpointing some brick. We have removed the old windows, and a lot of them were rotted out. Our goal right now is to reframe all those windows, get them all covered for the winter months, and make the building weather-tight. 

 

The hope for the future is that the building can be rehabbed and provide opportunities for future downtown development. I think what’s important is we are utilizing façade improvement funds to fix the façade and building envelope. And at the end of the day, we believe the buildings will be in a much better state and be attractive to someone for purchase. 

 

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You can reach City Manager Todd Wilkin by email at citymanager@greenfieldohio.net.