City officials say Owensboro’s future growth can’t wait — even if it means buying more than 120 acres for industrial development without Daviess County as a partner.
The City and the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corporation (GOEDC) finalized the purchase of the Massie property along Parrish Avenue earlier this week, a site officials say will serve as a build-ready industrial park for economic development. The County was not involved in the deal.
Mayor Tom Watson said the City will continue to extend partnership opportunities to the County, but stressed that Owensboro cannot wait for development decisions.
“It should be a common goal, but you know, they’ve learned that they can say no and we’ll go on with the project anyway,” Watson said. “We love to be partners with stuff like that … but we’re going to move our community forward with or without them. Sure, they’ll end up getting property tax from it, and that’s okay too.”
Watson said he was not surprised by Fiscal Court’s decision.
“We’ll always extend the opportunity to them,” he said. “It’s important for us to work together to achieve common goals.”
County Judge/Executive Charlie Castlen said Fiscal Court had discussed the project in closed session and ultimately chose to pursue other investments, including Paradise Park, a regional partnership with other western Kentucky counties.
“We agreed to participate in the project they have going at Paradise Park, but the consensus was not to participate in the purchase of the Massie property,” Castlen said.
When the proposal was first presented to Fiscal Court, Castlen said the project was larger in scope and included significant acreage in a floodplain — a concern for County officials.
The final purchase approved by the City reduced the overall footprint and eliminated the majority of the floodplain property before moving forward. City Manager Nate Pagan said he renegotiated with the property owners to eliminate much of the land located in the floodplain, but the County still declined to participate.
“It was surprising, especially on the heels of them cutting development funding the previous year,” Pagan said. “It’s a pretty well-established model that’s worked here for decades.”
However, Castlen said, “I don’t recall the City coming back to us after they trimmed the purchase down, but from the County’s standpoint, we didn’t think it was the right investment at the time.”
County Commissioner Larry Conder said he supported involvement and believed the County missed a “generational opportunity.”
“I wanted us to stay in it even before the floodplain concerns were addressed,” Conder said. “This was the perfect opportunity to show we’re willing to work together on a consistent basis. I believe Fiscal Court missed a generational opportunity.”
County Commissioners Janie Marksberry and Chris Castlen both said they would have liked to see the revised proposal brought back for discussion, but noted it was never placed before Fiscal Court for a vote. Marksberry added that she first learned details of the finalized deal through media reports.
“I would have liked to have had it brought before us for an opportunity to consider,” Marksberry said.
Chris Castlen said the land purchase “made more sense on the second go-around.”
“We didn’t think it was the best investment overall for us,” he said. “I hope the City gets a great return on the investment because it benefits the community either way.”
