The Owensboro Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to rezone the 121-acre Massie Property to I-1 Light Industrial, advancing the city’s long-term plan to develop the site into an industrial park as available land at the Owensboro AirPark continues to diminish.
Commissioners approved the ordinance on second reading by a 5-0 vote, formally overturning a recommendation from the Owensboro Metropolitan Planning Commission, which voted in May to recommend denying the city’s original request to rezone the property to I-2 Heavy Industrial.
The ordinance approved Tuesday instead rezones the entire property in the 3501-4301 blocks of West Parrish Avenue to I-1 Light Industrial, a less intensive industrial classification than originally proposed.
Before the vote, City Manager Nate Pagan said the rezoning represents the culmination of a process that began several years ago when the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corporation started identifying additional industrial land to support future economic growth.
“Three or four years ago, our partners at the Economic Development Corporation began a process to identify sites for industrial development,” Pagan said. “Additional land to accommodate investment and jobs was needed because the AirPark was and is getting closer to being fully built out.”
Pagan said approximately 35 acres of publicly controlled land remain available at the AirPark, prompting city officials to pursue additional industrial property.
The City of Owensboro purchased the approximately 122-acre Massie Property in August 2025 after completing due diligence and negotiations with the previous owners.
Since then, the city and GOEDC have worked on engineering studies, utility planning and traffic analyses to prepare the property for future development.
Pagan said the property’s existing zoning created a challenge because about 56% of the site was zoned A-R Rural Agriculture while the remaining 44% was already zoned I-1 Light Industrial.
“Manufacturing facilities, like you would see in the AirPark, cannot be located in agriculturally zoned property,” Pagan said. “In order to use the property for its intended purpose, we had to go through the rezoning process.”
The city initially sought I-2 Heavy Industrial zoning, which allows a broader range of industrial uses than I-1.
Pagan said officials believed the heavier industrial designation would make the property more marketable to prospective employers.
However, after more than two hours of public testimony in May, the OMPC voted 5-4 to recommend denying the I-2 rezoning request. Much of the public discussion centered on concerns that the property could eventually become the site of a data center, although city officials repeatedly stated no data center proposal had been submitted or was under consideration.
Following that vote, the city exercised its authority under state law to bring the matter before the City Commission, which has final authority over zoning map amendments within city limits.
Rather than pursue the original I-2 request, city officials revised the proposal to seek I-1 zoning for the entire property.
Pagan said that designation still accomplishes the city’s primary objective.
“It’s likely that any tenant that would locate within the site could be accommodated using an I-1 zone,” he said. “This would make the entire site I-1, which would allow us to use it for its intended purpose at the time of acquisition.”
The ordinance approved Tuesday also formally overturns the OMPC’s recommendation and adopts new findings of fact supporting the rezoning, including that the proposal complies with the community’s comprehensive plan, is located within an Industrial Plan Area and satisfies criteria for planned industrial parks. It also concludes that an approved traffic impact study demonstrates surrounding infrastructure can support future development.
The rezoning remains subject to several conditions recommended by planning staff, including requiring access from West Parrish Avenue to comply with an approved traffic impact study, prohibiting direct access to the Wendell Ford Expressway and requiring future development to provide connectivity to adjoining properties.
Economic development officials have said the Massie Property is intended to become the community’s next major industrial site as available acreage at the AirPark is absorbed. GOEDC has also secured or is pursuing approximately $3.9 million in state funding to help prepare the property for future industrial recruitment through engineering, infrastructure improvements and site preparation.
No specific company or development has been announced for the property.
