MUSKEGON — Three different industrial areas are on track for future development in Muskegon County, creating the potential for significant economic impact.

Acreage at the county’s wastewater treatment facility, the former Cordova chemical site, and acreage owned by Bayer CropScience are in development stages, according to Ed Garner, president and CEO of Muskegon Area First.

About 1,800 acres are available near the county’s wastewater treatment facility located south of Apple Avenue and split between Egleston and Moorland townships.

Garner said his organization has a contract with the county to market the site and is looking for a few good vegetable growers or food processing operations.

"Our main target has been food and vegetable growers, primarily vegetable growers," Garner told MiBiz.

Muskegon Area First is looking for businesses to tie in to the wastewater facility to try to increase capacity. Some large companies have cut back or gone away with little need to use the facility. Letters have also gone out to liquid waste haulers to encourage them to bring in waste for processing.

"We used to have a lot more industrial flow than we do now," said Muskegon County Public Works Director Dave Kendrick.

He said crops are currently being grown on the land with the irrigation water. The sale of land to more businesses will benefit county residents.

"If the property is used for processing and they produce wastewater, the whole wastewater system itself benefits," Kendrick told MiBiz. "It helps make wastewater treatment cheaper for all 15 communities."

Garner said the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

attraction team has examined the site and it is on their short list of available properties. National certification is also being sought for the property, a process expected to take another six months.

Bayer CropScience has a 400-acre site on Whitehall Road in the northern part of the county and wants to create a unique industrial park with synergistic companies that would share wastewater costs. The German company currently uses about 50 acres of the site and aims to develop 300 acres for other companies.

Muskegon County Deputy Director of Public Works John Warner said Bayer’s idea is a model that works well in Europe. Companies use waste products from other companies and save on transportation costs. Warner said Bayer has the approval from Germany to move forward with the project. Garner said advantages to the Bayer CropScience site include sewer and rail access.

Adjacent to the Bayer site is Muskegon County Business Park North, a third industrial site four miles north of Muskegon on Whitehall Road. Although this former Cordova chemical plant is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site, a property designated by the EPA as contaminated, groundwater cleanup has been going on at the site for a long time, according to Warner. The county has owned the property for the last 10 years. The chemical site’s history dates back to 1956 with Ott Chemical. That company sold to Story Chemical in the 1970s before being bought by Cordova Chemical Co. of Michigan about 30 years ago. Warner said businesses that locate on the site will not be responsible for any existing contamination with covenants not to sue.

"They’ve been working on cleaning up this site for a number of years," Garner said.

New roads have been built and the site is prepped. Garner expects the market price to be set in August and Muskegon Area First is taking soft leads right now. Warner said a landscaping company and sand supplying company have expressed serious interest in moving to the site.

Warner said there are 19 lots in phase one ranging in size from 2.8 to 18 acres, with rail access available on four of the lots. Advantages of the site include its location in a state designated Renaissance Zone, proximity to major highways and the rail access.

"There are not a lot of industrial parks that have rail access," Warner said. "Prices on the lots are going to be very competitive."

Warner said he would love to see new companies move into Muskegon County. Companies would have no trouble filling slots with an available skilled workforce in a region not currently blessed with high employment.

"I don’t see a downside to all (these industrial parks). We want to find the right people with the vision to work with us and move forward," Warner said.