Published: October 25, 2006 04:13 am      

City hopes to annex 70-acre business park

Mayor: Two prospects looking seriously at former Eldora dragstrip

FAIRMONT — The city hopes to add a prime piece of real estate to its corporate limits by taking in the former Eldora dragstrip property.

The Marion Regional Development Corp., the economic development arm of Marion County and the City of Fairmont, developed the 70-acre tract of land as a business park. The project has been supported by a grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, secured by Congressman Alan Mollohan for water and sewer infrastructure, and the Industrial Park Access Fund for a road and curb system to the park.

“We’re actively developing the site and have two prime candidates who are looking seriously at the site, and we are awaiting their decision,” said Mayor Nick Fantasia, also chair of the MRDC.

City council Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution to forward the application to the Marion County Commission, which will ultimately decide whether to approve the 70-acre annexation. Earlier this year, an application to bring in the Hallwood Estates property in the Bellview area, the site of a proposed 600-house development, was approved.

City Manager Bruce McDaniel said that the city will apply for the annexation through a minor boundary application instead of by petition, which would require the permission of all of the people who have mineral rights to the property.

If approved, Fantasia said this annexation would represent about 500 acres brought into the corporate limits of the city by the MRDC and its predecessor, the Fairmont Industrial Credit Corp.

“As the MRDC has done in the past, in its role as the official economic development agency for the City of Fairmont, it has made every effort to locate facilities within the corporate limits or bring the corporate limits to the facilities it develops.”

E-mail Misty Poe at mpoe@timeswv.com.