Harrison County CIC highlights economic potential

The Harrison County Community Improvement Corporation is keeping its focus on economic development, emphasizing the county’s growing role in energy and its advantage in available land.

Executive Director Nick Homrighausen said the CIC recently hosted U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno in Cadiz for an Aug. 4 energy roundtable. “That’s very big to have a sitting U.S. Senator come to Harrison County,” Homrighausen said. “We spoke about overall energy issues for the state and specifically for Harrison County. It was good.”

The discussion also touched on the Columbus-Pittsburgh corridor, including the stretch of state Route 22 between Cadiz and Hopedale. The project to expand the road to four lanes is fully funded but still awaiting state approval, which could take another year or two.

Representatives from MPLX, Marathon Petroleum, the American Petroleum Institute, the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, and other groups joined the session.

Homrighausen said Harrison County’s economic draw stems from something many counties lack: large parcels of land under single ownership. “If I’m a site selector, and I only have to deal with one person, then that’s a lot easier than dealing with 70 other people to put together 500 acres,” he said.

Such parcels, called megasites, can attract large-scale industry, from drone manufacturing to battery plants. Harrison County has multiple megasites, many a result of former coal companies assembling acreage decades ago. The county is already listed on Ohio’s statewide megasite inventory.

“They don’t make more land,” Homrighausen said. “You can find water, build sewer, you can build electric to the site, but you can’t make more land.”

The next CIC meeting is scheduled for Sept. 9 at 4 p.m. in the conference room of the Puskarich Library.