GLASGOW – The Barren County Economic Authority’s board of directors heard an update Friday during its annual meeting on two studies conducted on land that will eventually become a new industrial site in Barren County.

The economic authority is in the process of purchasing about 152 acres along New Bowling Green Road from Glasgow Beltline Development.

Calvin Leech, Lyon Hutcherson Jr., Larry D. Garmon, Bharat Mody and Betty Bailey are listed as partners in Glasgow Beltline Development, according to a business filing with the Kentucky secretary of state.

BCEA entered into a contract with American Engineers in May to conduct an archaeological study and a phase one environmental, stream and wetlands mitigation assessment.

“All of the due diligence has been completed. We did have to do the second evaluation with the archaeological,” said Maureen Carpenter, executive director of BCEA, noting that the phase one assessment came back with no concerns. “There were two spots that came up in one of the reports from like 1839. One of them is the old house that is out there. They were not able to go in there, but basically they did know that there is no archaeological issue or concern with those two spots that were unidentifiable, so everything is clear.”

She said that means BCEA can start moving forward with the land purchase.

“Hopefully, by the end of August we will have closure on that property,” she said.

The economic authority’s board voted in April to purchase the land and develop it into a new industrial site. The property is one mile from Highland Glen Industrial Park, which is also along New Bowling Green Road.

The following considerations were taken into account while identifying the property for purchase: property size, utilities and infrastructure, road access, development costs and land costs.

A Glasgow-Barren County Chamber of Commerce committee completed an initial analysis in 2014, looking at more than 25 potential parcels of land.

Carpenter narrowed the number of potential options to three for the economic authority’s property committee to review. When looking at all three, the one owned by Glasgow Beltline Development was the one that fit BCEA’s needs the best, Carl Dickerson, chairman of BCEA’s property committee, said in a news release posted on the economic authority’s website.

Barren County Judge-Executive Micheal Hale was quoted in the news release as saying that with less than 90 acres remaining at Highland Glen and at Chapatcha Industrial Park in Cave City, BCEA needed to plan for the next industrial park.

The board also heard a report on the economic authority’s new Economic Development Transformational Investor Program.

Under the program, Carpenter said BCEA reaches out to businesses in the private sector that benefit from economic development and asks them to make contributions toward economic development.

“The funds that we raise will not go toward operations at all. It is purely from marketing and property development,” she said, adding that BCEA took a look at its operations fund and then at what money it had left cover the cost to do marketing and property development. “… If we are going to be aggressive and do the things we need to do in economic development, we need more money. Reaching out to businesses makes sense to support our efforts.”

BCEA’s fundraising goal is $150,000 this year. So far, two businesses have made contributions to the program. One is German American Bank, which has committed $10,000. The other business is The Peoples Bank, which has committed $5,000, she said.

BCEA is talking to other businesses about making contributions to the program, and Carpenter said as they come on board their names will be added to the economic authority’s website.

David Peterson, BCEA chairman, said the economic authority is looking forward to getting community businesses involved in supporting economic development in the county.

“We appreciate the ones that have already committed funds for that and we look forward to all of the ones that are going to step up and support the Barren County Economic Authority,” he said.

Terry Bunnell, chairman, president and chief executive of The Peoples Bank, said BCEA helps recruit and retains businesses in the community and is a key part of economic activity in the community. “We are excited to partner with BCEA and to be a part of the investor program,” he said.