JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. (AP) - More than 1,100 acres of a former Army ammunition complex in southern Indiana will be transferred by next summer to a business park whose managers predict the tract will attract new development for years to come.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly joined River Ridge Commerce Center officials at Monday's announcement of the land-swap deal that's the culmination of years of negotiations with Army and federal officials.
The business park's operators received deeds Monday to 830 acres, but will get another 285 more acres by next June.
Donnelly said those transfers will attract new development and bring thousands of new jobs to the area along the Ohio River about 10 miles north of Louisville, Kentucky.
"This is about jobs and jobs and jobs," he said.
The transfer of the land ends a "long-standing land dispute" that included questions about a landfill at the former Indiana Army Ammunition Plant site, Donnelly's office said.
The senator had overseen talks among River Ridge officials, the Army and federal, state, and local stakeholders to address concerns about potential public health and environmental risks associated with that landfill.
RELATED: River Ridge moves forward with redevelopment projects after land transfer
The Army has agreed to continue maintaining the landfill and any potential cleanup of hazardous material. The business park will be protected from environmental liability associated with the landfill.
"I think they just really needed to talk it out with one another to see what their concerns were," Donnelly said.
The land transfers will boost to about 6,000 acres the business park's holdings that were once part of the former Army ammunition complex that once covered about 11,000 acres near the community of Charlestown.
For decades, that Army installation had served as a primary site for the manufacture, storage and distribution of ammunition, including explosives. The Army closed the site in 1992.
River Ridge Development Authority Executive Director Jerry Acy that before the new land acquisitions, the business park spanned about 4,800 acres and has about 40 tenants. About 750 acres have been sold or committed to occupancy, he said.
RELATED: Donnelly: River Ridge Dev. Authority Board's passage of resolution for Army land transfer ‘great news'
The providers of the business park's roughly 7,000 jobs include Amazon, Tenneco, United Technologies Aerospace Systems and American Fuji Steel.
The River Ridge Development Authority signed a lease with the Army in 2003 and received its first land parcel in 2005.
The Commonwealth.
