Ohio River communities have lots to offer

Proctorville, Chesapeake and South Point have a lot in common including size, lack of big businesses or industries and separate school districts.

All three are considered villages, meaning they have less than 5,000 residents.

South Point has its own water and sewer system while Chesapeake and Proctorville residents get sewer service from the Union-Rome sewer district, which just started a $23.8 million sewer plant expansion and renovation. The sewer plant currently serves about 5,000 customers in Eastern Lawrence County.

The sewer plant will be expanded from 1.2 million gallons per day to 2.2 million gallons per day, a move that will allow for future expansion in the area, said Tim Porter, sewer plant administrator. The project will take about two years, Porter said.

The village of South Point is providing water and sewer service to The Point, a 500-acre industrial park in South Point. The industrial park houses several businesses including Engines Inc., which has about 100 employees. Officials also are looking at building a $150 million ethanol plant on a 60-acre parcel at the industrial park. If it's built, the plant could provide 60 full-time and 200 construction jobs.

The Lawrence Economic Development Corporation, which is overseeing development at the industrial park, has built three spec buildings at The Point. While Engines Inc. has taken the first two, the third spec building could house smaller businesses, said Bill Dingus, executive director of the development corporation.

The exterior work on the 32,500-square-foot spec building could be finished by the end of the year and the building could be finished next year. Marketing already has started on the building and one company has expressed an interest for half of the structure, Dingus said.

While Chesapeake and Fairland school districts (which serves Proctorville) have completed school building improvement projects in the past several years, South Point is in the midst of its school improvement project. A new high school and middle school are expected to open before the end of the year and plans are in the works to build two new elementary schools in Burlington and South Point.