Lincoln Trail Area Development District Executive Director Daniel London said each county pays 39 cents per citizen to be part of LTADD.
“You don’t want to hear about the 39 cents, you want to hear about the return on investment, because that’s what we look for,” London said. “The average return on investment last fiscal year was $270 from the ADD, so think about this: you buy a 39 cents stock, but you get $270 back, we would all buy that stock, and so the AD district is providing great support to local governments and communities as a result of that.”
London was the featured speaker at the Hardin County Chamber of Commerce’s June general membership luncheon, held at Phillips Grove banquet hall Wednesday. London discussed the major priorities of LTADD including community and economic development and workforce development.
London said the area right now is “bursting at the seams” with economic development opportunities, but major infrastructure improvements are needed to prepare for what is coming.
“What we came up with is almost $1 billion in infrastructure that is needed over the next six years to make this a soft landing,” London said. “That is an incredibly staggering number. This is not even all the infrastructure that’s needed for our region. We have another over $1 billion that’s not on this chart that our CED department is tracking.”
London said he wanted to clarify that the cost was not directly tied to major developments like BlueOval SK in Hardin County and Nucor in Meade County.
“We have significant issues with our infrastructure all across the state that can’t keep up,” London said. “Now, has the BlueOval project as well as others moved that timeline up? That’s when we’re replacing it? Absolutely. That is absolutely fair, but at the end of the day, this is all spending that has to happen at some point to continue the growth that we have.”
London touched on some of the recent studies that LTADD has been a part of, including a look at the lack of available childcare in the area that shows more than 2,000 work-willing adults would be able to return to the workforce with an increase in available childcare services and a housing study that shows Hardin County is about 4,500 housing units short of current needs. A transportation study that is looking at possible public transportation options for Hardin and Meade counties should be completed by September. Those studies and more information can be found on the Lincoln Trail Area Development District website.
