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Wilmington goes 'green' to grow jobs

The city wants to attract companies in energy conservation or alternative energy.

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By John Nolan, Staff Writer Updated 1:29 AM Thursday, July 16, 2009

The city of Wilmington is prepared to designate itself as a “green enterprise zone” in hopes of encouraging job creation by attracting companies in energy conservation or alternative-energy fields.

The designation also would establish a program in which Wilmington would provide matching grants to help retrofit existing businesses to encourage energy efficiency and use of energy from sustainable sources, which can include solar, wind, grains and grasses.

The Wilmington City Council is to give a third and final reading on Thursday night, July 16, to an ordinance that would declare the city a “green enterprise zone” and establish a Green Enterprise Zone Development Council. The ordinance would take effect 30 days after passage on final reading.

The ordinance defines “green projects” as those that reduce dependency on fossil fuels or the carbon-containing emissions of a building.

The seven-member council and city officials would advise the City Council on annual funding for the enterprise zone program.

“We hope that it’s a big step in the right direction,” community activist Mark Rembert said Wednesday.

Rembert and fellow activist Taylor Stuckert formed an organization called Energize Clinton County in 2008 to try and help Wilmington overcome the loss of thousands of jobs that express shipper DHL wiped out in its U.S. freight hub operation at Wilmington in a cost-cutting reorganization.

Energize Clinton County, city officials, Clinton County Regional Planning Commission and Pure Blue Energy, a Charlotte, N.C., company that promotes green energy products and services worked together to develop the green enterprise zone.

“We don’t want to leave any stone unturned,” Wilmington Mayor David Raizk said of the efforts to attract new jobs to the Clinton County city of about 12,000 people.

The city-administered enterprise zone would complement an existing one approved by the Ohio Department of Development, through which companies can obtain tax incentives and grants for creating new jobs.

For more information

Energize Clinton County, at (937) 728-0048 or online at www.energizecc.com.

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