The city of Miamisburg is making changes to attract more jobs and deter “undesirable uses” to Mound Business Park in a similar fashion as Austin Center, which has drawn businesses employing thousands.
Creating a zoning district for the 306-acre former nuclear research site will help “create an employment-dense, clean, and functional” park, Mound Development Corp. President Eric Cluxton said about the area that’s now home to about 355 jobs.
The MDC, city staff and the Department of Energy think a zoning district will help shape economic growth at the business park, said Ryan Homsi, Miamisburg planner.
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They feel that “creating a zoning district much like what was done for Austin Center, will result in a more desirable and healthy long-term growth pattern for the business park, which will serve as a long-term economic development asset to the community moving forward,” Homsi told Miamisburg City Council recently.
The business park was included in the land use plan for Austin Center, which is home to Austin Landing, Yaskawa Motoman, United Grinding and a Miami Valley Hospital emergency center, among others.
While design standards were approved for Austin Center, the Mound Business Park land was not included in those changes because its land was still owned and controlled by the federal government, city records show.
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The business park is now zoned general industrial, Homsi said.
Legislation being reviewed by the Miamisburg Planning Commission outlines for the following goals for the business park:
•Create new zoning district;
•Restrict uses to “relatively clean office and light industrial uses;”
•Enact design standards to protect the long-term built environment of the Mound;
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•Ensure no legally non-conforming uses are created.
The zoning district “will provide for clear direction for the future of expansion” at the park, according to Cluxton.
It will help “establish basic standards for structures, landscaping and other improvements on the properties within the business park which promote high quality, innovative and unified site design,” he said.
In recent months, the business park has been transitioning from public oversight with the city and the Mound Development Corp. to private ownership.
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Since October, buildings have been sold to Pinnacle Architects and Patriot Communications. Those transactions combined to include more than 200,000 square feet of space, more than half of which included the heavily-fortified Mound Advance Technology Center T building.
The T building features “reinforced concrete construction with a 15-foot thick roof, 16-foot thick walls, and built on an eight-foot thick slab,” federal records show.
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