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Oakwood land purchased for industrial park
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The city of Oakwood Thursday announced the purchase of 32 acres for a new industrial park on White Road near Interstate 985.

The property will allow the city to move forward with its plan to relocate its Public Works Department to a new site, making room downtown for further development under the Oakwood 2030 long-term vision plan.

“We will dedicate the first four acres of this new industrial site to our Public Works division,” said Stan Brown, Oakwood’s city manager.

“That allows us to relocate such equipment as our sanitation trucks and trash containers to a more appropriate area and, more importantly, away from downtown.”

The property, located near Georgia Precast Concrete and just north of ICI Paints’ Glidden plant, will be slated economic development.

After the Public Works facility is completed, there will be 28 acres available.

“We saw it had a lot of good possibilities,” Brown said. “It will help us to have more inventory available for industrial prospects.”

Brown said despite the economy, Oakwood still receives inquiries about industrial sites. The city will likely sell about eight four- to eight-acre sites for smaller manufacturing companies.

The city has not decided what type of industry it will try to attract, but it will likely try to blend with surrounding uses.

“I think something of a heavier type use is what we would expect,” Brown said. “At this point we just want to be flexible.”

The city also worked with Hall County in 2006 to build sewer infrastructure in the area.

“Another benefit of this property is it does have sewer availability,” Brown said.

The relocation of Public Works had been planned as part Oakwood 2030 to open up the downtown for future development of a town commons, retail shops and a neighborhood village.

“We’re looking at that being sort of a Main Street type look,” Brown said.

The Public Works facility currently occupies about a third of a city block behind the downtown Police Department. Demolition of the building and construction of the department’s new home will begin in 2011, Brown said.