Editorial: Permit: It's time to celebrate

No one could blame area officials if they popped some champagne corks Friday and celebrated. After several years of pursuing a permit to grade the Commonwealth Crossing Business Park, they finally learned Friday that the document had been signed and was on its way here.

This has been a long journey that began in 2007 when Henry County bought most of the land for the new business park along the North Carolina line. Additional land was purchased in 2008 to reach the 740-acre total, and the county began to pursue its permit with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

However, the corps refused to issue a permit under the Clean Water Act for the business center until potential clients indicated their interest in locating in the center. Yet, local officials said, no company would do that without a graded site. The irony and the frustration were not lost on anyone here.

Finally, county officials identified two potential clients for the center, and they said Friday that was a “key step in negotiations” with the corps, leading to the signed permit.

This was one of those rare issues that dissolved party lines and political boundaries. Those working to make this happen included officials with Henry County and Martinsville and the Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corp. The area’s congressional delegation — Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine and Reps. Morgan Griffith and Robert Hurt — came together in a bipartisan, common sense effort to get the permit issued. In addition, there were funding partners and other groups that have helped with this project.

They all deserve the area’s applause and thanks for getting to this point.

Once the celebration quiets down, the work will begin to provide infrastructure, transportation and pad site improvements to accommodate construction for two proposed facilities or businesses at the business center. Henry County officials have said in the past that it could take 18 to 24 months to grade and prep the site.

County Administrator Tim Hall put the situation in perspective Friday: “We have a lot of work to do to move forward, now that the permit is ours. But it’s work that we’ve wanted to do for a long time, and we are ready to get started.”

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