LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — A $400 million Ford plant could be coming to Shelby County in Kentucky, but those who live there have mixed feelings of what it could bring.
Steve Clayton opened Last Stop Brewing in downtown Shelbyville back in March and is in support of a proposed component plant that could go somewhere in Shelby County.
"You look at Shelbyville, itself, is really urbanizing," Clayton said. "It is growing rapidly so that is stimulating growth and businesses like we’re in — production ourselves just in a much smaller scale."
Shelby County’s continuous development is easy to see.
Notable growth includes $40 million in new bourbon rick houses, new headquarters for national companies, and a one million-square-foot facility at Logan Station and Taylorsville Roads.
Last year, the site was originally planned for a metal hydrogen plant, but that company has since backed out, leaving the space now vacant.
County officials won't say if this site is where Ford could end up, just that they’re excited to be considered.
"Having Ford come out here and stake their flag in Shelby County would be huge," Ray Leathers, Shelby County Industrial Development Foundation, said.
While many agree with the development, others are opposed to the production plant because they want to keep what Shelby County is known for — it’s agriculture.
"The more big things like that we get, the less we’ll have of this crops and our agriculture and things like that so — and that is scary to look out to in the future," Kaitlyn Webb, who works in Shelbyville, said.
Wherever it ends up, the plant would create about 260 new jobs and is part of $11 million in state tax incentives, which makes the county more enticing to companies.
"We have 12 million square feet on the drawing boards. It is going to happen. It has to go somewhere and I can tell you a lot of it is going to come here," Leathers said.
"I think it is going to stimulate some growth not just in this area but across the state," Clayton said.
A decision on if the plant is coming to Shelby County is expected in the next six weeks.Â
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