ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. (WDRB) -- Thousands of workers will file into Glendale, Kentucky, when production begins in 2025 at Ford's BlueOval SK battery plant. And that means there's work to be done in rural Hardin County to support the surge of people.

A new study, conducted by Louisville-based consulting firm L.B. Schmidt & Associates, shows the impact the BlueOval SK Battery Park will have on the Hardin County community. It revealed both strengths and weaknesses in the community and presented recommendations to help the local economy prepare for the "boom" that is coming.

"We've been given a chance here that a lot of communities would die for and would love to have the opportunity to work with," Elizabethtown Mayor Jeff Gregory said shortly after discussing the findings with county leaders for the first time.

The study revealed that the battery park will lead to a population surge of 22,380. That means an anticipated need for 8,811 new housing units in Hardin County, an expected total of 3,901 new K-12 students, a projected need for 75 new staffed hospital beds, 389 new hospital jobs and 380 new ambulatory care jobs.

"We hope that we can keep pace and we feel like we have a good chance to be able to do that," Gregory said. "We're going to have to."

Among the many recommendations was the direction to create a steering committee of community leaders to 'maximize opportunities that BlueOval SK is bringing to the region.'

Other recommendations include: 

  • Growing the metropolitan statistical area (MSA) to include surrounding counties in the Elizabethtown-Fort Knox MSA
  • Annexation
  • Unified government
  • Eliminating height moratorium for more dense development
  • Utility expansion
  • Continuing growth in downtown Elizabethtown
  • Enhancing local parkway and interstate systems
  • Create more EV charging stations
  • Enhance regional airport
  • Fill regional transit needs
  • Create more rideshare presence
  • Create a workforce development campaign
  • Establish central platform to integrate community collaboration

Each of the recommendations require collaborative work that must be done quickly. For some county leaders, the report revealed that the work must happen quicker than some anticipated.

Gregory believes many of the recommendations have already been considered.

"It just expedites the timeline a little bit," he said. "We're going to have to be a little front-end loaded and a little quicker on some of the things we plan to do here."

However, other county officials say that the recommendations are not requirements.

"We may not go down some of those paths," Hardin County Judge Executive Keith Taul said. "Those are just recommendations by the consultant, and it makes you think. That's what it's supposed to do."

The study not only made suggestions about development and infrastructure to support the local economy, there were also recommendations about workforce development and attracting workers to a rural area around an hour away from Louisville.

And, as industrial leaders in Hardin County believe, the entire region will play a role in supporting operations.

"It's not just going to come from that one county that landed the project," said Andy Games, vice president of Elizabethtown Hardin County Industrial Foundation. "You've got to have your other local districts around you help you and assist you in that matter."

While county officials continue to work together to prepare the area for production in Glendale, they're asking the community to weigh in on the results of the study and its recommendations.

CLICK HERE to view the report.

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