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Vol. 35, No. 36 | Richmond Suburban News | January 9, 2019
Businesses see value in Hanover County locations By Jim Ridolphi for The Mechanicsville Local
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ECHANICSVILLE – For the past 12 months, Hanover County has continued on a course of positive economic development, attracting a variety of new businesses and enhancing the county’s overall economic develTHOMAS opment outlook. With an award-winning school system, government
that welcomes and accommodates new business and supports existing ones and a growing viable workface, businesses of all sizes continue to eye Hanover as the right destination for their new ventures. “The last 24 months have provided some of the strongest economic development growth Hanover County has seen within the last 10 years,” Linwood Thomas, economic development director, recently said. Some of those developments included: Blue Bell Ice Cream, Hartfiel Automation, Publix, Northlake Commerce Center, General RV, Lansing Building Products, Red Rooster, Hobby Lobby, and Cascades. One of the biggest impacts
School calendar changed to make up for bad weather days ASHLAND -- Since the beginning of the school year, Hanover County Public Schools has used five inclement weather days due to two hurricanes and a major snowstorm. As outlined in the 2018-2019 HCPS school calendar, the following changes will take effect: Jan. 24 -- Full day (originally an early closing for a staff/faculty workday) Feb. 18 -- Full day (originally an early closing for parent-teacher conferences)
As a reminder, there are 10 inclement weather days built into the calendar to recapture lost instructional time and meet state requirements. Some of these days are designated as “banked” days where a makeup day is not required, while others are designated as makeup days. The first four inclement weather days are “banked” days that do not require a makeup day. Days five, six and seven are see WEATHER, pg. 31
Photo courtesy of JLL
The Bear Island paper mill is located in Doswell just south of Kings Dominion.
was felt when Cascades reopened the Bear Island facility, restoring jobs for about 80 employees and reopening a
facility that represents a major portion of the county’s industrial base. “Cascades is one of the
biggest corporate announcements Hanover County has ever been a part of and when they take over operations
sometime in 2021 they will again be one of our largest taxpayers,” Thomas said. A major portion of those economic efforts focus on existing businesses and industries located in Hanover County. “The most critical asset you have in economic development is your existing industries,” Thomas said. “I am extremely proud that our team was able to play a small part in the expansion of over 40 existing industries this past year, which is almost double the number of expansion of 21 in 2017.” Thomas said the county enjoys a favorable position when new businesses consider Hanover as a potential location. see VALUE, pg. 15
Publix opens Jim Ridolphi/for The Local
A group of Hanover County officials, including Scott Wyatt, Cold Harbor representative on the Hanover County Board of Supervisors, is seen taking a tour of the Publix bakery, located at 6603 Mechanicsville Tpk. in Mechanicsville. The store officially opened at 7 a.m. Saturday. For more on the new store, turn to page 4.