For nearly two years, engineering firm FRA, a T.Y. Lin International Company, has been driving the public review and approval processes as well as advancing architecture and engineering projects for what will become the Wayne County Industrial Sustainability Park. Contracted to take the core project—re-use of an old lumber yard—through the municipal permitting process, FRA has worked closely with the key players in the project, private business owner, Bob Bechtold, and public entity Wayne County Industrial Development Agency, to acquire the necessary approvals for the initial 13 +/- acres. The first industrial park of its kind in the region, it will feature industries utilizing by-products of each other's production processes as energy or as energy-saving measures.
"This has the potential to revitalize Western New York," said Robert Keiffer, PE, senior civil/site engineer with FRA and project manager for the design effort.
Bob Bechtold is a partner with Northern Development, the developer for the park, and owner of Harbec Plastics, a company that uses wind and thermal energy."
The cornerstone of the park is Northern Biodiesel, a biodiesel production plant housed in the former 84 Lumber facility. Full scale production began in late August. Sustainable Energy Developments Inc., a wind energy company, also is housed in the facility and the project calls for the construction of a biogas facility.
"Depending on the type of energy source a company creates, we can custom-grow a park based on the renewable fuels available," said Peg Churchill, the executive director of the Wayne Economic Development Corporation (WEDC). Tags: