Dewberry gives estimate on Berry Hill cost

Rep. Tom Perriello says area officials’ plans to attract manufacturers to the 3,700-acre Berry Hill Road mega park demonstrate "bold vision."

Perriello also says that fears uranium will be mined and milled the site are unfounded.

“This is not a realistic view of what this is all about,” Perriello during an interview Monday after a briefing on the mega park project at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research.

The park is a joint project between Danville and Pittsylvania County. The Danville-Pittsylvania County Regional Industrial Facility Authority own the property, which also contains uranium ore deposits with leases once owned by Marline Uranium Corp.

The Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors and the RIFA board have each rejected proposals to ban uranium mining and milling at the park.

Development of the park is about attracting automobile and clean-energy industry to the site, Perriello said. The Berry Hill Road project is “bold vision” and turning that vision into reality is going to take work, he said.

Perriello said with Danville, Pittsylvania County and the Virginia Tobacco Commission investing in the project, maybe the federal government could provide funds to match.

During the briefing, Shawn Harden, project manager at Dewberry, which is certifying and drawing up a master plan for the park, gave a presentation to local, state and federal officials from Virginia and North Carolina.

Development of the Berry Hill park, including costs for water, sewer, power, gas, roads, rail and the property, would cost $163.9 million, Harden said. That’s less then the previous estimate of $222 million.

“It’s got the potential to be a very big economic impact,” Harden said.

The site is near major airports and a port along the coast and could provide employment for a labor pool in a 60-mile radius around the Danville-Pittsylvania County area, including Durham, N.C., Harden said. Lots in the site range from 98 acres to almost 1,300 acres, he said.

When Perriello asked about the occupancy rate of the other industrial parks the region, County Administrator Dan Sleeper said Cane Creek Centre, the only completed park, is at 62 percent. Even if the Berry Hill project had the industry for the site, buildout would take up to 20 months, Sleeper said.

Perriello, who said he is “bullish” on the new energy industry, said transformations are taking place in the auto industry, and “this is where Virginia and North Carolina can (come into) play,” Perriello said.

Michael Dougherty, director of economic development for the city of Eden, N.C., said the park’s impact will extend into North Carolina, where, according to the 2000 Census, up to 1,300 Rockingham County residents commute to work in the Danville area, and vice versa.

Sleeper, who had provided the previous $222 million figure to the Danville Register & Bee, said during an interview after the briefing the larger estimate is three years old, when market conditions were different. Lower demand for construction materials has caused a drop in prices, Sleeper said. In addition, the figures are only estimates and could change again.

Dougherty said after the briefing that Eden could provide water and sewer to the park, another economic benefit that would cross borders.

“It would help us make up for lost revenue over the years,” Dougherty said.