Ashland Growth and Development

By: Carson Blake

An official open house and ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Ashland Municipal Center took place January 28th, at 2:00pm. The new city hall and police department are located on the corner of Main Street and Broadway in downtown Ashland. The expansion of city hall was necessary due to the residential growth of Ashland and because of the potential for future commercial development. The City of Ashland closed on the sale of the previous police department building at 601 East Broadway property on January 27th to Simple Development, LLC out of Jefferson City for $450,000.00. A site plan has not yet been submitted, though Ashland City Administrator Tony St. Romaine confirmed the location will be a Scooter’s Coffee. “We have told the buyer that a traffic study will need to be conducted, specifically concerning issues with left turns,” said St. Romaine who suggested a no left turn out of the 601 Broadway property and to funnel traffic to the right through the Broadway and Henry Clay roundabout. Commercial developments like Scooter’s Coffee are what Ashland is looking for in order to increase the city’s sales tax base. Ashland is seeing development along U.S. Route 63, specifically at East Route H, however these businesses will not instantly increase sales tax revenue. Larry Potterfield confirmed that he sold the building at Cartwright Industrial Park to a third party who will lease the property to Amazon. “There are no ongoing discussions about expansion,” said Potterfield, who’s vision for future development is unchanged.

See more in this weeks Boone County Journal