By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Rezoning of 74 acres north of Bowling Green was given the green light last week to make way for an expansion of Principle Business Enterprises.
The Wood County Planning Commission voted to recommend the acreage be changed from agricultural to M-1 light industrial, according to Dave Steiner, county planning director. The Middleton Township Trustees will make the final decision on the zoning change request.
The property is located on the north side of Devils Hole Road, just east of Interstate 75. The business, Principle Business Enterprises, can be seen from I-75. The company needs the land for additional production equipment and potentially to build a new warehouse/distribution facility.
The new facility would replace the company’s current warehouse located in Ampoint, in Perrysburg Township.
The company has already secured approval for an enterprise zone agreement with the Wood County Commissioners. The agreement gives the company 100 percent real and personal property tax abatements for 10 years.
The company, which makes products for bladder control, is planning a $4 million expansion which would add 47,000 square feet to the existing building.
Principle Business Enterprises currently employs about 235 people, and will create at least five new jobs with the expansion. That estimate is very conservative since each new line at the plant will employ six or seven people.
The firm produces various products for incontinence, including “Tranquility” and disposable swimwear, and footwear like Pillowpaws and slipper socks.
“We are really making a difference in the lives of people with difficult physical challenges,” Chuck Stocking, CEO of the company, said earlier this year during a meeting with the county commissioners.
“We’ve had such consistent growth,” said Larry Jones, CFO of Principle Business Enterprises. “As the boomers shift into that period of their lives” when they have more physical needs, the company is expanding to meet them.
“It’s a good problem to have,” Jones said of the company’s need to expand.
Stocking also told the county commissioners that the company is now working with the Veterans Administration. “It took us seven years to crack the code on how to do business with the Veterans Administration,” he said. “We have a team working on better care for our veterans.”
The long term vision for Principle Business Enterprises includes additional expansions, Stocking said.
Jones said the company provides a safe and good work environment, so the longevity of its employees is quite high.
Steiner said the company is a good neighbor. “They have been good corporate citizens as well.”
As part of the enterprise zone agreement, Principle Business Enterprises will make the school districts involved whole. That means the company will pay $35,000 a year to Eastwood and $4,400 a year to Penta Career Center.
Also at last week’s county planning commission meeting, approval was given to three housing subdivisions – two in Middleton Township and one in Perrysburg Township. The subdivision plans included:
- Saddlebrook Plat 18, with 20 single-family residential lots covering approximately 7.11 acres in Middleton Township.
- Eckel Trace Plat 4, with 14 single-family residential lots on 5.38 acres in Perrysburg Township.
- Riverbend Lakes Plat 3, with 22 single-family residential lots on 11.95 acres in Middleton Township.
