Kettering advances on business park improvements

City Council votes to take bids for first phase, with cost up to $650K.

Kettering City Council voted unanimously this week to bid out the first phase of improvements at entrances to the Kettering Business Park with an estimated cost of up to $650,000.

The project includes bidding out the work, including entrance signs, pavers, sidewalks and landscaping along Wilmington Pike at Forrer Boulevard and another entrance further south across from Ritter’s Frozen Custard.

This is a first phase of a threeyear improvement project with a total estimated price tag of $2.2 million. The total project will include signage, landscaping, paving lights and other improvements along Wilmington Pike and throughout the park.

Kettering City Manager Mark Schwieterman said the business park’s current appearance is “a little outdated and doesn’t attract new business.”

The park, formerly home to the Defense Electronics Supply Center (DESC) was turned over to the city of Kettering and turned into the business park in 1997.

Much of the property has been sold off, but Schwieterman said the city still owns about 20 develop-able acres and a 200,000-square-foot building. He said the improvements will help retain current tenants and attract new ones.

Sterling Abernathy, a conservative activist, criticized the project’s cost.

“The citizens of Kettering deserve that council members be their city’s financial stewards and practice fiscal responsibility,” he said. “This resolution to spend $650,000 should be tabled until council has reviewed lower cost options.”

Schwieterman said that $650,000 is only an estimate and bids may come in below that.

Also approved by Kettering City Council this week:

■ A resolution to grant up to $25,000 to reimburse the owner of property at 3075 Wilmington Pike up to 50 percent of the cost to make façade and site improvements to the property.

■ A resolution authorizing the sale of the former fire station at 2200 East David Road for $125,000.

■ A resolution bidding out upgrades to electrical systems at Delco Park for an amount up to $110,000.