It’s not easy being green, but area economic-development experts know that eco-friendly business is progressive – and they’re convinced that it will be profitable. That’s why they’ve embarked on an ambitious plan to build an environmentally conscious industrial park in the Hagerstown area – perhaps on State Route 1, near Interstate 70.

“Even though this project is still in its planning stages, we have a very clear vision of what we want the eco park to be,” says Jim Dinkle, president and CEO of the Economic Development Corporation of Wayne County (EDCWC). “It will be a LEED-certified site, built to be sustainable and built to attract the kinds of firms we want: high-tech and life-sciences businesses, not the smokestack type.”

A LEED-certified facility is one that meets the standards of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system developed in 1998 by the U.S. Green Building Council. Those standards rate building performance in five categories of sustainability: site, materials and resources, energy and atmosphere, water-use efficiency and overall indoor environmental quality.

The first tangible step in the Hagerstown project is for the EDCWC to hire a qualified engineering firm – one that is well-versed and experienced in the LEED system – to conduct “geo-technical studies” to determine the best site for the park.

“We’ve put together an RFP (request for proposals) to find a qualified engineering firm,” Dinkle explains. (Click here for a copy of the RFP). “We’re looking for a firm that can ensure that the building site doesn’t include wetlands, and that it avoids soil-compaction issues.” He said he hopes to have the firm chosen before Labor Day and to have determined the proper site for the park’s construction before the end of the year.

The ultimate vision for the eco park, Dinkle says, is for it to be a privately developed and owned site on a lot of between 100 and 120 acres – large enough to accommodate six to eight small to medium-sized businesses.

Officials hope to have the park built and occupied by at least one tenant before the spring of 2010 – less then three years after Hagerstown officials first approached the EDCWC with the idea of developing that type of eco-friendly facility in the area.

Dinkle says the eco park “will truly be a first-of-its-kind industrial park for Indiana” adding that, by developing the site quickly, “Hagerstown and Wayne County should be way out in front” of other Indiana communities. Though he acknowledges that the timeline for the park is ambitious, Dinkle and local leaders are convinced that the time for this type of progressive project is now – and that Hagerstown is the place.

“Green, sustainable development isn’t something that’s off in the future; it’s here today,” he says. “New businesses want to locate in facilities that are green and energy-efficient – places that promote stewardship of the environment.”