Adams County water district seeks bids for Winchester Industrial Park project

Adams County Regional Water District is seeking sealed bids for the Winchester Industrial Park Waterline and Booster Station project, a utility buildout that sits at the center of the county’s long push to make the Winchester site ready for employers. Bids will be received at the district office, 9203 State Route 136 in West Union, until Thursday, June 18, 2026, at 2 p.m., when they will be publicly opened and read. The project is split into two contracts: one for booster station materials only and a second for booster station installation and waterline construction.

The work calls for a 12-inch PVC and HDPE water line, valves, hydrants, one booster station and miscellaneous appurtenances. Bid documents were prepared by Verdantas LLC and could be reviewed at the firm’s Newark office and at the water district office in West Union, with complete sets available for purchase through Verdantas. The package is the latest step in an industrial park effort that county leaders have framed as a key economic development priority for Adams County.

The Winchester Industrial Park was assembled in stages, beginning with 36 acres bought by the Adams County Community Improvement Corporation in 2018 and 19 adjacent acres purchased by county commissioners in 2019. County economic development materials describe the finished site as the first shovel-ready location in Adams County’s Opportunity Zone, with water, sewer, gas, rail, three-phase electric and broadband access. The park sits off State Route 32 near Dorsey Road in Winchester, along a corridor local officials have promoted for freight and logistics access.

JobsOhio and Ohio Southeast Economic Development backed the site in 2021 with a $4.2 million grant program aimed at creating development-ready sites in southeastern Ohio. Early plans called for water service to be strengthened by a 12-inch main extension from the Village of Seaman and supported by a 200,000-gallon elevated tank, while wastewater plans called for a new 700,000-gallon-per-day treatment plant off-site to support the Village of Winchester sewer system and the industrial park.

Public investment has continued to stack up around the project. In 2023, the Economic Development Administration awarded the Adams County Regional Water District a $2 million grant for water infrastructure upgrades, paired with $500,000 in local funds, with officials estimating the work could create 150 jobs, retain 84 jobs and generate $6 million in private investment. A separate $340,000 grant approved in 2022 funded a 5.9-mile fiber installation for broadband service to the park. The bid notice keeps that multi-year public investment moving, with water capacity and pressure now set to advance before the next round of industrial development can follow.