The $3.2 million project calls for interior road construction, including a connector road between Cito Road and U.S. 522, land acquisition, and the extension of water and sewer lines on the property.
Preliminary plans show 25 lots on the site, which will hold businesses, manufacturers, other services and warehouses.
An estimated 400 new jobs are expected to be created as businesses move in over the next three to five years, Shuster said.
The new industrial park will give Fulton County the opportunity to diversify its economy by offering space to local and outside businesses, said Donald Bard, president of the Fulton Industrial Development Authority.
The recent layoff announcement by JLG Industries, the closings of Fort Ritchie in Maryland and several local textile plants, and the downsizing of Letterkenny Army Depot, "made the creation of this industrial park that much more important," Bard said.
The planning for an industrial park began in 1992 with the full support of the county commissioners, Bard said. The project was handed over to the county's Industrial Development Corporation in 1995.
The park's permitting should be approved and the financing in place by this winter, according to Marge Taylor, executive director of the corporation.
The construction project will likely be put out to bid next spring, she said. Development within the park will take place over the next 10 years.
Shuster also donated a computer to Fulton County during the ceremony. It will be used for the Job Training Partnership Act program to assist workers laid off by JLG.
Shuster's visit to Fulton County is part of an eight-county sweep, including several appearances in Franklin County today.
