Milford May Buy Farm Property For Industrial / Business Park

Milford is moving closer to buying the 182-acre R. and C. Fry Farms property at Route 14 and Canterbury Road (Route 15) for development of an industrial – business park.

City Manager Mark Whitfield said Milford hopes to be able to meet growing demands for light industrial and e-commerce warehousing. The land would need to be rezoned to accommodate commercial and industrial uses.

“The City’s 2018 Strategic Plan identified the need for an industrial park within the City, to meet the growing demands for light industrial as well as e-commerce warehousing,” Whitfield said. “Milford sits in a strategically good location with good access to Route 1, Route 113 and Route 13, as well as west access to the bay bridge from Route 14. Milford is in the center of the Delmarva peninsula, making us a great location for an e-commerce distribution hub. The proposed purchase will allow us to be competitive with other cities in the area, and satisfy the need to create jobs within Milford.”

Milford officials say city reserve funds would pay for acquisition of the land and infrastructure improvements, with possible private investment.

“The City’s accumulation of reserve funds will allow us to invest money back into the community, with the stipulation as lots are sold, the money is put back into the reserve fund it was initially taken from,” Whitfield added.

“The Kent Economic Partnership has seen an increase in requests for industrial warehousing and manufacturing sites,” Kent County Partnership Executive Linda Parkowski said. “With the addition of the Milford industrial area we will be able to increase our limited supply of large industrial tracks.”