The Fairfield County Council put the final touches Wednesday night on an ordinance that will allow for the purchase of 625 acres to be developed into an industrial park.

The property, located off Interstate 77 near Highway 34 and Peach Road, is being purchased from Plum Creek, a private timber company that owns more than 7 million acres across the country.

“They don’t sell very much land,” said Council Chairman David Brown.

Brown said that when the negotiations began, more than 18 months ago, the idea had been to enter into a partnership with Plum Creek. When that failed to develop, the decision was made to simply buy the property outright.

“Hopefully, we can start doing some positive stuff,” Brown said, “by locating some businesses and get them into the park and get it going.”

Already, he said, there has been some interest from potential industries that offer what Brown called “good-paying jobs.”

However, he noted, it is still far too early to speculate on anything concrete.

Infrastructure construction is expected to begin within the next 18 months, according to information released by County Council.

Alliance Consulting Engineers of Columbia has been selected to master plan the site for infrastructure and other development, while Glenn and Associates, a local surveying company, will be working with Alliance on the project.

Council said that with this amount of property, Fairfield County should have enough industrial property for the next decade or more.

The land deal is expected to fill a gaping hole in the county’s industrial park needs and take advantage of its access to I-77.

As of last year, only three parcels remained in the Walter Brown II Industrial Park, with not one of them exceeding 18 acres.

“Developed industrial property on the I-77 corridor south of Fairfield into Columbia totals just over 250 acres,” Brown said. “Fairfield County, via this new industrial park, will be the industrial corridor of Columbia.”

The ordinance passed Wednesday night to issue $6.75 million in bonds to pay for the property avoided a potential tax increase for Fairfield County residents.

“Many would say now is not the time to invest,” said Councilman Dwayne Perry, “but we are investing in ourselves. While investment has slowed significantly over the past year, historical data proves that the economy will recover.”

And when it does, council hopes this deal will have them positioned to take full advantage.

“By developing this industrial park, we’ve increased the county’s chances of successfully locating a project that will create jobs for our citizens,” said Councilman Kamau Marcharia.