Lawrence County is in the running for a grant that would be used to develop its riverfront in The Point industrial park for a river terminal.

Dr. Bill Dingus, executive director of the Lawrence County Economic Development Corporation, told the Lawrence County Commission Thursday the $6.5 to $9.5 million logistics grant is something he feels “very positive about.”

Dingus said a third spec building at the industrial park has been completed and the outfit that will occupy it may be making an announcement about it in the near future.

Bids to build a fourth spec building will be accepted Monday. That building will be 60,000-100,000 square feet and will be constructed to accommodate two 20-ton cranes.

“The thing for the county as a whole (is) we have a lot of projects in motion,” Dingus said.

Dingus said while Lawrence County’s unemployment is higher than local officials would like, circumstances here are better than in other places that have been harder hit by the recession, including many other parts of Ohio.

“When you look at the balance of the state, it’s truly a challenge to get much sympathy out of Columbus,” Dingus said. “We still have unemployment that’s 2-3 points higher than it needs to be.”

In other matters, the commission heard a request Thursday from the Lawrence County Fair Board asking for bleachers that are on the grounds of the Lawrence County Juvenile Center. The juvenile center is at the old Rock Hill Middle School.

The county owns not only the building but the adjacent sports field, although the Rock Hill Local School District has a lease on the sports field.

The lease expires later this year. The fair board wants the bleachers for the fairgrounds.

The commission approved the request.