Breathtaking

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Drive west on Route 101A through Milford at night and look to your left as you pass Hitchiner Manufacturing. We don’t usually get excited about industrial plants, but the glittery expanse of Hitchiner’s new building is breathtaking.

What makes the sight even more beautiful is knowing that more than 600 local people are employed here, making molds for the automotive, aerospace, and defense industries, part of Hitchiner’s worldwide workforce of 2,000 workers, including two plants in Mexico.

As Gov. John Lynch noted on a visit last spring, it’s good to know there are still companies in New Hampshire that are making things.

The new addition cost more than $8 million and expands the company’s gas turbine facility, which primarily services the jet engine market.

The addition also represents a commitment to Hitchiner’s own future growth and to the town of Milford, and so does the company’s new on-site health clinic that provides free services for employees and their families.

The town planning department is also looking to the future. On the town warrant this year are overlay districts designed to help guide new growth in that part of town, along with warrant articles that could help start the long-awaited development of the town-owned Brox property, not far from Hitchiner.

One of the Brox articles would set up a fund for infrastructure – roads, water and sewer, without which there can be no development on the 121 acres that are lying fallow. Its companion article would allow money from the sale of the old police station property to go into the fund. Last year the articles were defeated, probably because of the belief that the money should go into the town’s general fund.

Voters can think of it as an investment in the future; sale of the police station will put the property back on the tax rolls, and when the Brox lots are sold, and they will be when there are roads, water and sewers, the town will get back that money, and more.