McHenry is eyeing 232 acres of unincorporated land on the west side of Route 31 and south of Veterans Parkway for future annexation and development.

A $120,000 state grant the city received this week should help move that plan along, said Doug Martin, director of economic development.

McHenry was notified this week that it was awarded the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity’s Regional Site Readiness-Planning Grant.

The grant will be used for the environmental, wetlands, geotechnical, archeological and other studies needed before any development could happen there, Martin said. When that work is done, developers may be more interested in moving to McHenry.

“The whole purpose is to make it as shovel-ready as possible to have a developed site as quickly as possible,” Martin said.

The McHenry City Council approved a deal with the landowner at its Nov. 17 meeting, in which McHenry would apply for the grant, and the landowner, Parkway Bank Trust Company, is responsible for the required $30,000 local match.

According to Martin’s report to the Council in November, McHenry had shown the property for “a potential relocation of a large manufacturing employer that would have brought approximately 700 jobs and $10 million in capital investment to the area.”

The company chose not to pursue the McHenry site because of the geotechnical and environmental concerns there, Martin said.

He worked with Mark Piekos, executive director of the McHenry County Economic Development Council, and the state to apply for a site readiness grant so that wouldn’t happen again.

With the grant approval, McHenry now serves as the fiscal agent, administering the grant, overseeing expenditure and handling reporting requirements.

Once a developer is found for the site, it will be annexed into McHenry, Martin said.