News & Events

Projects showing Positive Impact
Tuesday, February 02, 2010

The words "economic development" call to mind images of heavy construction, grand openings and new beginnings.

There is construction that will have positive economic impact across the area, such as the Wal-Mart SuperCenter under construction on Three Springs Drive, a new regional Social Security office and the Aspen Dental center at the Fort Steuben Mall and the growth of many small businesses in downtown Steubenville and Weirton.

To achieve those accomplishments there have been years of planning and work involved.

To continue to achieve, to continue to grow, to aim the area toward becoming something new and different in the post Big Steel era requires thought and planning.

The work of laying a path to the future isn't glamorous. It requires knowledge of business, of government, of people. It requires contacts and networks of support systems in local, state and federal government, in local, regional and national businesses, in education, finance, industry and the site-location services sector.

It is in these areas that there are many who toil, and envision and think of a new future for the area because of the opportunity that comes once every few generations to remake cities and a region to meet new, modern challenges.

Among the many groups that are involved are Progress Alliance and the Business Development Corp. of the Northern Panhandle, the Jefferson County Regional Planning Commission and Valley Ventures.

Domenick Mucci has the perspective of serving as Steubenville's mayor and director of the Jefferson County Regional Planning Commission. Through an application from the commission for the county, Toronto, Steubenville and Mingo Junction, one of just 14 $1 million EPA brownfield study grants in the nation for 2009, was awarded.

Mucci also noted neighborhood stabilization money has been awarded, with $343,000 for Steubenville and nearly $120,000 throughout Jefferson County, which allows for demolition of old structures and land-banking to allow for future development sites.

Among the efforts that emerged and has been heavily promoted as a direction to move forward is the "3-2-1 Jobs Initiative Project."

The initiative plays off the name used for last summer's second Pittsburgh Business Times Corridors of Opportunity event: "3-2-1: Three counties, two states, one goal."

Pat Ford, executive director of the BDC of the Northern Panhandle, noted efforts to increase regionalism in the area, with the formal kickoff coming last summer with the "3-2-1 Corridor" event, part of the Pittsburgh Business Times' "Corridors of Opportunity" series.

"We realized this is a market worth pursuing on many levels and we seized this opportunity to share our story with professionals from Pittsburgh," said Ford, himself a former Pittsburgh development official.

Ford's agency also is coordinating a brownfields program for Brooke and Hancock counties. It is part of a 28-county effort in Eastern Ohio and Brooke and Hancock counties through a U.S. Economic Development Administration grant to study business and economic adjustment.

The project takes the concept and starts working it toward reality, as Ed Looman, executive director of Progress Alliance, the private-public economic development agency in Jefferson County, explains.

"The timing of the assistance we will receive through the Voinovich School at Ohio University is perfect. The 3-2-1 Jobs Initiative project, with funding through an Economic Development Administration grant, will provide the development teams in Brooke, Hancock and Jefferson counties with a list of targeted industries," Looman explained. "These industries will possess a positive outlook for the future, they will fit the available work force in our three counties.

"We will use this list to develop our strategy and rebuild our economy. This initiative is a perfect example of the regional cooperation we need going forward. We must recognize the benefits regionalism can bring to our county," Looman said.

Jefferson County has become involved with regionalism to include involvement with a group that is seeking to coordinate the efforts of a 32-county area around the city of Pittsburgh, stretching from eastern Ohio into the Maryland panhandle, across northern West Virginia and Southwestern Pennsylvania. Looman has become a part of the Power of 32's steering committee. Progress Alliance also has been designated as the economic development hub for a nine-county small business effort.

Mucci notes the need for regionalism also is more local.

"We need to look at having governments work with other governments, at cooperation between governments and nonprofit organizations, to combine services and take a hard look at regional economic opportunities," he said. "Every community, township, village, city or county, is struggling to meet financial obligations at the present service levels, so it makes sense to talk about sharing services and combining services."

"These efforts and others present development opportunities for us but more importantly allow us to tap into the expertise that exists in neighboring counties and states," Looman said. "As we look to the future, the Jefferson County Investment Plan will become more and more of a driving force to help us identify opportunities that fit our goals. This plan provides an ideal roadmap for our future and slowly, but surely, we are making progress to achieve plan goals."

The investment plan started about two years ago with a select group of a wide range of community leaders, from business, health care, education and other sectors working with the Voinovich School in pulling together brainstorms into tangible, achievable concepts for the future of the area.

Mucci noted the effort to form a Jefferson County Port Authority is a step in the right direction to focus economic development efforts in one agency without duplicating efforts.

"If we look to the north, to Columbiana County, we see how a port authority should be run. We don't want to create another layer of bureaucracy," he said. Mucci said the Community Improvement Corp. would be a good fit to become the port authority governing body, given it's already comprised of government and private-sector investors and representatives.

As for redefining the area's future, Mucci said it's a process, not something that will happen this year or in 2011.

"We need to get elected officials from county to state officials to start recognizing us as a region, as a metro area again, to take advantage of the opportunities we have to redefine ourselves as we move through this era," he said. "Where we're going to go, it will take time to identify that. We will always cherish and understand what the past has provided this area. We will continue to support the steel, coal and pottery industries and will embrace them and help move them along, but, we must understand the changing economy we need to adapt to. Where we end up is yet to be defined."

Ford said the BDC and the Northern Panhandle will benefit from more than $1 million in grants this year, including the economic adjustment and brownfields grants and a grant for an adaptive use study for the Lodge at Williams Country Club, the former resort spot for major executives, visitors and customers for Weirton Steel in its 20th century heyday.

Ford noted he will meet monthly with John Brown, executive director of the Brooke-Hancock-Jefferson Metropolitan Planning Commission, throughout the year to discuss roles and responsibilities, outcomes for each of the grants, progress and schedules of work, priorities and benchmarks.

Brown, Looman and Ford attended a national conference in New Orleans in late 2009 to discuss brownfields re-use.

Mucci noted health care and education are among bright spots, with growth at Trinity Health System and its Teramana Cancer Center as well as the establishment of the new LifeLine Hospital in Wintersville. In education, Mucci pointed to Jefferson Community College taking a leadership role in the formation of the regional Eastern Gateway Community College and the continued high enrollment at Franciscan University of Steubenville.

He also sees a change in downtown, with the rebirth of mom-and-pop small stores, from clothing to books to a coffee shop.

And that's where Valley Ventures and its executive, Lou Stein, have played a major role.

The Steubenville Revitalization Group, which focuses on restoration of downtown Steubenville's business community, approached Valley Ventures to create a development plan.

Stein said the plan was delivered in September and sets goals for the next 36 months. The focus area is the former core of downtown's business area, from North Street to South Street, bounded on the east by Third Street and on the west by Sixth Street.

Stein said downtown has the ingredients to become a successful competitor to the "lifestyle centers" that have been springing up on the edge of retail and business development areas across the nation. The areas combine places to work, shop, be entertained and live without having to go very far - what once defined a city such as Steubenville or Weirton.

Stein said like many downtowns, there is a natural charm and beauty, with historic structures providing "tremendous opportunities for developers, building owners and contractors to reinvest in these buildings to be used again for retail and professional space or for re-adaptive uses, such as loft apartment living, loft office space, entertainment or cultural venues."

Work is visible already on Valley Ventures' plan, with a number of small businesses opening through last summer and fall in the core area, as well as construction progressing to form a sort of downtown mall, with room for several shops, an outdoor courtyard and upstairs living spaces or offices.

Valley Ventures has stepped up efforts in downtown Weirton, with the purchase of a building to be a commerce center and business incubator. Plans are being advanced for a light-industrial incubator in another local facility, Stein said.

Overall, Looman said, "The tasks at hand are not easy and they will not be accomplished overnight. However, there are plans in place and on the drawing board to help the effort. There also are talented and dedicated people working hard to move our area forward."