Oct 13, 2018 6 min read

WAYNESBURG – There was much fanfare on a picturesque summer morning more than five years ago when public officials and aviation enthusiasts gathered at the Greene County Airport to break ground on a project that would bring a spacious new airplane hangar and offer shovel-ready lots nearby for much-needed commercial development on Route 21 near Waynesburg.

“It’s taken us five years to get here,” Greene County Commissioner Archie Trader said in August 2013 when he and 14 others dug their ceremonial shovels into the dirt sprinkled on the tarmac to kick off the work. “I feel almost 10 feet tall that we can be here today to start this project.”

Little did he and the other dignitaries know at the time that the groundbreaking ceremony would mark the midway point for the project to provide commercial development on the airport’s southwestern edge.

Looking back, Trader and others are hoping the project was worth the wait.

“We didn’t think it would take this long,” Trader said last week. “I’m just glad it’s done, and I’m very hopeful we’ll get someone in there very soon.”

The six-acre lot where four outdated airplane hangars once stood now has sewer and water lines running to the site, which can be subdivided to the specifications of potential tenants. The Greene County commissioners are also working with JABE Co. LLC, a Carnegie developer tasked with bringing a sit-down restaurant or other businesses to the site.

It has taken a decade to reach this point since Trader and commissioners Dave Coder and Pam Snyder, who now serves as the state representative for the area, decided to move forward with a master plan to find other uses for the airport. One idea to extend the runway was not feasible because of the terrain on one side and commercial development near the Interstate 79 interchange.

Instead, they decided to explore ways to make the facility a “revenue-generating airport,” said Greene County Economic Development Director Robbie Matesic, who also served in that role when the master plan was approved in 2008.

“It was recognized that the frontage (to Route 21) was not being used for its highest and best value. If it was going to be a revenue generator, it needed to be corrected,” Matesic said of demolishing four hangars to allow for commercial development. “But it was a lot more difficult to develop the infrastructure to turn it into ‘revenue generating’ than just saying those two words. It took a long time.”

Over the next few years, county officials worked to secure state and federal grants. They also had to cut through the bureaucratic red tape that comes with finding additional uses for a county-owned general aviation airport. The Great Recession also was bearing down on the country, throwing the retail economy into a tailspin.

But one thing was certain: Whatever was built on those lots near the runway, it had to include a restaurant that didn’t serve fast food.

“When I was (Waynesburg) mayor, the two most asked questions were why don’t we have a sit-down restaurant – which I’ve learned isn’t easy to attract – and where’s the Walmart sign?” said Blair Zimmerman, who was appointed commissioner in 2012 as the project was gaining momentum. “It’s been a little more difficult to sell than I thought it’d be.”

Before those plans could crystallize, however, the old hangars had to come down. Matesic said local pilots were thrilled that a new $1.6 million T-hangar would be built on the other side of the airport administrative building. The 20,280-square-foot hangar, which opened in 2014 and was built with Act 13 local impact fee money, has 10 compartments for airplanes, a maintenance and equipment room, and a pilot’s room that functions as a community meeting space.

The site development on the other side, though, wasn’t moving as swiftly.

Over the next few years, the county received various state and federal matching grants to help cover the total cost of the $4.024 million project, Greene County Chief Clerk Jeff Marshall said.

“I think the biggest frustration has been the grant money and trying to maximize it, and using it rather than spending our money,” Marshall said.

Preparing the site was tedious, with the entrance to Route 21 being aligned with Murtha Drive across the highway and sewer and water lines that needed to be directed to the parcels. With completion of a new access road earlier this summer, all that is left to do is finish audits on the construction work and grants for the project, Marshall said.

“It’s ready. If someone wants to come in, they’re ready to move with it,” Marshall said. “We’re going through the final steps to check and make sure everything’s done.”

There has been other business development in that area this year, including the opening of an Arby’s fast-food restaurant on Progress Drive and a Sheetz convenience store and gas station directly across Route 21 from the airport business parcels. The new EQT REC Center and other developments have opened in the past year at EverGreene Technology Park, directly behind the airport runway. But the largest boost could be WVU Medicine building a 24,300-square-foot outpatient medical facility on land adjacent to Walmart.

The biggest problem in attracting national chain restaurants is the economic model that focuses on population density, nearby retail and the amount of office space that brings workers to the area, county officials have been told. The Waynesburg area is lacking in all three of those categories.

But Zimmerman is hopeful the WVU Medicine outpatient center and other development nearby will boost the number of workers and potential customers traveling through that corridor, which could entice a restaurant to invest in the property.

“We think that’s going to be a big shot in the arm,” Zimmerman said.

“(The airport project) really came to a close at the right time with everything being built up on the hill and the movement there,” Trader added.

While luring a sit-down restaurant has always been a priority, Trader said they’re open to anything.

“It almost has to be (a restaurant),” Trader said. “As we go around the county, that’s the No. 1 thing we hear. That’s a priority. Now, if someone builds a restaurant on (Murtha Drive), then we can look at something else. I don’t think we’re locking ourselves into anything.”

Regardless, county officials can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, and they’re hopeful the project that has been a decade in the making is now close to finding a tenant.

“It’s ready to go,” Zimmerman said. “We’re open to whatever.”