Lieutenant governor discusses grant awarded to Mon Valley Alliance
Austin Davis is excited about Washington County’s economic potential and is eager to help it realize that potential.
The lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania was in Monongahela Monday discussing a $250,000 grant awarded to the Mon Valley Alliance for a feasibility study on redeveloping 542 acres at the intersection of Routes 136 and 43. The press conference was held near the land which will be studied.
“Pennsylvania needs more shovel-ready sites,” Davis said. “Frankly, other states have been eating our lunch because they are ready and waiting for businesses to move in. Companies need less time to get from a groundbreaking to a ribbon cutting. The adage, ‘If you build it they will come,’ is not just a line from a great baseball movie, it’s what major corporations are looking for all across our country. If you don’t have shovel-ready sites, you’re missing out.”
The money is being made available through the Pennsylvania Department of Economic Development’s (DCED) PA Strategic Investments to Enhance Sites (SITES) program, which was established to provide grant and loan funding to develop competitive sites for businesses to relocate or expand.
The local project grant is among 11 to receive $64 million through the first round of funding in the SITES program to build shovel-ready industrial sites to attract business.
The Mon Valley Alliance will lead the project in collaboration with state, county and local partners.
“This is an opportunity to ignite a truly transformative economic development in the mid-Mon Valley,” said Jamie Colecchi, CEO for the Mon Valley Alliance. “Beyond this immediate project, we have the chance to leverage some of the mid-Mon Valley’s strongest assets. We are a region rich in resources and opportunities, a region of over 100,000 people steeped in both industrial legacy and redevelopment potential.”
The focus of the project is on two parcels of land where mining occurred in Carroll, Nottingham and Fallowfield townships. The site is located near Ringgold High School with easy access to Allegheny County via Route 43, which is anticipated to eventually connect to the parkway (Interstate 376).
“We believe this initial phase is going to lay the groundwork for dual purpose, long-term transformative reuse of the existing brownfield site into a usable property for manufacturing business developing warehousing and data centers, all while reclaiming and mitigating the brownfield,” said Ken Hillman, chair of the Carroll Township supervisors.
Jessica Shirley, acting secretary for the Department of Environmental Protection, said abandoned mine sites such as this are prime locations for solar energy.
“Former coal mining sites like these once drove a lot of economic development for areas like the Mon Valley,” Shirley said. “But now we can see they aren’t anymore. This grant from our partner at the Department of Community and Economic Development is an important step in revitalizing this area and returning this space we are standing on to productive economic use.”
State Sen. Camera Bartolotta said it’s good to make use of land where energy once came from and can again.
“This really is a big deal,” she said. “It’s all about jobs. It’s all about moving forward. It’s moving Washington County forward. It’s moving our entire region forward, taking advantage of the locations we have right now and reutilizing them, giving them new life, bringing something beneficial to what once was but now is not so great.”
Nick Sherman, chair of the Washington County Board of Commissioners, said the land has been a subject of discussion at the county level for a few years.
“When the governor pulled out his SITES plan of what they’re looking for – is it a brownfield, close proximity to a major, close proximity to a river or rails – this checks every single box that we have,” Sherman said. “We’re really excited about this. Washington County is looking at what’s the capability of turning this into one of the biggest manufacturing facilities/facilities for micro gridding, so it’s going to be really exciting to see what happens here. This is going to mean thousands of jobs in the area.”
Davis said he looks forward to the opportunity to come back to the area when whatever is created on the property is ready to open.
“I love to come for announcements, but I love ribbon cuttings even more,” he said. “I can’t wait to see what we get when this project comes to completion.”