May 22, 2003 By Steve Ferris 3 min read

Uniontown City Council will hold a special meeting at noon Friday to consider placing the old Central School Building on Church Street in a tax-free Keystone Opportunity Zone. The meeting was called after the Uniontown Area School Board, which is moving its administrative office out of the building, granted KOZ status for it Monday.

The school board also approved KOZ status for three sites that council approved on May 12. Those sites are an abandoned building at 11 W. Main St, Marshal Park and a vacant lot adjacent to the Uniontown Public Library.

The Fayette County Commissioners are meeting at 2 p.m. Friday to consider all four sites.

Approval is needed from all three local taxing bodies and the Department of Community and Economic Development because owners of buildings or property in KOZs pay no local real estate or income taxes, or most state taxes for 10 years.

All three local entities already approved a KOZ for the Fayette Building in downtown Uniontown. DCED approval is pending.

All five sites would consume a small part of the 110 acres in the Fayette County Business Park on Route 40 that were removed from the KOZ program.

The KOZ program was created by the state to offer incentives to attract development to underutilized or blighted areas.

The first hurdle for the proposed Central School KOZ is City Hall where opinions are mixed.

“I think it’s a good idea,” City Councilman Gary Crozier said. “If it helps the school district market the building and moves the city forward, I’m for it. I hope it passes.”

Crozier provided the swing vote on the Fayette Building KOZ. He sided with the majority when council rejected the proposal by a 3-2 vote, but later supported it when it passed 3-1 after the school board and county commissioners approved it.

Mayor Jim Sileo voted against it the first time and then abstained from the second vote. He said he does not currently support the Central School KOZ.

“If I had to vote now, I’d vote no,” Sileo said. “Why give it away now.”

He said the building is tax exempt and somebody might be interested in buying it, which would place it on the tax rolls.

Crozier said since the building is not generating any tax revenue now, the city would not lose anything by placing it in a KOZ.

He joined Councilmen Joe Giachetti and Blair Jones in voting in favor of the Fayette Building KOZ. Councilman Bob Cerjanec voted against it both times, arguing that it gave the building owner an unfair advantage over other businesses.

Council unanimously approved KOZ status for the other three sites, after five buildings were removed from the original motion. The owners of the five buildings are paying their due taxes, council members said.

“I wish all eight would have been approved, but I didn’t have the votes,” Crozier said.