Sep 4, 2002 3 min read

The Fayette County Redevelopment Authority has finally found a way to market land in the Route 40 business park, but rezoning of the property is not the answer for further development. The redevelopment authority has a track record now of developing the land by working deals with Super 8 Motel, Terry McMillen Engineering, Fayette CareerLink Office and the Fayette County Mental Health/Mental Retardation Agency to locate in the business park that was conceived just a couple years ago.

When the 277-acre park was planned, areas were set aside for general business use, manufacturing and even some residential. Businesses have shown interest, manufacturers have not.

With little remaining business acreage remaining, it is only natural that the redevelopment authority would ask the South Union Township supervisors to agree to a zoning change that would permit more general business development.

But it would be a mistake for the supervisors to do so, and for one huge reason. Most of the acreage under discussion falls within a Keystone Opportunity Zone, known as a KOZ. State lawmakers allowed for the creation of these zones, whereby new (and this is a key word) businesses and manufacturers would develop an area and create jobs for distressed communities. In exchange the corporations, businesses and even the workers would enjoy tax-free status until the expiration of the KOZ in 2013.

Lawmakers didn’t just pull out a map and draw these zones, local economic development agencies, counties, cities, townships, boroughs and school districts developed and agreed to the zones.

The redevelopment authority had to have viewed the best and highest use of its park when creating the zones and had agreed to the manufacturing designation. That industry hasn’t been quick to jump, might have more to do with the economic downswing than with a conclusion jumped to by some that manufacturers aren’t interested in moving here. Has the same enthusiasm and effort been put forth to court industry as it has to merely move a business from one municipality in Fayette into the park?

That in essence is what is taking place. Those interested in having the zoning changed in order to build in the park are homegrown existing businesses. There is no legitimate reason to invite them into a tax-free zone, while like businesses a hundred yards away fail to enjoy the same privilege. This would be akin to the government giving a private business an unfair advantage over a competitor.

That is not the intent of KOZ, which is to entice new development, new industry and create new jobs. The Duke Energy power plant project near Masontown, located in a separate KOZ, is an example of new jobs and new development that in the short-term is feeding the local economy and in the long-term will bring in revenue to local and state government. Shifting a doctor’s office from the city into a KOZ is not an example of how it should work.

The KOZ concept is still relatively new to determine how effective an economic development tool it becomes. The redevelopment authority should not be so quick to dismiss the advantage it holds in having 170 acres of tax-free land to market to manufacturers. Rather than fight South Union Township over zoning, the authority might consider expending its energies in an aggressive marketing campaign.