Tuesday, May 20, 2014LISBON, Ohio -- Columbiana County is poised to enjoy more growth, that growth spurred by new retail business, infrastructure improvements, commercial projects and a steady increase in oil and gas activity.
That's the consensus among 75 economic development, business and political leaders who attended a meeting Monday hosted by six chambers of commerce at the Columbiana County Government Services building.
"The county is perhaps in the best shape it's ever been in," declared county Commissioner Mike Halleck. "We're trying to bring our county into the 21st century."
The Columbiana, East Palestine, Salem, Lisbon, Wellsville the Southern Columbiana County chambers of commerce played host to countywide economic development update, part of the "Teaming 4 Success" initiative.
New initiatives such as a countywide land bank, efforts to capture additional transportation business along the Ohio River, and the creation of a transportation improvement district will take hold soon, they hope.
"We're starting up a county land reutilization corporation so that we can handle vacant and blighted properties," reported Tad Herold, the county's recently appointed director of development. "We have to start thinking about what blighted properties do to suppress property values and incoming companies would want to see those properties removed -- you begin to see that that's a real development issue."
The county is also in the midst of creating a transportation improvement district, or TID, to convey a clear message to the state that roadway infrastructure is critical to future development of the oil and gas industry here.
These improvements are slated specifically for U.S. Route 30, which runs from Canton through Lisbon and is an important corridor that supports oil and gas traffic in areas such as Carroll County, where the industry has really taken off.
"There's no doubt we've seen some benefits from oil and gas," Herold said. "It's primed the pump for development. We've done our best to capture what has happened so far, but we want to get ourselves ready to move."
Revenues collected from the county sales tax in 2013 were 35% higher than the year before, Halleck reported. "Unemployment was 15% in 2010. In March, it was 6.6%," he added, crediting money generated from lucrative leases and incoming royalty money from energy companies.
The additional funds convinced the county to hire its first full-time development director – Herold -- in 12 years, Halleck said. Commissioners are in and out of office, he explains, so it was necessary to find a consistent voice and face for countywide development visible every day.
"We've managed this newfound wealth judiciously," he noted.
Some of that development has trickled into the cities, noted the mayors of Salem, Columbiana and Lisbon, who attended the event.
In Salem, Mayor John Berlin reported that work is progressing on a new Holiday Inn Express just off state Route 14, which is expected to open by fall. "A hotel often brings other ancillary businesses to the town," he said. "We've got inquiries."
The mayor also reported that another 40 acres on the north side of his city that could be optioned for future development. Much of this commercial growth, he said, has resulted from the oil and gas companies that have moved into the region since 2010.
Salem reaped another $1.3 million in bonus payments through a leasehold agreement with Chesapeake Energy Corp. $640,000 of that sum was used to pay down debt, another $70,000 distributed to worthwhile projects and the remainder placed into the capital fund, of which $400,000 was spent on a new ladder truck for the fire department.
"There are all sorts of visible signs of expansion," Berlin said, citing the $42.5 million renovation at Salem Regional Medical Center. "There's a lot of excitement," he said. "It's quite an investment for our small town."
Lisbon Mayor Dan Bing said meetings such as these between officials and businesses countywide should he held each month to encourage dialogue between officials.
"When I came here in 1984, Columbiana County was laid back and not willing to grow," he says. Today, however, it's clear that officials are now willing to build on cooperation, as evidenced by the political and development officials in the room.
Two commercial developments at Firestone Farms in Columbiana are helping to propel the city, added its mayor, Bryan Blakeman.
On the east side, developers have started moving ground on TownCenter at Firestone Farms, a multipurpose development along state routes 14 and 7 that will feature a mix of businesses, restaurants, an outdoor amphitheater and new retail establishments.
"I think it's going to bring in a lot more business, but residential-wise, it's a boon for filling up for some of the lots that have been empty for a while," Blakeman said.
A new developer has acquired the vacant parcels of the project, Blakeman related, and is aggressively marketing the property. "They're really reinvesting in the community."
The developer is also planning a complementary project, MarketPlace at Firestone Farms on the south side of e Route 14, Blakeman reported. That development will feature additional shopping and dining, a grocery store and a hotel.
While the county has reaped the benefits of oil and gas exploration in the Utica shale, it's also trying to capture additional business via transportation along the Ohio River, adds Tracy Drake, CEO of the Columbiana County Port Authority.
"We are a powerhouse," Drake told his audience, referring to the economic productivity of Ohio. Were Ohio a sovereign nation, it would possess the 28th largest economy in the world. Forty percent of that business comes out of northeastern Ohio, he said.
Drake says the port authority's Wellsville Intermodal Park on the Ohio River, for example, is the ninth largest port in the country as measured by tonnage.
Moreover, the port has a direct link to the Gulf of Mexico via the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to the Port of New Orleans, and by way of the Ohio and Tennessee rivers to Mobile Bay, Drake said.
A planned expansion of the Panama Canal is likely to draw more shipments to the gulf, thereby creating more opportunity for ports such as Wellsville, Drake said.
"Mobile never used to handle containers before," he related. Today, the port has the capacity to handle one million such containers. "Some of this can move up the Ohio,” he said. “The river system is a major source for us."
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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