In recent months, some have asked, what is the role of the Pike County Economic Development Authority (EDA)? I am happy to answer that question.
The role of the Pike County Economic Development Authority is to encourage, promote, and facilitate economic development opportunities for Pike County. One important element that should be stated plainly, while the EDA does find these opportunities, the EDA does not decide if these projects are going to be allowed in a particular place or not. Like the system of checks and balances in our Constitution, no one entity can, or should, be able to do that. For approval it takes the approvals of different independent authorities to decide if a project is suitable for a particular site.
What we do is to find opportunities for Pike County and present them to the realtor, company agent, or developer seeking to locate a business in Pike County. In the case of a potential new project, the approving authorities are either the Township Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors, or the Borough Planning Commission and Borough Council, both of which administer the existing Zoning and Land Development Ordinances for their respective municipalities. The company or developer then submits their application and plans to the township or borough, which is when the review and approval process begins. No other municipal government or authority, including the county, has an approval role in what happens in a particular township or borough.
In addition to complying with the municipal officials and authorities, a project typically must pass a variety of reviews by state agencies such as the Department of Environmental Protection, Department of Transportation, and other agencies — reviews that are dictated by law. In these examinations, all technical and operational data are scrutinized and reviewed. The role of these agencies is to ensure that the project meets health and safety standards and does not have an adverse impact on water quality, sewage treatment, stormwater, traffic, and other infrastructure issues.
There are many reasons for this scrutiny and for Pike County to seek new business opportunities. Here is a partial list:
-We need to develop new job opportunities for Pike County residents. Too many of our residents are forced to be “commuters” to find higher paying jobs elsewhere. About 60% of our residential workforce are employed outside of Pike County. New local employers bring competition for available labor and force local wages up.
-Also, based on studies done in over 200 counties in 24 states by the American Farmland Trust and other agencies, it is revealed that for every tax dollar paid by a Residential taxpayer, it costs $1.19 to provide services to that taxpayer. How can that be? How can a municipality and school district afford the extra $0.19 per dollar of taxes collected? The answer is that for every tax dollar paid by a business, it only costs $0.28 to provide the business taxpayer with services. Therefore, money is “earned” by the municipality and the school district that offsets the $0.19 shortfall from the residential taxpayers.
-Additionally, our residents need and want additional services and shopping venues as evidenced by such successful enterprises like the Weiss Shopping Center in Dingman’s Ferry, the enhancement of the ShopRite Plaza in Westfall, and the 70-bed nursing home near the Home Depot off Ruben Bell Drive in Westfall. Clearly, the soon-to-be opened medical services facilities in Dingman’s and elsewhere fall into this “need and want” category.
Infrastructure factors that severely limit our ability to provide desirable new services include (at the top of the list) sewer and water-facilities. Virtually no enterprise where many people are served, like medical facilities, can operate without sewer. Electric capacity is also something we lack: often businesses seek “Megawatts” of power. In particular, technology, finance, and manufacturing companies, which are among the many leads we respond to on a monthly basis from many sources, require the largest electrical draws. We seek additional appropriate sites for these types of developments. Happily, we are working to mitigate these limitations, and the Pike County Commissioners will have more to say on this subject in the coming months.
Overall, the EDA is designed to provide opportunities for Pike County residents. We continuously look forward to enhancing life, services, employment opportunities and affordability for Pike County residents
Gerald Najarian
Voce-Chairman
Pike County Economic Development Authority