At last week’s Indiana County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors meeting, Mark Hilliard reported that the Chamber Government Relations Committee will soon distribute a “business climate survey” to all businesses and organizations in the county, looking for input on strengths and challenges they are facing. The survey is being finalized and should be released in July.
At that same meeting, County Commissioner Robin Gorman talked about a recent meeting with the Interagency Working Group on Coal & Power Plant Communities & Economic Revitalization. Known as the IWG, the group represents eleven federal agencies. Gorman said it’s the first time she had seen federal agencies coming into Indiana County for a face to face meeting with the community.
Byron Stauffer Jr. of the Indiana County Development Corporation and the county Office of Planning and Development said he was thrilled that such a large group attended the meeting at the KCAC, but that this is only one of the first steps needed to address issues related to the closing of the Homer City Generating Station and the ongoing threats to the county’s other power plants.
Stauffer said the county will follow up with many of the groups and organizations which were at the meeting to help them submit applications for some of the federal programs that were discussed.
On another matter, Stauffer told the Chamber Board that asbestos removal at the site of the former Carriage House and Essex House apartments at Oakland Avenue and 13th Street in Indiana Borough is almost complete, and the next step will be the demolition of the buildings and site improvements.
No plans have been announced yet for the next use of the six-acre property that traditionally housed IUP students. A $2.5 million state grant through the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program is funding the redevelopment of the site and it is eligible for assistance from the Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance program that would freeze borough, county and Indiana Area School District property taxes for seven years. That program applies to new residential, commercial, and industrial construction or real property investments. Plus, the property – and most of Indiana Borough – is in a “qualified opportunity zone”, which could make it eligible for federal tax incentives.
