A local politician and regional development experts are hoping some good coffee and eggs-over-easy served to 30-40 realtors on July 21 will help flip the economy and start a positive economic development trend in the Octorara Area School District.
State Rep. Tom Houghton, the Octorara Regional Planning Commission, and the Chester County Economic Development Council have invited about 40 commercial realtors to breakfast at Westminster Place on First Avenue in Parkesburg.
Bob Grabus, (Editor's note: spelling corrected) an executive with the 30-year-old CCEDC, told Octorara Area School Board members July 13 the realtors will breakfast from 7:45 to 9 a.m. and be educated about the commercial and industrial development properties available to businesses which locate in Octorara.
“There are reasons people would want to be here,” said Grabus, adding that the development council will also have business financing packaging information available.
According to Doug Brown, a legislative assistant in Houghton’s office, the organizations are hoping for some economic development in economically distressed areas and so-called “brownfield” properties. There are vacant but handyman-special properties along the quaint Old Main Street in Parkesburg, and plenty of commercially and industrial-zoned fields on Route 372 between Parkesburg and Atglen, and along Route 41 in Sadsbury Township, Lancaster County.
The event is reminiscent of one held in 1989, when then-Superintendent Richard McAdams hosted realtors in a school library, touted school district accomplishments. and encouraged them to bring economic development into the district. McAdams also held classes in education funding, warning the district could face tough times if the largely rural property tax base did not broaden.
Current Superintendent Tom Newcome has continued that message at town meetings, and has also been working with the ORPC, state Rep. Bryan Cutler and Houghton. The politicians and groups are seeking commercial economic development and a solution to the loss of revenue from Clean and Green, which has helped farmers in the rural district but placed an additional burden on homeowners.
Grabus, who said he works with 36 Chester County municipalities, said he is aware of the perception that the Octorara community feels left out of regional economic development.
However, he said over the past few years his organization has brought a “couple of dozen” companies to the district but they have chosen to locate elsewhere. Grabus said an intern from West Chester University’s Center for Social and Economic Reform will this fall spend a semester doing demographic research to, in part, find out why those firms did not land in Octorara.
“We want to create taxable properties and get ready for a turnaround economy,” Grabus said.
The goal, says Brown, is to relieve property tax pressure on homeowners, who are now facing their largest tax bills in school district history.
-30-