NEW HORIZONS INFO — Steubenville Realtor Anthony Guida, right, presents information about the New Horizons development site to visitors from Western Pennsylvania during Thursday’s “3-2-1 Corridors of Opportunity” event of the Pittsburgh Business Times held at the Serbian-American Cultural Center in Weirton. New Horizons is a 4,000-acre site ready for commercial, industrial, retail and residential construction.
-- Paul Giannamore

WEIRTON - About 200 people heard of the growth of a regional approach to economic development in the Brooke, Hancock and Jefferson county area during the "3-2-1 Corridors of Opportunity" event held by the Pittsburgh Business Times at the Serbian-American Cultural Center on Colliers Way Thursday morning.

The event, put together through a joint effort from the Business Development Corp. of the Northern Panhandle for Brooke and Hancock counties in West Virginia and Progress Alliance for Jefferson County in Ohio, saw professionals and business representatives from Western Pennsylvania mingle with their counterparts from the Tri-County Area.

A panel discussion, featuring Ed Looman, executive director of Progress Alliance, Pat Ford, executive director of the BDC, and John Brown of the Brooke-Hancock-Jefferson Metropolitan Planning Commission, revealed the approach and the need for regional development efforts stretching across the three counties and into Western Pennsylvania. Lisa Duvall, regional economic development representative for Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, and David Lieving of the West Virginia Development Office discussed the states' drive for regional cooperation.

Brown said 30 percent of the area's population leaves the area daily for employment, compared with just 5 percent who leave Allegheny County. He said Brooke County had a 250 percent increase in commuting to Western Pennsylvania between 1990 and 2005, according to a study.

Ford, who was Pittsburgh's Urban Redevelopment Authority director before taking the BDC post, said the Tri-County Area has among the lowest costs of living in the Pittsburgh region, but among the best quality of life.

"We are changing the trajectory of the economy by purposely redesigning the business climate for the region," he said of the partnership between BDC and Progress Alliance.

Looman said the area is business friendly, but, quoting from a business article by attorney Dan Guida that recently was published, he said every community speaks of how it's business friendly, but the successful ones are resident friendly.

"We are resident friendly," Looman said.

Brown noted the Serbian-American center is 32 miles from The Point in downtown Pittsburgh, while Washington, Pa., is 30 miles away, Greensburg is 33 miles away and Butler, where growth north of Pittsburgh has been happening in recent years, is 40 miles away.

Brown also said with expanded capacity in the Panama Canal set to open in about four years, the Ohio River will become a major freight lane, with new container shipping systems set to begin, meaning the area is poised to service freight shippers.

He and Ford touted the area's quality of life opportunities, including good education systems, institutions of higher learning including Bethany College, the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Jefferson Community College and West Virginia Northern Community College, as well as parks and recreational opportunities combined with lower housing costs and lower costs of living than in other areas across the region.

It was the second time in the last year for the quarterly Corridors series of the Pittsburgh Business Times to make a stop in the three counties with a previous event held by Progress Alliance in Jefferson County a year ago.

Among the hundreds of visitors from Western Pennsylvania was John Skorupan of Kimball Engineers, who said he attends most of the Corridors of Opportunity events in the region.

"It's an opportunity to meet the local people and the people you know and it's a good networking opportunity," he said.

Marc and Patrice Coleman of Dove Contracting of Canonsburg, agreed.

"We network with developers and real estate and development people and see what you have to offer and see if we can help you out," Marc Coleman said.

Among the displays at the event were ones for the New Horizons development area in Jefferson County, with 4,000 acres ready for projects, and The Village at Colliers Way near the Serbian-American center, where development is beginning on a mixed commercial and residential area with construction of a Kwik King store and gasoline station.

(Giannamore can be contacted at pgiannamore@heraldstaronline.com.)