On the Ohio River in Wood County, officials are clearing hurdles to prepare sites for new businesses.
Two locations, 70 acres of farmland and a sprawling industrial park, are set to become suitable for devel
opment, thanks to the first $150,000 grant from a new state program designed to make “shovel-ready” sites attractive for businesses.
But these projects are the exception.
Across the state, properties lack the infrastructure needed to attract new employers. Old industrial sites
sometimes need extensive cleanup, while others lack sewer, water or broadband.
Neighboring states from Ohio to North Carolina already maintain catalogs of dozens of ready-to-build properties. Bot
h Kentucky and Virginia list more than 30 certified industrial sites. But West Virginia has none, and a three-year-old program to change that has barely gotten underway.
Currently, nearly 600 buildings and empty properties are listed on the state’s economic development websi
te. But none fit the bill for what the state considers investment-ready.
“We’re hoping that with this funding, we will get the first two stamp
s of approval,” said Lindsey Piersol, director of the Wood County Economic Development office.
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Without this program, West Virginia economic development leaders
say companies could turn to neighboring states with shovel-ready properties, taking their investments with them.
“We’re basically doing a company’s due diligence and their homework for them,” Piersol said. “It’s the most important aspect of economic development.”
The cost of not being ready for new businesses
In 2018, West Virginia lost a $1.6 billion Toyota and Mazda car manu
facturing facility to Alabama in part because the state did not have an inventory of shovel-ready properties.
Woody Thrasher, former state secretary of commerce, said the deal also fell through because officials needed to perform environmental studies at two proposed sites that would have taken at least nine months to complete.
“We scrambled like crazy to find a singular site, but Alabama offered them nine different ones,” he said. “It just shone a light on the fact that we really weren’t ready to move quickly,” he said.
Alabama has poured $30 million into its site evaluation grant program since its creation last year and currently has 29 certified sites available for businesses.
Dave Lieving, president of the Huntington Area Development Council, said states without a catalog of development-ready sites can miss out on jobs and investment.
He said companies want a strong labor workforce, a favorable business climate and enough flat land to grow.