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COMMERCIAL HELIPAD?
The county has asked the Department of Community and Economic Development for an amendment to the Business in Our Sights grant, which is used for studying sights for reuse and redevelopment, said Joe Pagano, director of redevelopment, during the March housing and redevelopment meetings. The amendment would allow a study to determine if there is a viable sight, potential users and potential partners to support a helipad in the Coudersport area, he said. Partners include financial supporters as well as neighboring airports, which could connect passengers from places like Bradford, Wellsville or Buffalo straight to the Coudersport pad. A helipad would better connect Coudersport to the corporate world. The distance to Bradford Regional Airport is 35 miles, to Wellsville Municipal Airport is 37 miles and Buffalo Niagara International Airport is 123 miles away, according to www.mapquest. com. One of the sights being looked into is the Erway Field, located west of the Tennis Center, Pagano said. The study is expected to be completed by early fall. Three developing businesses are continuing to expand and anchor themselves in Coudersport. AP Wagner will be hiring for the next two or three months, bringing their total up to between 80 and 85 employees in the building on East Second Street. They had targeted March to begin the hiring, which will expand their numbers up from the current 35 to 40 employees, Pagano said. Virtro is operational at its building in the Coudersport Industrial Park. The first employees are going through the training process now, and a goal of 15 to 20 employees by the end of the year has been set, he said. Empereon is also beginning to hire additional employees in groups of 15 to 20 with a total of 80 to 85 being brought in over the next few months, he said. This expansion was also part of a scheduled plan. All three companies have indicated they have a solid pool of well-trained applicants to pull from, Pagano said. One business that wasn't expanding in town is Truck- Lite. Pagano said that they are stable in Coudersport and are advertising for hiring now, but there is no major expansion planned. The expansion for Truck- Lite, he explained, is in Europe where business is booming. They may look into expanding in Coudersport in 2009. Executive Director John Wright said that the 11 of the 12 units at the Cedar Ridge Apartments, 8 Townline Road, are rented. The property is funding all of its improvements, including repainting 10 of the units, he said. "Overall, the project is doing fairly well." A maintenance discussin was held and included the filling the new part-time maintenance position the authority had budgeted for 2008. "There is plenty of work for our staff to do," Wrights said. "If we pick up more of the work being done by subcontractors, we should be able to justify the new position." Wright explained that the authority paid $13,000 for plowing services, with $5,000 of that going toward salt, that could be turned over to the staff. The authority received 52 applications for the position. They had narrowed the field to six applicants and have interviewed those, Wright said. The authority employees will be receiving benefits under the county's group policy, and will be prepaying the costs so the county doesn't incur costs, Wright said. The authority pursued the merger because of "substantial savings" on insurance costs. Wright said he had yet to hear of a consummated deal on the Taj Mahal property on Main Street and that a deal with the highest bidder hadn't been struck. "The economics do not support the prices they are getting," he said. "Because of that I believe they are getting some deposit foreclosures." Wright added that the authority is interested in helping anyone who wants to develop the building. The housing and redevelopment authorities will meet again at 7 p.m. April 21 at their building on Seventh Street. |
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