NEW CASTLE, Pa. – During the 31 years Linda Nitch worked in economic development in Lawrence County, she saw growth and improvement across Neshannock Township, New Castle and Ellwood City, Pa.
“Great successes have been in Neshannock Township,” she says. “The RIDC [Regional Industrial Development Corp.] park in Neshannock has several outstanding companies there.”
Millennium Park includes eight international companies, among them Steelite International, which operates a warehouse. New Castle has seen success with redevelopment of the former Johnson Bronze site, she notes.
One of the sites that remains to be redeveloped is the former Shenango China lot in New Castle. The property is owned by a Canadian company that doesn’t want to sell. That remains a challenge for the city, Nitch says. The site is served by rail and along U.S. Route 422 with direct access to Interstate 376.
When Nitch started her career in economic development, the region had more heavy industry.
Ellwood Quality Steel, for example, was in New Castle and the Ellwood Group wanted to continue to create more business in the area.
“They knew they wanted to expand. So that was an opportunity,” Nitch says. “We also knew there were contaminated sites within the community that needed to be redeveloped.”
She cites the former Johnson Bronze property, which now includes Richardson Cooling Packages and the Huston Group.
“That was a good project,” Nitch says. “It took several years to do. The city was in a state where they knew that more redevelopment had to occur in the industrial zone.”
But the challenge was financing.
“We did not have enough dollars and to this day, we still don’t have enough dollars to do all the work that we need to do,” Nitch says. “The commonwealth of Pennsylvania has always been our partner. But it’s never had enough financial resources to support our communities with the kind of funding we need to redevelop sites.”
Among the successes, Nitch points to Shenango Commerce Park and its occupants, which include Berner International and New York Blower.
She related a story about a meeting with the director of the governor’s action team that led to infrastructure improvements.
The director was sitting in her office. “All of a sudden, he looks out and sees this truck from Altium Packaging that’s almost coming at us,” Nitch says.
He asked why the truck was using the alley. Nitch and others explained that trucks couldn’t make it around the curve near the offices.
“That was the start of a million dollar grant that we got to improve things,” she says.
Still, more improvements are needed as well as greater cooperation among elected and appointed leaders.
“We can’t compete with one another. We have to be complementary with one another,” Nitch says.
Pictured at top: Linda Nitch oversaw redevelopment.