JOHNSTOWN - Fulton County has no plans to create a new industrial park, but some county officials say it might be wise to do so once the economy starts to recover.
"I think it's something we probably have got to start looking at," Board of Supervisors Chairman Greg Fagan said today.
As the year progresses, he said, officials may want to discuss in more detail where the county is headed with such economic development efforts.
Northampton Supervisor Linda Kemper, chairwoman of the Board of Supervisors' Economic Development Committee, said today she agrees with Fagan that a new park may merit study, but the poor economy would be a barrier.
"I really think at some point, it's an excellent idea long-term," Kemper said. "Unfortunately, the economy [presently] is not going to support it."
The county shouldn't commit to anything now, she said, until the economy "stabilizes."
County Planning Department Director James Mraz has been in the forefront of local efforts for 20 years to find suitable industrial park sites in the county. Mraz, also director of the Fulton County Industrial Development Agency, said officials are not actively seeking a new park site now.
But Mraz said some locations in the county have been inventoried in the past, but in these tough fiscal times, there's no consensus on whether the county should commit to a new industrial park.
He also said there's a question of where to build a new park and how much acreage is needed.
Fulton County has the Glove Cities Industrial Park, established in the 1970s between the two cities; the Crossroads Industrial Park in Gloversville, built in the late 1980s; the Johnstown Industrial Park, established in the early 1990s; and Gloversville's Crossroads Business Park, created in the late 1990s.
The newer manufacturing-oriented parks - the Crossroads Industrial Park and Johnstown Industrial Park - each have a small amount of vacant space. The Glove Cities Industrial Park remains full. The Crossroads Business Park - other than Epimed in the upper building and an office complex in the lower building - remains mostly vacant.
Mraz said development officials recognize the Crossroads Business Park hasn't attracted as many companies as the industrial parks, but they are two separate markets.
"No one's going to argue that the Crossroads Business Park has been successful, and that's unfortunate," he said.
No industrial parks have been established in Fulton County during the last decade, but the Board of Supervisors on Sept. 12, 2007, conducted an economic summit in Johnstown. It was the latest of three such summits held by the county, the others being in 1992 and 1986. A host of local leaders from the public and private sectors said at the 2007 summit that a need for "shovel-ready" sites was the top "weakness" in the area's continued development.
Other goals identified at the summit included: reducing property taxes, improving the quality of the local work force, extending municipal services outside the Glove Cities, and improving housing availability and diversity in the county.
Michael Anich covers Johnstown and Fulton County news. He can be reached at johnstown@leaderherald.com.