SMETHPORT – During their March meeting Tuesday, the McKean
County Commissioners took steps to make certain areas of the county
more attractive to businesses and industries looking to relocate
here.

The commissioners approved three extensions to Keystone
Opportunity Zones located throughout the county. Keystone
Opportunity Zones provide real estate, sales, and a bevy of other
state and local tax breaks for businesses that develop within the
zones. The commissioners also approved a new zone in Foster
Township for American Refining Group.

The benefits for the current opportunity zones expire in either
2010 or 2013 – different zones have different expiration dates. The
possible expiration of benefits that help the county attract
industries prompted the commissioners to re-authorize the program
Tuesday.

The commissioners approval is only the initial step in the
application process that must be submitted to the state Department
of Community and Economic Development, according to John Weible,
business development coordinator for the North Central Pennsylvania
Regional Planning and Development Commission in Ridgway.

Weible said school district and township taxing entities must
also sign off on the parcels for the department to consider the
zone.

McKean County currently has three areas with Keystone
Opportunity Zones: one along Lafferty Hollow in Foster Township,
another near Bradford Regional Airport in Lafayette Township and
the third is a group of zones in and around Kane. The commissioners
voted to approve the benefit extensions for all three zones.

Some of the extensions will last seven years, but some, such as
the zone near the Bradford Airport, will be extended for a
“floating 10 years.” This means that once the department approves
the extensions, the Bradford Airport zone and other “floating 10s”
will be put back on the tax rolls.

The county will receive tax payments until a business begins
development, and as long as a business begins developing the zone
before Dec. 31, 2015, it will receive 10 full years of tax breaks,
starting the day it begins occupying the zone.

The commissioners also approved new zones for American Refining
Group and one in Lewis Run for John Kohler.

Weible said he is confident the department will approve the zone
extensions, but approving the first-time zones will be quite
competitive since the department is only approving 13 new zones
throughout the state this year.

In other business, the commissioners will enter into an
agreement with Pashek Associates Ltd. to conduct land-use analyses
on a number of acres owned by the county.

The county owns approximately 350 acres that extends from behind
Sena-Kean Manor to the McKean County Fairgrounds.

The land-use analysis on the parcel will determine what
activities are best suitable for the land in question. The county
has proposed a trail that would connect the two areas.

Commissioners also decided to swap maps with the state
Department of Environmental Protection.

In exchange for the county’s tax parcel map, the commissioners
will receive the agency’s Abandon Mine Lands map.

The agency said this information will help it reclaim federally
eligible abandoned mines.