OIL CITY, Pa. (EYT) — Sometimes when you live in an area that has had jobs leave and companies close, it is hard to see the positives of the area and why someone would want to move there and start a business or raise a family.

[Pictured above: John Phillips, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Oil Region Alliance (ORA)]

But, the good folks at the Oil Region Alliance (ORA) are busy every day working on bringing new jobs to the Venango County area as part of the economic development portion of their mission.

And, what they are finding is that Venango County has many attractive qualities.

“Recently, we’ve had several husband-and-wife teams from the Portland, Oregon, area move here,” Marilyn Black, Vice President for Heritage Development for the ORA, said.

“They prefer the slower pace of life, the natural beauty, the reasonable cost of living, the access to a wide variety of recreation and clean water, the access to an amazing wealth of art and cultural activities, and the ability to become part of an actual set of neighborhoods and communities.”

Add to the positives that Black touted the fact there is a major interstate highway that goes right through Venango County (I-80) and a skilled labor set, and it turns out to be a much more attractive place to locate a business than many might think at first.

“You have a huge amount of things and wonderful assets here,” John Phillips, President and Chief Executive Officer of the ORA, said. “But, you also have a perfect location because you are so close to Pittsburgh (an hour and 20 minutes), Cleveland (two hours), Buffalo (three hours), Erie (one hour), and, to me, New York City is within a reasonable amount of time (5 to 6 hours). The access to a major transportation system is very, very popular.

“Add to that that there is this lower cost of doing business and a high-skilled labor force, especially in welding, metal fabrication and tool and die, and it is an attractive place to locate a business.”

Phillips believes the area is starting to see a return of some manufacturing jobs it had previously lost because of the location and the labor force and believes that has an opportunity to grow once the Shell Cracker Plant in Beaver County opens — construction is slated to start hopefully in the spring.

“We lost a lot of manufacturing jobs,” Phillips said. “But, we are starting to see an influx of manufacturing coming back. Then you talk about the cracker plant. It is going to be a huge game changer. I think we are positioned ideally to help.”

The ORA has also helped with industrial park development in the county including the Sandycreek Industrial Park located just off Route 8 Expressway South in Franklin within three miles of the Venango County airport as well as the Barkeyville Industrial Park.

“At the Sandycreek Industrial Park, we did an infrastructure expansion,” Phillips said. “And, when I first got here in 2005, the Barkeyville Industrial Park had been developed but some parcels were not sold. Since then, all of the property has been sold.”

There are 65 acres of real estate available at the Sandycreek Industrial Park, according to the ORA website, and it is a Keystone Opportunity Zone (KOZ) meaning it is a tax-free site. The area is zoned industrial.

“We have a $3.5 million investment in that,” Phillips said.

The Venango County government played a key role in the expansion of the Sandycreek site.

“They have been invaluable in a number of projects in assisting us,” Dan Twombly, Executive Vice-President of the ORA, said. “Sandycreek being one of them. We needed a cash-flow source, and they provided that cash flow.”

Another area the county helps the ORA in when it comes to economic development is the “Get on the Trail Entrepreneurship” contest, which is funded through Act. 13.

“With this contest, we offer, to budding entrepreneurs, the opportunity to come up with a really good idea that is trail-based,” Twombly said. “Something that works in relation to the bicycle and hiking trails. They put together their concepts and go through a series of training. They meet with people from the Small Business Development Center at Clarion University. We give them opportunities to learn as entrepreneurs. They then present their idea to a group of people, not us, who we select to be basically the judges and we give out three awards. There is a $5,000 award for first place, a $2,000.00 award for second place and a $1,000.00 reward for third place. They are basically incentives to assist them in getting their business up and running. This has been a pretty popular program, and the country supports it through Act. 13.”

Phillips believes not centering economic development on any one aspect is an important point to be made when attracting business to the community.

“In a micro-economy, you have to diversify yourself,” Phillip said. “Again, and we’ve seen the blows, when you have major companies leave, it creates a huge hole in your economy. If you have diversification of industries and sizes of companies and sizes of employee bases, then you tend not to gut your economy if you lose a company.”

“I think we’ve had more diversification in the time I have been here since 2005. A lot of companies and a lot of our smaller companies that did a lot of work for Joy started diversifying their customer basis. Some of them have weathered better than others. But, for the most part, they are seeing Joy is a very small part of their business and they have diversified their customer base.”

Some tools the ORA has at its disposal including the Venango County Regional Airport and Clarion University, which includes a campus in Oil City.

“The airport has a huge amount of potential,” Phillips said. “Essential air service (commuter flights) is very important. It is a huge asset for us. If you take that away, then you are like any general service airport in any rural community anywhere.”

The ORA worked hard to make the Venango Regional Airport part of the Pitt Connector System, according to Phillips.

“You have to give the Pittsburgh Airport Authority a lot of credit for saying ‘Why are our rural Pennsylvania airports sending our potential customers out of Pennsylvania to other airports?’” Phillips said. “Why aren’t they sending them and funneling them through Pittsburgh? So, that was the initial concept. It took a long time to put into place. Now, you have a lot of the major rural airports as part of the Pitt Connector System. I am an active participant in that.”

As for Clarion University, Phillips believes it is hugely important.

“The type of demographic of a student who goes to (Venango College) is very different than what goes to Clarion main campus,” Phillips said. “I think they compliment each other very, very well. They are continually trying to diversify and come up with unique programs and educational offerings.”