EDA details their work to Board of Supervisors

John Kilby, Chairman of Botetourt County’s Economic Development Authority (EDA), gave a run-down of the EDA’s work since 2016 at the August 27 Board of Supervisors meeting. The supervisors also approved a public hearing for a Community Development Authority.

The EDA, formerly known as the Industrial Development Authority, has become quite active since 2016, when County Administrator Gary Larrowe took over the helm and then hired Ken McFayden as the county’s Director of Economic Development six months later.

Prior to that, the IDA, which the county formed in 1969, met infrequently and basically held bond money for large projects. The Code of Virginia gives localities the ability to form these authorities under Code Sections 15.2-4900-4920.

In 2016, the county changed the name from the IDA to the EDA to reflect the more active role the EDA would take in county development.

“We do things way different now than we did the first 30 years,” Kilby told the supervisors. “Prior to 2016, we were basically an entity that approved refinancing.”

This “new way,” as Kilby called it, basically has placed the county’s economic development into the hands of seven appointed EDA members, along with county administration.

The EDA meets bi-monthly on the fourth Friday. Meetings are held in January, March, May, July, September and November at 2 p.m. at the Greenfield Education and Training Center (GETC) in room 229. Special meetings are also called and advertised.

The EDA members serve four-year terms. Kilby is Chairman. John W. Griffin serves as Vice Chairman. Other members are John E. Alderson, Jr., Jeff Emry, G. Lyn Hayth, III, Joyce R. Kessinger, and John B. Williamson, III. Fincastle District Supervisor Richard Bailey serves as the ex officio member of the Board of Supervisors. Larrowe serves as secretary and treasurer.

The EDA currently has three major assets: (1) the lease of the remaining Botetourt Center at Greenfield business park acreage, (2) ownership of the Greenfield Education & Technical Center; and (3) ownership of 15 acres in Blue Ridge, known as the Avery Row property, which the Board of Education transferred to the EDA in 2018.

Since 2016. the EDA has overseen or implemented:

• construction of the new Colonial Elementary School
• Data Center Management Agreement with the Roanoke Valley Broadband Authority
• Bond financing for the Botetourt Family YMCA
• Changed the use of the Greenfield Education and Training Center
• Arkay Packaging announced an expansion investment of $15 million that will bring in 50 more jobs, with a performance agreement completion date of August 2022.
• Eldor Corporation located to Botetourt, constructing a $75 million building and bringing in 178 jobs, with a performance agreement completion date of December 2021.
• Ballast Point Brewing located to Botetourt County, investing $47.8 million in infrastructure and bringing 178 jobs, with a performance agreement completion date of December 2019.
• Canatal Steel USA announced an expansion investment costing $1.5 million that will bring in 38 more jobs, with a performance agreement completion date of December 2019.
• Altec Industries announced an expansion investment of $30.2 million and bringing in 180 jobs, with a performance agreement completion date of June 2021.
• Pratt Industries announced a location to Botetourt, with an investment of $20.1 million in infrastructure and 50 jobs, with a performance completion date of June 2023.
• Metalasa announced an expansion investment costing $6.4 million that will bring in 25 jobs, with a performance agreement completion date of June 2022.
• The pad for Eldor was developed and fiber built to it.

Additionally, the EDA facilitated a private sell between Ann Whitesell and Lawrence Transportation for an unknown amount of property.

The EDA now is responsible for the Botetourt Center at Greenfield master plan and the construction of West Center Drive, which will give access to three additional lots, and is responsible for the Avery Row property next to Jack Smith Park in Blue Ridge. This 15-acre lot was the original site of the new Colonial Elementary School.

In other matters, the supervisors agreed to schedule a public hearing that would allow them to create Community Development Authorities. These CDAs would facilitate infrastructure improvements, such as sidewalks, at targeted areas such as Gateway Crossing.

The CDA would be separate from any other entity and could only be created by landowners who want special assessments placed on their property for specific public infrastructure needs. The landowners with 51 percent interest in the property must come to the Board of Supervisors to request the creation of the CDA. Before this can be done, the supervisors must adopt an ordinance that allows them to create CDAs.

“This gives the county a vehicle to do what it needs to do,” Ken McFayden, Director of Economic Development, told the supervisors. “It adds an extra level of professionalism.” He cited the Short Pump area outside of Richmond as an example of use of CDAs.

Additional details about CDAs and how exactly they work were not given to the supervisors at this meeting.

–Anita Firebaugh, Columnist, Special to the Botetourt Bee