WSS and Ronceverte apply for Opportunity Zone program

lewisburg — Hastening to beat a March 21 deadline, Greenbrier County Commissioners voted Tuesday to support applications for two municipalities to be designated federal “Opportunity Zones.”

Gov. Jim Justice will be the arbiter of which West Virginia applications are nominated for consideration at the federal level, according to Andrew Hagy, executive director of the Greenbrier Valley Economic Development Corporation (GVEDC).

The GVEDC is preparing applications for the Greenbrier County cities of White Sulphur Springs and Ronceverte, along with the unincorporated areas surrounding each.

Hagy said he has also prepared applications for two towns in Monroe County — Union and Peterstown.

The GVEDC serves as the economic development agency for Greenbrier, Monroe and Pocahontas counties.

Hagy said no Pocahontas towns qualified for the program, which was established by the new federal tax law that was passed last year. In order to qualify, Hagy said, a municipality must meet a certain benchmark of low- to moderate-income residents, coupled with proximity to infrastructure that lends itself to development.

A prime example of the type of area the program demands is the nascent industrial development that appears ready to blossom in the Harts Run area of White Sulphur Springs, Hagy said. In addition to public water and sewer availability, Harts Run boasts an I-64 interchange.

The West Virginia Great Barrel Company is preparing to break ground on a 42-acre parcel there within the next two or three months, with the stated intention of building a 90,000-square-foot whiskey barrel production facility that will employ nearly 100 people. Another 22-acre plot nearby is also ripe for development, Hagy said.

According to an analysis of the new program penned by Adam Looney of the Brookings Tax Policy Center, only one in four low-income areas in a given state can be designated an Opportunity Zone, so competition for the limited slots in the program is expected to be intense.

Hagy said, once an area is so designated, the federal government will offer tax incentives to corporations that agree to invest in businesses, industries or real estate in that Opportunity Zone. The tax credits would be spread over a 10-year period, he noted.

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