2 min read October 2022 — Westmoreland county is the second-most populous county in the Greater Pittsburgh region. In an interview with Invest:, Sean Kertes, commissioner chair of Westmoreland County, discussed where the county stands today, from tackling the labor shortage to progressing investments in autonomous vehicles.
What differentiates Westmoreland County from other areas in the Western PA region?
What separates Westmoreland County is how close we are to Alleghany County, which has a population of 1.2 million people. Westmoreland County is approximately 34 miles from downtown Pittsburgh, so the convenience factor and the proximity to a major city makes it a great place to be. We have the second-highest population of any county in Western Pennsylvania, with approximately 350,000 residents in Westmoreland County. And our landmass makes us one of the largest counties in the Commonwealth, just a couple of hundred miles smaller than Rhode Island. In size and proximity to the city of Pittsburgh, we are unique, unlike the other counties around the Western part of Pennsylvania.
How would you assess the current strength of the business community in the county?
We are seeing a lot of businesses reaching out to our economic drivers from the Chamber of Commerce. We have an industrial development corporation that the commissioners are in charge of, we are seeing major interests, major growth and major projects that we are looking at, and working out deals to see what we can do. A lot of them are coming from other counties to Westmoreland, which I feel is a great sign that we are making the right investment. Our major initiative right now is investing in broadband. We have a company looking to put approximately $20 million into broadband, which doesn’t include state funds, specifically targeting communities that have underserved broadband.
When we look at that opportunity and growth, it supports high-tech businesses that need that gigabit speed in our business parks, downtowns and commercial areas. That’s one of the major upgrades that we’re doing, and we believe it is going to put Westmoreland County on the map and make us very competitive.
What is the progress on the creation of the 19 industrial parks, collectively known as Commerce Crossing?
For the industrial park, we have one building that has been officially completed and the others are pad-ready sites. We are getting a lot of businesses moving in. We are projecting that we should have that whole facility filled up in the coming two years, which is great. We currently have our 19th site underway within Commerce Crossing. The 165 companies in our industrial parks boast 8,600 employees and 7.6 million square feet of building space, and they produce $6.4 million in tax revenue for Westmoreland County. We are pleased to see this economic growth increasing.
What is an example of Westmoreland County benefitting from the region’s status as an innovation powerhouse?
We have a major research track for an autonomous vehicles company called Argo AI, which is developed primarily for Ford and other companies at the RIDC Westmoreland campus, who we are in partnership with. With CMU being close to Pittsburgh, we are seeing a lot more robotics and partnerships coming in, and we are happy to announce that we have a major investment from the Turnpike Commission and PennDOT in Westmoreland County for this track and autonomous vehicles. It’s a major investment and we cannot be any happier.
What is being done to foster a strong workforce?
For the workforce, housing is a major macro concern. So, we came up with creating a major blight program, putting $10.4 million into tearing down properties and communities that have been sitting around for the last 40 to 50 years. 500 homes are going to be torn down. There’s only a certain singular population that lives along a major highway which is the Route 30 corridor. We want to expand and have other people come back to the community by creating affordable housing for younger people, and the ARP money can help create a down payment system program for people to come and make a first-time investment.
In the following months, we have an apprenticeship process that we’re going to fund for every school district. From sophomore year students can work for a major manufacturing company, almost like a work-study, but this is working directly with the people that have the shortage of the workforce. Kids from a younger age will start learning relevant job skills. They’ll go to school for half the day, then the other half of the day they’ll work on-site at a manufacturing facility. We’re getting to the youth, changing their mindset because the trades are the job here, and creating an opportunity to earn and pay off college debts.
Are you expecting the infrastructure bill to aid local bridge and road funding needs?
We are waiting to see what the infrastructure bill will do, but we have received appropriate funding. We have theLaurel Valley Transportation Improvement Project (LVTIP), which is going to connect Interstate 70 and the PA Turnpike to the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport. This has been approved for all phases including widening the roads, making it a two-lane road, creating a slip ramp in Penn Township and widening and modernization of Route 30 in North Huntingdon Township. These are the major areas that need updates now, for bridges, we are still waiting on an update.
What have been some highlights for the nonprofit Grow Westmoreland?
Grow Westmoreland focuses on the trades industry, giving scholarships and grants up to $16,000. This year our fundraiser is coming up in October and we are on track to double it. It’s good to see the mindset change and the community coming together under one umbrella for the same goal as workforce development. It’s an exciting time to see we can help so many young people with scholarships, creating opportunities to go to school.
For more information, visit:
