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Trumbull officials happy with B.J. Alan move
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Trumbull County commissioners are feeling pretty good about the yearlong negotiations with Delphi Packard and B.J. Alan Fireworks Co. that resulted in the sale of 1.2 million square feet of former Delphi buildings to B.J. Alan.
The fireworks manufacturer will move most of its 250 local employees to the facilities, located along Larchmont Avenue, mostly in Bazetta Township and part in Howland Township.
B.J. Alan will use half of the facility for warehousing, distribution and offices. It will attempt to lease the other half.
When commissioners learned last summer that Delphi was planning to demolish the 1.2 million square feet of former production facilities to reduce its taxes and maintenance costs, they intervened to stop it.
Commissioner Paul Heltzel said it wasn’t easy to persuade Delphi to delay the demolition.
“Delphi didn’t want to sell it,” Heltzel said, adding that the company had tried for two to three years to sell without success.
But having several local economic- development entities involved — Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan’s office and RoseAnn DeLeon of the Western Reserve Port Authority — helped identify B.J. Alan as a prospect.
B.J. Alan had been looking for another warehouse location for two to three years, Heltzel said.
Preserving the 1.2 million square feet from the wrecking ball brings around 250 jobs to Trumbull County and preserves the opportunity for those buildings to house jobs for many years into the future, Heltzel said.
Meanwhile, commissioners and members of the Trumbull County Planning Commission are taking steps to learn what county officials should do to encourage well drillers to begin mining gas from the Marcellus and Utica shale deposits below ground.
Heltzel said a “wave” of drillers is likely to pass into this area at some point, and the county should prepare to offer them what they want or the drillers are likely to move on to another location.
“The more we anticipate these companies and make it more friendly for them, the more we’re going to have drilling operations here,” Heltzel said.
“This is the right organization to take part in this,” Heltzel said, speaking at Tuesday morning’s meeting of the county planning commission. “I think this is the biggest opportunity for this area since the steel mills 100 years ago.”
Data that Heltzel received at a meeting with the regional chamber Monday indicated the wages earned by people who work in the drilling business range from $13 per hour to $46 per hour with 75 percent of those jobs requiring mostly on-the-job training.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources, which regulates the industry, says it has approved 77 well permits statewide so far and believes that drilling will start this fall if test-well results are positive.
“If this happens the way it could, this could save us,” planning commission member and businessman Jerry Henn said. “I like the way you’re thinking: Roll out the welcome mat. This is high-tech stuff. These are big-money jobs.”
Potential downsides of the drilling operations are damage to roads and water supplies and property owners’ being persuaded to sell their rights for less money than they are worth, officials said.