PAID Report Shows Increase in Business Activity

Borough Council received its annual report from Pottstown Area Industrial Development Inc., the borough's economic development arm, on Wednesday night.

And PAID Executive Director Peggy Lee-Clark had good news.

She said during 2018, 14 commercial properties in Pottstown were sold with a cumulative sale price of $2.8 million.

Lee-Clark also informed council the average sale price for a residential property in Pottstown was $111,063, an 11 percent increase over the previous year.

The average price for a commercial property sold in 2018 was $184,500.

She also said in addition to existing businesses which are expanding, two of which were before council last night, another 18 businesses opened in Pottstown in 2018.

They range from manufacturing like Contrast Metals, to office firms like premier data management, to retail stores like Donut NV and health service businesses like Samana Holistic Center.

Lee-Clark also said the "opportunity zones" included in the federal tax reform bill have "attracted a lot of interest," particularly along the Keystone Boulevard planned development project.

However, for that project to become more viable, Keystone Boulevard must be extended to the Grosstown Road/Route 422 interchange in West Pottsgrove.

There is also interest in a "life sciences hub" for the BB & T building, a project which has obtained initial funding from the state, Lee-Clark said.

Goals for 2019 including looking at "an update" for the Circle of Progress, which is also in a federal opportunity zone, Lee-Clark said.

Otherwise it was a fairly routine meeting, as you can see from the Tweets.

In the meantime, here is the Mayor's Report





And, if you liked that video, you'll love this one.

Here is the borough manager's report:




And without further ado, here are the Tweets from the meeting:

Pottstown is Getting PAID

Lurching Toward LERTA

A page from the PAID annual report, reviewed Wednesday at the joint Pottstown Borough Council/School Board meeting.

Steve Bamford was a busy guy Wednesday night.

After members of both boards took a tour of the newly renovated Franklin Elementary School, Bamford, the borough's main economic development officer, delivered not only the annual report of

Steve Bamford gets ready to deliver his report.

the Pottstown Area Industrial Development Inc., which he heads; he also updated both boards on a new tax incentive under consideration.

The tax incentive is called LERTA, which stands for Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance.

Borough and school district staff are recommending a district that encompasses the entire borough, but does not include residential properties -- at least not yet.

Borough Manager Mark Flanders said staff does not want to abandon the potential for using the LERTA credits for residential properties, merely that is it more complex and they feel it would be better to get the program up and running for commercial and industrial properties first.

Borough Council unanimously voted to authorize Borough Solicitor Charles D. Garner Jr.  to move forward with crafting the new ordinance.

However the school board, which had six members and an apparent antipathy to using the taxpayer-funded microphones provided for the meeting, could not seem to decide (it was hard to tell) and seemed to push its vote on the next school board meeting.

Here are the Tweets from the meeting.