Westmoreland County to sell Hempfield land for development, budget boost

Cash-strapped Westmoreland County might soon get some relief to its budget crunch with a land deal to sell 110 acres in Hempfield.

Under details revealed Tuesday, the vacant land would be sold to the Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corp. — which would pay $2.4 million for property to be used for a multi-use project that could include retail, office space and housing.

Commissioners could finalize the deal with a vote Thursday.

Money from the sale will offset unbudgeted expenses the county was forced to pay during the first two months of the new year, including equipment failures and a bacterial outbreak at the county-owned nursing home.

“This will nullify all of the other unexpected budget requests so we don’t have to include more of a deficit,” said Sean Kertes, commissioners chairman.

The county’s $341 million budget adopted by the previous board of commissioners carries a deficit of about $5.5 million and was balanced using a savings account that will be all but exhausted by year’s end.

That budget also included nearly $2 million generated by a 2.4% hike in property taxes and $1.5 million raised through the proposed property sale.

A mandated appraisal of the property raised its value to the $2.4 million sale price, said Jason Rigone, the county’s planning director and head of the Industrial Development Corp.

The additional $900,000 will cover unanticipated expenses, such as a new boiler unit at the county jail and cleanup costs at Westmoreland Manor related to the finding of Legionella bacteria.

The Hempfield property to be sold is part of what once was a county-owned farm that has been overgrown and unused for decades. The IDC previously developed part of the property as the county’s first industrial park along Donahoe Road. The remaining portion of land, which would be part of the sale, sits across the road.

The proposed multi-use development would be the first of its kind for the IDC, which until now has focused on industrial parks, Rigone said.

“This is something different than the other projects we’ve done, which have been single use,” Rigone said.

The IDC will use money generated from its other programs, such as the sale of industrial park lots and fees from the agency-owned freight railway, to pay for the land.

Commissioners, acting as the IDC board of directors, Thursday will vote to pay about $15,000 for preliminary engineering and designs for the new development.

Kertes said the transaction is more than just a boost to the county’s bottom line.

“It’s about adding another development project in the county,” Kertes said.