Residents of the Upper Ohio Valley have been thirsting for some semblance of good news, and it may have just arrived in Shadyside.
Citizens of Shadyside learned this morning officials with the Shadyside School District are finally allowed to share a secret they had been keeping for quite some time. In short, money—$38 million to be exact—will be infused into the district as soon as PTT Global Chemical makes its official announcement of the proposed ethane cracker in Dilles Bottom.
“Today was the first day I was allowed to talk about it,” said John Haswell, superintendent for the Shadyside district. “This is something we’ve been working on for six years. This was one of the last steps in the process. The final investment announcement will come hopefully in June, and at that point; everything will be official.”
The district will receive a total of $38 million in the deal, spread out across 19 years. There will be four payments made during the construction phase and the remaining 15 once the site is operational. What that will mean for the district is a new, Pre-K through 12 school building for starters.
“We do have plans. We’re looking at a brand new building for the district. There are also plans to retrofit part of the high school and turn it into a STEM academy. It’s quite a vision.”
Haswell said once the announcement becomes official, school district leaders will navigate a year’s worth of community envisioning during the process, getting insight from residents and making the school into exactly what suits the district’s students best.
Location, Location, Location
Haswell explained the district already has a site in mind for the new building.
“We’re looking at the Leona property up by the athletic facilities,” Haswell said. “We’re also in the process of getting Hillview Park back from the village, and we can incorporate a lot of different things up there as well.”
Haswell said the district has a roughly $60 million framework its devised so far and is expecting input from the public to help fill in the substance for the plans. He wants to get started on soliciting that input as soon as the announcement is final.
PTT Global and business partner Daelim Construction have spent more than $300 million on the Dilles Bottom location to date for a proposed $10 billion facility that would utilize natural gas to produce plastic pellets for the plastics industry. More than 6,000 individuals would assist with construction, and then as many as 700 employees would operate the plant. The potential for downstream companies to follow is very high, according to industry experts.
Although Haswelll was informed the announcement likely is coming in June, the stoppage ordered for the petrochemical plant project in Beaver County, Pa., will likely delay the construction in Dilles Bottom. How long depends on the length of time it takes to re-start construction in Potter Township.
“Hopefully it’s only a three-month waiting period and, once finalized, we can start the process and get financing for the project,” Haswell said. “Hopefully, with a year or so of visioning and a two-year construction period, three or four years from now, maybe five, 3-4, maybe five years, we’ll be looking at a brand new facility among other things.”
Dollars and Sense
Haswell said Shadyside would be eligible for a grant from the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission (OFCC) to build the new building. The grant would cover 77 percent through the state, and the district then would need to provide the remaining 23 percent.
“The only problem right now is that money is so far down the list, but we’re working on getting it done and that money could finance the entire Pre-K through 12 building,” Haswell said. “There are a lot of opportunities.”
Shadyside is currently ranked 134th statewide in the funding eligibility listings for Fiscal Year 2020.
The school district isn’t the only entity set to benefit from PTT Global Chemical’s investment plans. Mead Township will receive $9.5 million, while Belmont County will collect more than $20 million in sales tax revenue.
