On Tuesday, August 1, 2023, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer toured the Schuyler County Business Park, located in the Town of Dix, minutes away from the Village of Watkins Glen and the Village of Montour Falls, both winners of the Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) and NY Forward programs, respectively.
The purpose of his visit was to unveil new federal legislation, the bipartisan ONSHORE Act, that would create a new federal investment program to breathe new life into industrial sites across Upstate New York and bring good-paying manufacturing jobs back from overseas to places like the Southern Tier.
Schumer said that this new bipartisan bill will provide much-needed federal support to help bolster site readiness and workforce development efforts that America needs to onshore critical industries, including semiconductor and clean energy technology supply chains, being spurred from the CHIPS & Science Act, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the Inflation Reduction Act. Schumer explained that sites like the Schuyler County Business Park are primed to take advantage of this new program proposed in the ONSHORE Act, and said that with this boost in federal investment, Schuyler County and the Southern Tier can lead the resurgence of American manufacturing in high-tech sectors.
Those in attendance during Tuesday’s tour and roundtable discussion included:
Carl Blowers, Chairman of the Schuyler County Legislature
Michael Lausell, Schuyler County Legislator
Carl Taber, Chairman of the Schuyler County Industrial Development Agency
Judy McKinney Cherry, Executive Director of the Schuyler County Partnership for Economic Development
Nigar Hale, Executive Director of the Watkins Glen Chamber of Commerce
Jamie Johnson, Executive Director of the Steuben County Industrial Development Agency
Kamala Keeley, President of Three Rivers Development Corporation
Judy McKinney Cherry, Executive Director of the Schuyler County Partnership for Economic Development noted, “From semiconductors to batteries, new manufacturing investments are being made in communities across Upstate New York because of the leadership of Senator Schumer. Now, the bipartisan ONSHORE Act presents an opportunity to bring supply chain companies to places like the Schuyler County Business Park. By providing much-needed federal support for site-readiness and workforce development efforts, the ONSHORE Act will help rural communities be more competitive, encourage manufacturers to establish new facilities locally, and create high-quality jobs needed to build a thriving and sustainable economy.”
Senator Schumer said the bipartisan Opportunities for Non-developed Sites to Have Opportunities to be Rehabilitated for Economic Development (ONSHORE) Act would provide much-needed federal support to prepare sites for new manufacturing investment. Specifically, the new federal legislation would provide $100 million per year for five years in dedicated funding for a Critical Supply Chain Site Development Grant Program with the Economic Development Administration (EDA). Through this program, EDA would provide assistance for site and utility readiness, workforce development, distribution, and logistics, to prepare strategic mega sites and regionally impactful sites across places like Upstate NY for new industrial investment. The Southern Tier would be able to tap these resources to prepare strategic sites, like the Schuyler County Business Park and others, to be market-ready and able to rapidly scale new domestic manufacturing facilities, better positioning the US to compete against international competitors like China and the European Union.
Schumer notes that the Southern Tier is uniquely positioned for this kind of federal investment, given the region’s legacy of manufacturing sites and workforce, as well as the region’s universities, and current manufacturing base that make it a prime location to onshore critical industries.
Ready for this opportunity, the Schuyler County Business Park features nearly 50 acres of developable land across three parcels, as well as an existing production facility with approximately 14,000 square feet of available, unfinished space ready for manufacturers to customize to fit their needs.
For more information about the Schuyler County Business Park, contact SCOPED at (607) 535-4341 or https://www.flxgateway.com/schuyler-co-business-park.
