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MARTINS FERRY -- City officials are hoping opportunity knocks in Martins Ferry as they pursue an Opportunity Zone designation they believe could attract new investment, create jobs and help revitalize key properties, including the former East Ohio Regional Hospital campus.
Council voted Wednesday to join the Martins Ferry Area Chamber of Commerce in submitting a letter of support to the Ohio Department of Development as part of the city’s application for Opportunity Zone status. The application was submitted this week.
Service Director Andy Sutak said the designation would give the city another tool to attract private investment to key development sites, including the former East Ohio Regional Hospital property.
“This opportunity zone would help us hopefully financially somewhere down the road for development with the hospital and everything else that needs to be brought and just more jobs for our community,” Sutak said. “That would be a big help to go after investors.”
Created under the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, Opportunity Zones are designated low-income areas where investors can receive favorable federal tax treatment by investing capital gains through certified Opportunity Funds. The program is intended to encourage long-term private investment in economically distressed communities through business and real estate development.
Ohio currently has 320 designated Opportunity Zones across 73 counties. Communities seeking inclusion in the next round of designations must be nominated through the Ohio Department of Development before receiving final approval from the U.S. Treasury.
Sutak said Martins Ferry has many of the assets businesses look for but has struggled to attract the investment needed to capitalize on them.
“We’re trying. I just want everybody to understand we have prime areas here,” he said. “We have the waterfront, we got river and we got rail -- two of them. We got two rails. We got a water source and plenty of water to provide. We have a sanitary sewer, we have the East Ohio wastewater plant down the road.
“Ohio 7 runs north and south, Interstate 70 goes east and west, and Interstate 470 is right down the road,” Sutak continued. “We are a prime area, we just need to get up over our hump.”
City leaders have increasingly focused on economic development as they search for ways to generate new revenue. During the same council meeting, officials discussed mounting infrastructure needs, including aging water and sewer lines, repairs to the municipal building and other capital improvement projects that they say the city cannot afford under its current budget.
Officials have warned that decades of deferred maintenance have left Martins Ferry facing millions of dollars in infrastructure needs while lacking sufficient funding to address them. Some council members have even suggested an income tax increase may eventually be necessary to pay for critical repairs.
Sutak said attracting private investment remains one of the city’s best opportunities to strengthen its financial future.
Officials also hope the Opportunity Zone designation could make the former East Ohio Regional Hospital property more attractive to developers as the campus prepares to be auctioned later this year. City leaders have repeatedly expressed hope that new investment will eventually bring jobs, redevelopment and the return of medical services to Martins Ferry.