A recent analysis recommends that Warren County target certain industries -- not data centers -- for potential economic development.
The Department of Economic Development completed a draft of a target-industry analysis and sent its recommendations to members of the Board of Supervisors, according to a news release issued Monday. The analysis identifies the six best industry sectors in which the county can compete.
However, the county already faces one obstacle: The county does not have any industrial sites ready for development nor modern buildings for the use to offer, the release notes.
The report recommends that the county push one or two sites to development-ready status through the Virginia Business Ready Sites Program. Supervisors last week voted to authorize the economic development director to apply for a site-characterization grant through the program, specifically for 450-acre, industrial/commercial zoned property identified as Slate Run Farm off U.S. 340-522 north of Front Royal.
As the release states, "a target industry analysis is not a list of businesses a community wants. It is an assessment of which industries want the community — the sectors whose actual site, labor, and logistics requirements match what Warren County actually has to offer."
The analysis recommends targeting industry in the following sectors:
• Advanced and precision manufacturing — building on the base established by Axalta and Toray, including precision components for aerospace and defense contractors.
• Value-added food and beverage manufacturing — producing food here rather than only moving it, supported by valley agriculture and the Virginia Inland Port.
• Advanced logistics and trade services — not general warehousing, but customs and freight management and temperature- and security-controlled distribution of pharmaceuticals, medical devices and aircraft parts.
• Professional, scientific and technical services — engineering, information technology, cybersecurity, and government services firms, reachable through the county’s Technology Zone incentives.
• Financial and business/back-office services — addressing the county’s largest single occupational job shortfall with so many residents commuting out, subject to a pending review of whether the higher-wage portion of the sector is realistically reachable.
• Outdoor recreation economy — gear and apparel design, small-batch manufacturing, and brand offices, drawing on the County’s position as the northern gateway to Shenandoah National Park.
Department of Economic Development Director Patrick Barker said in an email on Monday that while the sector of professional, scientific and technical services includes the information technology industry, the category does not include data centers.
"One of the four screens we applied was community fit — reasonable water and electricity use, and impacts compatible with a gateway community," Barker said. "Data centers sit at the far end of that on power and water per permanent job. And separately, they aren't a permitted use anywhere in the county's zoning ordinance, by right or by conditional use permit."
The analysis screened sectors against four criteria: alignment of the labor force, site and infrastructure fit, logistical and market advantages, and competitive positioning. The analysis also tested each sector against a wage standard. Sectors had to offer jobs paying at least $53,795 a year -- the area's average annual salary. Even several industries that could add jobs to the region did not meet the wage standard and thus were not recommended, according to the release.
“This analysis gives us a business case rather than a pitch,” Barker said. “It tells us which companies have a real reason to look at Warren County, and it tells us honestly where we still have work to do before they will.”
Barker met with members of the Board of Supervisors and the Front Royal Town Council and also spoke with employers, representatives with Laurel Ridge Community College, Warren County Public Schools, the Chamber of Commerce, small business owners, property owners and residents, according to the release.
While the conversations informed what appears on the list of target sectors, the analysis does not reflect the community support for well-paying jobs or caution toward development that takes large amounts of land, water or power without employing many people, according to the release.
The Warren County Board of Supervisors and the Front Royal Town Council will discuss the draft recommendations at a future joint meeting to be announced, according to the release.