ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, December 1, 1995               TAG: 9512040017
SECTION: CURRENT                  PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
DATELINE: PULASKI
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER 

RACE IS ON FOR PULASKI TOWN, COUNTY TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ENTERPRISE ZONES

Now that the town and county of Pulaski have defied the odds by landing state enterprise zones, both must prepare to get the most out of them when they become effective Jan. 1.

"We won," town Economic Development Director Barry Matherly said Thursday, but "if we don't use the tool right and get it up to capacity, nothing's going to happen."

Among 14 new zones announced Wednesday were a 320-acre zone in the heart of Pulaski and 839 acres mostly in a new industrial park near the New River Valley Airport outside Dublin.

Pulaski County already had one zone near an earlier park, which played a key role in keeping the Volvo-GM Heavy Truck Corp. plant in the area. The company had considered moving to another state, but local and state incentives kept it here.

State incentives available in an enterprise zone can include property improvement and investment tax credits, and grants for creating new jobs. Localities must add their own incentives.

The state wants local associations to oversee the new zones. This is where Pulaski has a head start. Its 30-member Economic Development Board, formed this year, agreed to take on that task. A committee of a larger group, Pulaski Encouraging Progress, will do the same for the county.

Downtown Pulaski has carried out a business resurgence in recent years, restored a county courthouse and converted an abandoned train depot into headquarters for the county chamber and a museum.

Pulaski decided to apply for the zone classification just a few months ago.

"I don't think there are three in any county in the whole state," Matherly said. "If I was a business ... that would be the place I'd want to go."

It is now up to the Economic Development Board and PEP to create plans for the zones, promote them, establish formal communications with residents and businesses within them and develop marketing plans.

"The board has a lot of responsibility in the zone now," Matherly said.

"What we're looking at first is expansions," he said. His office had received three calls by early Thursday morning from two industries already in the area and one nearby, "so I think the business community's aware of what zones are."

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