New jobs in the air?

Zipline, mystery business discussed

By Amy Boucher

INDEPENDENCE -- Grayson County could see the addition of 12-15 jobs after action to approve a zipline business in Whitetop by the Board of Supervisors on Thursday night, but could more jobs be on the way?

That's the question after supervisors held their second closed-door session in as many meetings to discuss an "undisclosed prospective business or industry or the expansion of an existing business or industry."

County Administrator Jonathan Sweet hinted that the supervisors might have an announcement after the closed session, but a half-hour later Chairman John Brewer apologized and said the board would not be taking any action.

Typically, localities become involved in business location or expansion when grants or state incentives are being offered.

As for the zipline business, supervisors voted unanimously to grant a special use permit to Lenny Cottom, who operates Hawksnest Zipline, a snow tubing and zipline business near Boone, N.C. The county Planning Commission recommended the approval on March 18.

Cottom and Planning and Community Development Director Elaine Holeton were the only speakers at a public hearing on the permit.

Cottom said the business would not increase traffic on Old Park Road, near the top of the Virginia Creeper Trail, because most patrons would arrive in bike shuttle vans and would enjoy the zipline prior to biking down the trail. He assured the board that he has "a great safety record" and that he would create 12-15 seasonal jobs, from May 1 through Oct. 31.

Brewer called the jobs number "music."

Supervisor Glen "Eddie" Rosenbaum wanted to know if the zipline could be used as a chairlift for skiers to "take advantage of this snow,"  but Cottom explained that it was a climbing harness on a pulley.

"We're all very excited about this project," Holeton told the board.

Sweet added that the zipline fits the county's Comprehensive Plan, by encouraging visitation, creating jobs, and producing "little to no impact on the environment."

The employment theme surfaced again during a report from the Mount Rogers Workforce Investment Area Consortium on a "skills gap analysis" being conducted in the region with the help of Virginia Tech's Office of Economic Development.

Marty Holliday of the board said that the study would identify the area's economic drivers, skills needed by the workforce, the region's capacity to meet the workforce need, and ways to improve that capacity.

Patrick O'Brien of Virginia Tech presented some information from the as-yet-incomplete analysis, and said that manufacturing remains the top job sector in the region, with 19 percent of all jobs. Healthcare/social assistance is second, with 11 percent.

He gave the supervisors some Grayson-specific data. Of Grayson's 15,700 residents, 45 percent are in the labor force, with an average per capita income of $24,651. The county has a 5 percent unemployment rate. People of all educational levels, from high school dropouts to those with four-year degrees or higher are employed at rates of 92 percent and higher. Those with four years and more of higher education in the labor force number 1,137 and nearly all of them are employed. The largest category in the labor force is high school graduates, who number 2,255.

Local government is the biggest employer, with 664 jobs in 2012, up 8 percent from 2002. The average local government wage is $26,025. This category includes people employed by the public schools.

In 2002, wood products manufacturing was the second largest category of employment, with 159 jobs, but this sector has lost 19 percent of its jobs over the decade and in 2012 employed 129. The average annual wage is $20,467.

"Social assistance" was the second largest employment sphere in 2012, with 133 jobs, but an average yearly wage of just $13,768.

Ambulatory health care services, which does not include nursing and residential care facilities, was another growth sector, with 100 jobs in 2012 and an average wage of $24,365, up from 55 jobs in 2002.

Restaurants employ 91 people and that number has held steady for a decade. Those employees make $12,180 annually.

O'Brien said farming produced 422 jobs in "crops" and 358 jobs in animal production. Healthcare and social assistance jobs have grown 61 percent from 2003 to 2013 and manufacturing jobs declined 32 percent during the same period, totaling 324 presently.

The intent of the analysis is to help localities like Grayson develop workforce skills to meet the needs of employers.

"The new focus in the country is workforce development," said Sweet. He pointed to the undisclosed business opportunity discussed in the closed session as an example of the need for workforce development, and urged the supervisors to think about preparing "our No. 1 asset, which is our youth."