York Co. to pursue 600 jobs

York County wants to move forward in negotiating incentives for two companies that plan to bring 600 full-time jobs to the county.

The York County Council gave the first of a series of nods at its Monday night council meeting in York, passing resolutions to provide incentives in exchange for significant job and economic investments in the county.

A distribution operation code-named Project Daisy would bring $150 million in investments and 550 full-time, permanent jobs, according to the resolution passed by the council.

The company also will create a few hundred more part-time or contract positions, said Mark Farris, York County economic development director.

The second prospect – called Project Ambition – is a manufacturing company that would invest about $8 million and hire 60 employees. The company is looking to expand into the former Hella Lighting building in the East York Industrial Park. The building has been vacant since September.

“It’s a great building,” said Farris, who’s shown the building about three dozen times. If the deal goes through, it will be great for western York County, he said.

“We sometimes struggle to have companies look at areas more than 5 miles off the interstate,” Farris said. Improved traffic to and from the western side of the county means a better sell for interested companies, he said.

In coming weeks, the county will work with the companies to work out the details. The county might offer reduced taxes in exchange for creating an agreed-upon number of jobs.

Though the deals aren’t a guarantee yet, the interest in the county is positive, Farris said.

“In this economy, it is encouraging to see some stability return,” he said.

By Jamie Self, Staff Reporter with The Herald