Moore announces $2 million for Randolph Development District
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ELKINS -- Congressman Riley Moore announced Friday that $2 million in federal funding has been earmarked in an congressional appropriations bill for the proposed Randolph Development District.
Moore, R-District 2, was joined by Randolph County Development Authority Director and state Senator Robbie Morris to discuss Moore’s work in Congress to develop West Virginia’s manufacturing sector, particularly his support of the Randolph Development District project. The event, which was attended by local business leaders, took place outside of Greenfield Cabinetry on Industrial Park Road in Elkins. Moore was given a tour of the facility afterwards.
At the start of Friday’s event, Morris gave details about the Randolph Development District, explaining that the new district will expand the Industrial Park by 75 acres, with 44 acres being developed in the first phase of the project and the remaining 31 acres being developed in the future phases. The property will be marketed as sites for industrial development. According to a diagram presented at Friday’s event, the proposed site for the Development District is located near Flood Control Road and would be accessible from Livingston Avenue.
“Economic development is often measured by the announcements we make, the jobs that are created, the companies that are coming and the capital investments that are made, but long before you can make those announcements, you have to do the work that makes those announcements possible,” Morris said. “You have to have available land. You have to have infrastructure, roads, broadband, utilities and transportation, and most importantly, you have to be ready when opportunity knocks. That is exactly what the Randolph Development District is about.”
Morris said the RCDA needs additional property for the area to continue to grow economically, and that this project gives them that opportunity. He added that he believes the addition of this property to the Industrial Park will be timely due to the on-going expansion of Corridor H, as it will give the area more access to other markets.
Moore spoke about the continued partnership between the federal, state and local levels of government to expand West Virginia’s economic growth, noting specifically the collaboration between the three entities when it came to Elkins’ new Railyard Event & Conference Center, which opened this summer. The congressman also noted the work that was being done on the congressional level, particularly in the U.S. House Appropriations Committee, of which Moore is a member.
“I’m happy to announce to you all that (in) the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Bill… which I am confident is going to pass this year, we have $2 million for congressionally directed spending to help bring this new Industrial Park to life,” Moore said. “As (Morris) laid out very clearly, you’ve got to have infrastructure in place for these things. That’s really what this money is going to be used for. That’s what we’re looking to do is to get these things moving.”
Moore echoed Morris’ comments about how Corridor H will open this part of West Virginia to new business opportunities and new people from major metropolitan areas, such as Washington D.C. and Baltimore. He also stressed the importance of making the entire state more accessible and more of an economic hub to the rest of the country.
The congressman, who toured the new Event Center on Thursday and stayed overnight in the Tygart Hotel in downtown Elkins, also praised the city’s small business and economic activity, stating that everyone who visits “loves Elkins.”
When asked by The Inter-Mountain when he expects the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Bill to pass in Congress and, subsequently, when Randolph County can expect to see the funding for the Randolph Development District project, Moore said there was a “high, high chance” of all 12 appropriation bills being passed with bipartisan support by the end of 2026, but the allocation of the funding can take some time.
“So it’s (the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Bill) out of committee and we’ve already passed four (appropriation bills) across the House floor, three or four at this point, and we have to get all 12 passed if we’re going to do the new budget for the United States,” Moore told The Inter-Mountain Friday. “The Discretionary Budget that funds everything, and we’re going to come back next week (in Congress)… we’re going to get a game plan to get the rest of these bills done by the end of the year.
“It depends when we pass (the appropriation bills). Probably sometime in December is when we’re going to pass those bills,” he said. “Then the money goes out, then the allocation. There’s some lag time in there. It can take sometimes half a year, could take a little longer. Sometimes it takes less. It just kind of depends. Each department, whether Department of Transportation, Department of Commerce, whoever it is, kind of has their own time frame, but it wouldn’t take that long for the money to get there and so then we can start to get underway (on the project).”
Riley Moore, center, shakes hands with Amrit Rayfield, far left, the Director of Philanthropy at Davis & Elkins College. Also pictured, from left, are Randolph County Development Authority Director and state Senator Robbie Morris, D&E Vice President of Institutional Advancement Scott Goddard and Davis Trust Company President and Chief Lending Officer Hoy Ferguson.