Growing a Business in Cranberry Township

CranberryTownship is not only Western Pennsylvania’s fastest growing residential municipality, it is also among the region’s most rapidly developing commercial/industrial centers. Here’s why:

Convenient highway access. Two major interstate highways cross in Cranberry Township – the east-west Pennsylvania Turnpike, I-76, and the north-south route I-79. The Township is also served by several major regional highways – U.S. Rts. 19 and 228. None of the Township’s primary roads have either weight or clearance restrictions which would impede commercial deliveries. As a result, Cranberry is the site for a number of regional transfer, logistics, and surface freight storage facilities.

Low taxes. Cranberry is located in Butler County where tax rates for both businesses, individuals, and property owners are among the lowest in the region. Cranberry Township’s own municipal tax rates are also among the Western Pennsylvania’s lowest. At the same time, Cranberry’s strength as a borrower has been rated A1 by Moodys Investor Service. Commercial developers in Cranberry are assessed one-time transportation impact fees for new construction based on the cost of roadway and intersection improvements needed to accommodate traffic generated by their new facility.

Equitable taxes. Unlike many other communities, Cranberry does not use tax abatements or tax increment financing as economic development tools. Those forms of public subsidy tend to benefit one company by unfairly shifting the tax burden onto every other business and resident. The businesses that operate in Cranberry come here because it is an attractive place to do business, not because their underlying economics have been distorted by limited-term tax incentives and subsidies.

Proximity to major markets. Cranberry Township is half an hour from Pittsburgh, two hours from Cleveland, and within 500 miles of 45 percent of the U.S. and Canadian population. Cranberry is served by the Pittsburgh International Airport, about 40 minutes away, which houses multiple air express freight carriers and features direct passenger flights to more than 50 major U.S. destinations. Bulk commodity materials are readily handled by nearby rail depots and river ports.

Well-educated workforce. The demographics of Cranberry Township are skewed toward a younger, healthier, better educated, more prosperous population than in most of Western Pennsylvania. Cranberry is the home to a growing family of technology-oriented, knowledge-based industries. In addition to enjoying easy access to Pittsburgh’s major research universities, Cranberry is the branch campus site for a number of colleges, trade schools, and consortia of workforce training institutions.

Competitive utility rates. Electric power to Cranberry is supplied by Penn Power, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy, which has significant transmission and delivery capacity from generating facilities that include both nuclear and fossil-fueled plants. Three natural gas companies compete for commercial customers in Cranberry. Feature-rich business and residential phone service is also supplied by three different vendors. Broadband Internet access is provided by multiple vendors including both telephone and cable operators. A full range of licensed waste disposal services are available at attractive rates from four different vendors.

Abundant water/sewer services. Cranberry Township owns and operates its freshwater distribution and wastewater treatment systems. Drinking water is drawn from the Ohio River and purchased from the West View Water Authority, a major water supplier for whom Cranberry is the largest customer. Redundant connections to the West View supply lines as well as a network of high capacity storage tanks in the Township safeguard against supply disruptions. The state’s long-term allocation of water supplies to Cranberry provide sufficient capacity to supply a community nearly double its current population. The wastewater treatment facility, which was rebuilt and significantly expanded in 1999, has sufficient excess capacity to accommodate Cranberry’s current rate of growth for at least another 15 years. Cranberry’s combined water and sewer rate, at $9.02 per 1,000 gallons, is approximately the median for communities in the Pittsburgh area.

Easy supply chain proximity. In addition to having ready access to truck, air, rail, and river shipments from suppliers around the world, Western Pennsylvania includes a network of local vendors and manufacturers for many kinds of commodity and value-added products needed in the production and assembly of finished goods for B2B as well as consumer markets.

Responsive local government. Cranberry’s municipal government plays a proactive role in its fast-growing community. The Township has been recognized and repeatedly honored for its professionalism, its embrace of advanced technology, the consistency of its policies, the transparency of its processes, the efficiency of its operations, and for its problem-solving orientation. Permitting time for new businesses varies with the details of use but can be as little as two months.

Excellent public safety. Cranberry Township ’s police force, which is dispatched by Butler County 911, includes 28 full-time sworn officers in addition to office staff. Well-equipped, and housed in a newly built wing of the Municipal Center, Cranberry’s police also provide service on a contract basis to nearby Seven Fields. A well-trained volunteer fire company provides quick responses to emergencies throughout the Township and, by mutual-aid agreement, to neighboring communities as well. The Cranberry Ambulance Corps includes a wheelchair van and three Advanced Life Support Ambulances staffed by 17 EMT's, 11 EMT-P's, two PHRN's and one HP Physician.

Outstanding quality of life. One of Cranberry’s greatest attractions is the quality of life available to residents. That lifestyle in turn, has attracted a number of businesses to settle in the Township. Among the attractions: low crime rates, excellent recreational amenities, an outstanding public library, the absence of any significant environmental cleanup or remediation issues, regional cultural assets, a strong voluntary sector, a well-respected public school system and branch campuses of many institutions of higher learning.

Full-service office/industrial park sites. There are seven industrial and office parks open in Cranberry Township with even more land zoned for future light industrial, business park, and special use development. Much of the land area of Cranberry, particularly including property that abuts the Township’s major highway corridors, has yet to be developed. Sighting for new facilities to accommodate various kinds of business activities can be facilitated by the Township’s Planning and Community Development Department.