“Luxury” is a word apropos for the situation within which Roaring Spring Borough and its neighboring municipalities find themselves regarding the former Appvion paper mill site.

The latest news is that the 350-acre tract is being envisioned for “high valued development sites that can support several types of future industrial uses.”

That description was included within an article in the Mirror’s April 23 edition under the headline “Former paper mill site under new ownership.”

Formerly, the mill site seemed headed for a recreation future in the form of a “complex that could include a track, football and soccer fields, green space and trails, with the potential eventually for a public amphitheater,” the April 23 article reported.

Both potential uses are positive possibilities although, in the proverbial big picture, a business/industrial use appears to be a better bet.

Not many communities in the six-county Southern Alleghenies region can boast about having a tract with so many already built-in, sizable amenities available to it, including provisions for necessary utility hook-ups and, even more importantly, highways infrastructure for moving products and services and whatever other transportation needs are required.

From a business-industrial perspective, the site truly is a dream come true — a luxury.

Regarding highways, consider how the large tract would be far less attractive if Interstate 99 did not exist — if the lower-traffic-capacity and less-than-ideal road conditions pre-Interstate 99 still were the key roadways in the area today.

Now, Roaring Spring and its nearby municipalities, thanks to I-99, have quick access to the Pennsylvania Turnpike for east-west travel; to a modern Route 22 for westbound traffic as an alternate connection to Pittsburgh, to points north and to north-south Interstate 79; and north to Interstate 80 for another east-west alternative.

Major population centers such as New York City, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and the list goes on, have never seemed closer than they seem to be now.

Consider the jobs that would be created and the support services that would be necessary for the central business-industrial entities.

That part of Blair County could be “set” for decades of prosperity.

While a recreational complex would be an asset, recreational components still could be forthcoming by way of effective planning covering a number of locations outside of the paper mill property.

Engaging the public in that mission could help bring about who-knows-what.

Now that an ownership change has been completed for the former paper mill site, demolition and other deconstruction at the site are ready to be ramped up, with that work targeted for completion in 16 to 24 months. Meanwhile, marketing efforts on behalf of the site will continue and presumably increase as the months pass.

Also during the months ahead, efforts will be ongoing to obtain development money from the state.

What a luxury for this county to have such a large-scale economic resource available. An additional luxury is the availability of talented leaders for coordinating the various aspects of this huge endeavor, even during the uncertain economic times that currently exist.

Regarding this project, there is much about which to be hopeful for many years hence.

Yes, luxury.