Etna Councilman Dave Becki doesn't like stories about fish that got away. Neither does Millvale Mayor Jim Burn nor Blawnox Mayor Tom Smith.

Working together, they intend to establish an economic development program that will catch what may be considered the big fish -- manufacturing businesses looking for new homes.

Seven communities along the Allegheny River -- Millvale, Etna, Shaler, Sharpsburg, O'Hara, Aspinwall, and Blawnox -- are joining forces to create business-ready sites and a business-ready climate for companies seeking to expand or relocate.

"As seven contiguous communities [working] together, we can get the recognition we need, the help from the state we need," Becki said. "Like all economic development programs, we're trying to make our towns attractive to high-paying, good-benefit jobs."

He said the application is ready to go to Harrisburg, and officials hope to receive designation in July as an official Pennsylvania enterprise zone called Allegheny River Towns Enterprise Zone.

The nonprofit organization will focus on expansion and attraction of companies in light manufacturing or office work.

Becki, Sharpsburg Mayor Don Ferraro and Jeff Schaffer, of Millvale, representing state Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Highland Park, are officers of the organization's 14-member board.

"This is designed to stimulate business in more distressed pockets," said Ellen Kight, regional director of the nine-county area in southwestern Pennsylvania for the program, which falls under the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. "These areas may be brownfields, or they may be areas that were previously developed and are now vacant.

"The focus is to provide incentives to businesses that pay living-wage jobs and that have a scope beyond the neighborhood."

The incentives can be such measures as tax credits on investments or low-interest loans to businesses that agree to expand or to relocate into the zone, she said.

"It's an eight-year program. The first year is a planning year," Kight said. This is followed by seven years of up to $50,000 in state funding each year available for planning, developing a strategy and managing the implementation.

Kight emphasized that the enterprise zone program is not focused on helping retailers.

"The state has other programs, such as the Main Street program, that are designed to help retail business," she said.

Aethon, a business that grew up on Pittsburgh's North Side, is the type of "fish" that Becki and the other officials would like to catch.

"Aethon is a good example of what we'll be working to accomplish," said Emily Buka, executive director of the Riverside Center for Innovation on Pittsburgh's North Shore. "They're a robotics firm. They started here in our business incubator building on the North Side. They're so big and so successful. They have 43 full-time employees, and they've moved on to a larger location."

The Allegheny River Towns Enterprize Zone will grow in size and effectiveness with the interest it will earn on loans to businesses.

"They will be able to apply for as much as a half-million dollars from the state to lend to a company," Buka explained. "As the loan is repaid, generally at an interest rate below the market, the enterprise zone keeps that money. Some funds have grown to $2 million or $3 million, and all that can then be lent to additional businesses."

Officials know, however, they must do more than lend money. There are infrastructure issues they must solve in order to have sites ready for development.

"The Cahall property is a three- or four-acre field at the end of Evergreen near Route 28. It's an economic gold mine," Burn said. The site is being promoted with a sign from the Millvale Development Corp. Burn hopes there will soon be a second sign from the enterprise zone.

Ferlo has worked with planners and said the enterprise zone will pay off.

"We have to change perceptions. We had older industries that have gone by the wayside. They're not coming back. A community can no longer count on the plant down the street.

"This is about maximizing the use. In Millvale, that may be a new hotel. In Aspinwall, it may be a manufacturer of small parts," Ferlo said.

Burn and Ferlo said some sites will require cleanup of polutants left by former owners. Ferlo helped obtain two grants from the federal Environmental Protection Agency for brownfield assessments.

"We were able to get a total commitment of $400,000 for assessment of sites that may be contaminated from previous usage. Phase one is an assessment. Phase two would be the cleanup with additional federal funds," Ferlo said.

Other sites may have suffered in last year's flooding. Shaler, for example, expanded its original proposed enterprise zone to include locations along Route 8.

"Originally, we had included just properties along Route 28," said Manager Tim Rogers.

But when owners of larger businesses like Glenshaw Glass announced they could not survive flood losses, Shaler officials decided enterprise-zone benefits might help attract new companies to the sites. "Our zone now snakes north along Route 8 to Falls Run Road," said Rogers.

Ferlo said the next step will be to set priorities.

"The board will need to decide if they want a full-time professional staff person. They need someone to communicate with the state. They need a three- to five-year plan. They have to prioritize the potential sites to sample for contamination," he said.

Becki looks forward to July when he expects to receive official designation from the state. The Allegheny River Towns Enterprise Zone, also known as ARTEZ, will join four already established enterprise zones in Allegheny County -- three in the Mon Valley, plus the City of Pittsburgh's technology zone which is managed by the Urban Redevelopment Authority.

While programs in the Mon Valley may link up to four communities, none is as ambitious as the Allegheny River project .

"The glory of ARTEZ is that they are seven small municipalities. Look at the leverage they will have," Buka said.

"A single community of 3,500 people could never get $400,000 to assess brownfields. This is an example of the great effect they can have. These people did this on their own."