North county residents have to be impressed with the activity at Wells Enterprises. From miles away, you can see the signs of construction activity taking place at the manufacturer.

Another phase of that major expansion was approved last week by the Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency as part of a $175 million project. The expansion, which is considered Phase III, will help the company produce chocolate as an ingredient in ice cream production.

It will create 20 new jobs, plus about 150 temporary construction jobs. According to the county IDA, when combined, all three phases will result in Wells adding 270 new jobs and retaining approximately 380 full-time jobs.

As part of the effort, a payment in lieu of taxes agreement for the city of Dunkirk, its school district and Chautauqua County was approved in the amount of $2.2 million. In a statement, Wells Chief Executive Officer Liam Killeen thanked both city and county officials for their partnership. “We couldn’t be more excited about the future of Wells and the role this expansion in Dunkirk will play in our ambition to be the U.S. ice cream category leader,” he said. “We are extremely grateful to the State of New York, Chautauqua County, and the community of Dunkirk for their unwavering support of our growth. Most importantly, this is testament to the leadership and commitment of every one of our team members in Dunkirk.”

Last week, we took issue with the payment in lieu of taxes being showered by the IDA on renewable energy projects that take up some prime space but offer very little in job creation. Wells is very much the opposite.

It is contributing to the region’s economy regularly through its workforce and investment in the plant. In addition, it is an excellent community partner giving to numerous agencies while sponsoring a number of events.

Those actions are all about continuing a major long-term commitment. That’s worth a lot more in incentives than the generous offers to already highly subsidized renewable companies.