It is a pleasure to welcome you to LENOWISCO’s home page. The LENOWISCO PDC traces its proud history of service to the citizens of Lee, Scott, and Wise Counties and the City of Norton in Southwest Virginia to 1959. In that year, a group of local leaders, both public and private sector, met for the first time in Riley’s Coffee Shop on Wood Avenue in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, to discuss a novel idea. Rather than work individually as counties to promote and develop their areas, they saw the logic of working together for the benefit of the greater region.

     From its early days as a volunteer group, LENOWISCO was first staffed in 1965, and eventually broadened its mission in 1969. In that year, LENOWISCO became the first of Virginia’s 21 planning district commissions. Although economic development continues to be the mainstay of the commission’s workload, LENOWISCO has been one of the nation’s more innovative regional leaders in bringing new or improved water or wastewater services, transportation and other community facilities, better housing, and a wide range of other betterments to the citizens of its service area. This has been accomplished with a modest budget, a small, but dedicated, staff, and above all, solid support from the local governments and private businesses in Lee, Scott, and Wise Counties and the City of Norton.

     We hope you find the information in our home page useful, and we encourage you to contact us if you have questions or need additional information about our organization With that, I sincerely welcome you to LENOWISCO Country.

Ron Flanary
Executive Director