Economic Development Advisory Committee
Meeting Minutes
Recorded by Sharon Rossi
August 18, 2013
Members present: JFletcher, JMoran, PRenaud, CMorrocco, AWood (sitting for NNickerson and RCilley)
7:02 p.m. Meeting opened. PRenaud asked for comments on the last meeting minutes. None were received. PRenaud motioned to accept July 15, 2013 as written. JMoran seconded. Vote unanimous in favor.
7:08 p.m. SWOT Analysis:
PRenaud commented he added to the Strengths column one item, to the Weaknesses column 2 items, to the Opportunities column one item, and to the Threats column one item, based on input from last month’s meeting. He asked EDAC members if they had any additions to the SWOT. None were added.
Scope of presentation: In October, PRenaud will do a presentation of the annual report to the Select Board with two items of focus, as was stated for this year’s tasks when the Select Board formed this committee: an overview of broadband options for the town and lots to be considered for commercial/industrial rezoning.
The SWOT list is going to be a support item for these presentations and he wants the committee’s suggestions - input on how to present this information to the Select Board. Next month’s meeting will be spent on finalizing the SWOT for presentation. He is also looking for how to organizationally put this SWOT document together. Broadband and the rezoning will be PRenaud’s presentation, but the SWOT should have some other committee members available for a presentation. JMoran’s one goal for the SWOT is to improve the existing tax base in town. He asked, “What are a few things that are positive to the tax base and what is negative? By taking an existing property value and how to bring the value of the property up; we need to find greater ways
to increase value on properties. We need to get minimally taxed properties to be fully taxed properties. Also RCilley said it best, “to get town land back on the tax roll, via selling timber the right way, or by selling the lot.”
PRenaud questioned should this board be advising the Select Board about the town lands. JMoran said, “Yes, that is an economic development that will benefit the town tax rolls.”
PRenaud said next month is when we’ll go through the SWOT list and really define what we want to do and how we want to present it. JMoran said treat it as a work sheet, as a living document.
JFletcher said we need to paint a picture for the town, and not hand this out the Select Board. He feels that the Select Board will look at this and will want some answers as to how the EDAC will implement our ideas.
Projects List :
RCilley volunteered, if we agree, to present information he has researched about the railroad. He is willing to present this as he has a lot of RR frontage on his property. He also volunteered to contact the VeryFine Co. property owners about what they are going to do with the property. CMorrocco spoke with PLeishman and the tracks are viable, but there is a disagreement between Pan Am and DOT. OHRV funds might be used to replace the deck on the trestle near the paper mill. If the RR is used, then the economic impact would be to the snowmobile trail corridor, as it is a state trail.
JMoran commented the RR supported 2 businesses in the past and was a corridor to bring people to our recreational area. The availability of the RR would be an economic boost for the town.
Greenfield State Park: give towns people ½ off the entry fee, use of the beach, and use in the winter. CMorrocco said “Maintenance of the park has been very limited due to DRED in dire straits financially.”
PRenaud and JMoran will check on the NH Initiative plan for State Parks to see if it got off the ground.
HealthCare: AWoods commented there is a serious retraction in the health care industry. So this is would be an uphill battle for this committee to address. APatt suggested that EDAC offer a position on committee to MRedmond of CMRC.
RSA 79-E (Community Revitalization Tax Relief Incentive): This is legislation that has to be approved by the Select Board and then voted on at Town Meeting. PRenaud and JMoran said this is a good idea. Planning Board Chairman, RMarshall will be holding a September 14 community meeting about the Neighborhood Heritage District; this proposed ordinance could be part of that discussion. We may have to persuade the Select Board on this. AWood said it is a good thing, revenue positive. PRenaud will attend a Select Board meeting in the fall and could present this idea at that time. RMarshall could be involved as well. PRenaud said because the committee is bringing this up, we should take the lead in addressing it.
Greenfield Trails: PRenaud said JHopkins would like to be on this committee. JFletcher talked with JHopkins and he backed away as many property owners don’t mind locals using the trails, but they don’t want to promote their trails for others. JFletcher commented that right now the trails do not bring in any real revenue to the town. Some revenue may have been received from the CMRC race this past weekend, because of the use of Oak Park.
Activities: EDAC needs to involve other boards in addressing problems. APatt would like a few members from each committee or board along with other citizens to have a forum to discuss problems and ways to run things better. He would like a wide ranging discussion about town issues and form sub-groups to come up with ideas/ways to create revenue for the town and to solve problems.
Amending the charter: JDenis, MLehner, JHopkins, MRedmond are citizens who have expressed an interest in joining this committee. PRenaud asked, “How do we accommodate these people and others who would like to join this committee? The larger the committee, the larger a quorum is needed for voting.” JMoran asked, “Can they be just observers, as we are an advisory board, why can’t they be observers or resources?” AWood offered ‘resources’ rather than observers. JFletcher said from their point of view, they might not want to be a ‘resource.’
PRenaud doesn’t feel that other subcommittees, besides broadband, need to be formed at this time as we have several individuals who are doing research on various issues on their own.
CMorrocco said, “Perhaps we should offer to focus a meeting around the ‘resources’ which will allow them to present their ideas.” PRenaud said he was hoping to have the last alternate be a broadband person. JMoran suggested asking these four prospective members to come to a meeting and see what they could bring as a value to the committee. JFletcher said that MRedmond has the broadband knowledge that is needed for the subcommittee. AWood said the skill set needed is to have someone who knows the language, and knows the technical side, and then have a person with the business/political knowledge that will help us to get through this nightmare… to help us deal with broadband issue to bring better service to town.
PRenaud said he is getting the sense that the EDAC doesn’t want to enlarge the group, so we’ll not expand membership now. PRenaud will contact these 4 people and see what they can bring to the next meeting. He will also mention to them the broadband issue and some other issues we are addressing.
JFletcher said he would resign to help bring new members on board, as bringing new people will bring new ideas, but only after we see who shows up and what they offer.
Other Matters: AWood commented on the broadband survey. He has been paying attention to wireless availability around town and there are areas that surprised him. He has been doing this as his youngest son is getting driving time. He said we could grow our own solution. We possibly could, but it comes with a bit of a quandary, as in that, we have to hook into another source. Another problem is that some sort of distribution system needs to be set up, which involves hanging wires on telephone poles, which is expensive. Going wireless is an option and we would have to play games on getting the correct bandwidth.
AWood said the problem with bringing FairPoint in is that their goal is not our goal. They will not bring in the bandwidth that we want which will bring in new business. They are expensive, so a price point has to be bargained for.
AWood said a self-funding co-op would be a good solution or laying wire under roads and getting special exceptions for putting up small antennas are possible solutions.
PRenaud said at the next meeting we will address SWOT by going through each item. He will bring in the information about RSA 79-E and the county EDAC.
10:10 p.m. Adjournment JFletcher motioned to adjourn. JMoran seconded. Vote unanimous in favor.
EDAC Project Ideas List
8/19/13
Italicized comments from committee members at 8/19/13 meeting
January:
· Explore support of new agricultural initiatives, e.g. biofuels Shelved until at least 2014/2015; involves leasing land or subdividing and selling to ag based processor.
· Investigate Federal (USDA, EPA) programs, incentives & grants and loans to the community Shelved until a later date; work with prospective agricultural businesses.
· Further utilize State Park (collaborate with NH Parks & Recreation Dept.) Seen as land with untapped value; possible legislation needed to propose revenue sharing option; need to research status of State Park Initiative.
· Analysis of health care industry in area – promote health care related commerce Industry has retracted; probably beyond EDAC capability.
· Investigate attracting low impact R&D into high tech manufacturing development Broadband issue first has to be overcome, then research into the above.
May:
· Get involved with state business recruiters Shelved until a later date (1-3 years).
· Future water needs study (feasibility of water distribution & sewer system) Shelved until a later date; could look into funding for expanded water & sewer system.
· Utilization of railroad To be discussed at the next meeting, waiting for RCilley input.
· Plans and future use of VeryFine Co. property on Gulf Rd. Waiting for RCilley input.
· RSA 79-E: Community Revitalization Tax Relief Incentive Priority for this year.
· Funding for town scholarship program Good idea but not an EDAC issue - private funding of scholarship awards in exchange for public service in town
June:
· Partner with Greenfield Trails Association for events to promote town Possible priority for next year; currently has limited benefit for town; publicizing GTA trails problematic.
· Use town website to promote business environment To be done in 6 months – 2 years.
· Formation of non-profit group to restore Meeting House Private, not EDAC issue
· Assist in relocation of firearms manufacturers to town Removed from list. May investigate alliances with sport associations for firearm activities and other events;
effect of activities at Oak Park need to be considered.
· Partner with church in utilizing church land on Francestown Rd. Removed from list. Governmental body cannot actively promote church activities. Church land utilization must come from within church.
· Activities to involve other Boards in addressing problems Current issues to be discussed.
· Cross country ski trails development An inventory of town lands is needed before further discussion on the issue.
· Address possible need for increased lodging in town No demand at this time; can be used to market town at a later date; developments in Peterborough could affect this.
· Selling town-owned lots to adjoining abutters & other ways to monetize town property
Need inventory of town land and unclaimed lots , then continue discussion of the issue.
· Town roads issue Priority for this year; addressed in CIP.
July:
· Create and/or lobby for support of legislation to better accommodate towns with State Parks; further interaction with state legislators To be discussed in January at start of new year for the State Legislature.
· Interaction and/or participation in regional, county and state EDCs PRenaud will do research on both county and state EDCs and will have information for October meeting. PRenaud already participating in regional EDAC.
· Town trade show JFletcher will research businesses in town for a trade show in the spring or fall of 2014.
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