Economic Development Advisory Committee
Meeting Minutes
Recorded by Sharon Rossi
July 15, 2013
Members present: PRenaud, NNickerson, AWood, RCilley, JFletcher, and CMorrocco
7:05 p.m. Meeting called to order by PRenaud. PRenaud acknowledged CMorrocco and AWood as the new alternate members. PRenaud asked the committee members if there were any changes to be made to the June 17, 2013 meeting minutes. The members did not have any changes, but PRenaud made two minor changes. PRenaud motioned to accept minutes as amended, JFletcher seconded. Vote unanimous in favor.
7:15 p.m. PRenaud asked Jon Manley, State Representative for Greenfield, to speak about his position in the NH House of Representatives.
PRenaud asked Rep. Manley what committee he is on. JManley replied, “Fish & Game. I am here to learn what EDAC is doing.” PRenaud asked, “Is the legislature working on anything which would affect the EDAC, particularly pertaining to rural economic development?”
JManley responded that transportation which includes roads and bridges is an economic development requirement that is important for people to be able to get in and out of town. This year there was no increase for roads and bridges as the revenue comes from gasoline taxes, and this year less gasoline is being sold. There is the same number of cars on the road, so road usage is the same, but less revenue is available. Roads that look good will get fixed, and roads that are terrible will require more investment, and aren’t being fixed.
RCilley asked, “How does a town get their fair share of the monies available?” JManley said that you have to apply through the Selectmen and the Department of Transportation. There are two state roads running through Greenfield and they are on a state maintenance list. No revenues were approved this year. You may have to go through the Commerce and Finance Committees, Senate and House. Local reps are: Richard McNamara, Greenfield’s Rep., on the Commerce Committee, Jill Hammond of Peterborough and Kermit Williams of Wilton, also on the Commerce Committee; and Peter Leishman of Peterborough on the Finance Committee. Any or all of the other members would be glad to come here and work with this committee. Also Steve Spratt of Greenville, Chairman of
the Executive Committee for Hillsborough County and on the House Finance Committee, is another contact. In order to get a law to be passed for EDAC, you will have to go through your rep. It takes a while, a good 6 months to get anything done.
State government is absolutely open to all at any hearing. Anyone can attend and can speak. Hearings are scheduled and published for the public on the State of NH website. PRenaud asked does every bill in committee in either house, go into public hearing? JManley said all meetings are open.
PRenaud asked, “Do you know if there are any local members on the science and energy committee?” JManley didn’t know of anyone, but advised you can get a list or look on the website for that committee.
AWood asked, “Who handles the telecommunications?” JManley said either commerce or science and tech committees would be the committees to address telecommunications. AWood said that it is absolutely necessary to getting product, internet, in and out in the town. While not hauling physical products in and out, the times have changed and telecommunications is rapidly growing. PRenaud commented, “The big issue for Greenfield is that we are way behind many other areas in broadband speeds that would realistically enable economic development in town.” AWood said Fairpoint’s broadband is behind all other technologies. PRenaud has attended regional forums and meetings on broadband and this is a major concern across the region.
JManley advised that it is wise to introduce a bill in the House and then have a companion bill in the Senate, as one might get through. JManley asked the committee how they feel about wind turbines. The older ones were smaller than what is being proposed now. JManley said he is in favor of green energy, but in appropriate locations. PRenaud said Greenfield has too much land in conservation with little space available to make it worthy for wind farm developers.
RCilley agreed about the wind energy needs to be in certain areas, but terrain is a big factor. JFletcher said people are for green energy, but are not realizing the impact of the size of the turbines.
PRenaud said part of the reason the wind turbine industry are so powerful is that their lobbying efforts are apparently very good, much better than other alternative energy industries, as the federal government is subsidizing development of wind turbines. I personally would rather see solar fields; this is much less intrusive on the landscape. JManley commented that in New London there is a restaurant that has solar panels on it. NNickerson commented solar is a good idea. There are some issues with the panels. Mainly the crystals inside degrade quickly. Solar is great because there are no moving parts.
On transportation JManley said that you are probably one industry short of getting rail transportation to Greenfield. The railroad transportation issue is being discussed in the legislature. There is an ongoing study to see if rail will be brought back into the state. Right now a train comes into South Lyndeborough to the gravel pits behind EPA-PVA. If rail returned to Greenfield, it would be an excellent opportunity for EDAC to pursue.
RCilley said Greenfield is at a disadvantage with so many tax fee properties (non-profits). They do contribute to programs, etc., but the tax values are over 80 million. That is a lot for a small town to bear. Is there any direction that we might be looking at to get some assistance?
JManley said the state park has 250 camp sites which is the largest in the state. The police and store are benefiting somewhat from the park. JManley said, “I agree the town should get some deal to get into the park and that towns with state parks could perhaps have some legislation introduced to accommodate this.”
NNickerson said the state park has caused major issues for the police; gang wars, drug overdoses, and a suicide just in the last few years. Police were able to get a grant to have an extra police officer, but this town is getting a pretty poor deal otherwise.
JManley said EDAC’s support for a good education system in your town is a good draw to keep new people coming into your town. A good school system is a positive to town growth. NNickerson commented, “We don’t want the town to stagnate, and it is hard to balance growth.”
JManley said, “What does your committee do that I can gear into to help you?” PRenaud gave him a draft copy of SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats). RCilley said it is a work in progress and keeps changing when newer ideas come up. NNickerson talked about wildlife trails, natural scenery, and our lakes which are all positives. He commented one of Greenfield’s weaknesses is that there are no motels or locations where people can stay. RCilley said we need to improve the tax basis to get people to stay. Also we have limited space for industrial growth.
JManley asked, “What are the major businesses in town?” Members responded: CMRC, American Steel, New England Forest Products, McGrath Lumber and Harvester Market. JManley advised the committee to talk to Senator Andy Sanborn, and at the county level, Steve Spratt. He said at the county level, there is an economic development committee. Hillsborough County is the largest county in the state and has the largest resources.
JManley said the Northern Pass project as previously written wasn’t what people wanted. It is hydropower being brought down to Canterbury as a distribution, but not to New Hampshire. AWood said there are two major problems: cutting down trees for the shorter corridors, and bad public relations by Northern Pass being unable to convince people because they are not selling to New Hampshire. JManley said a new plan for the Northern Pass project has been presented but hasn’t been fully reviewed yet.
JManley said, “Stay in touch with me and if there is any way I can help, let me know.”
8:40 p.m. JManley concluded his presentation.
SWOT Discussion
PRenaud said we have short term goals and with use of the SWOT outline we’ll see what we can do as a committee to help promote new business for the town. PRenaud handed out an updated SWOT sheet. He said “It sounded like, at the last meeting, that the Committee wants to concentrate on the positive items only. Can we get clarification on this?” NNickerson said, “We need to work on both.” All others agreed.
Add to Threat: general economic issues - no skilled, high tech jobs available. NNickerson said this whole area is very depressed where jobs are concerned. AWood commented, “We need more opportunities to bring in taxable property as businesses; needing to be able to tax the resident. NNickerson said bedroom communities have always tried to do that, but we need a balance of people that work in town. RCilley said we need to invest back into the town, maintain what we have; there is always going to be some who will struggle to pay their fair share of taxes. Roads haven’t been maintained for so many years, and we have to get them repaired to be able to bring new business into town. PRenaud asked
NNickerson, as a member of the road committee, if you are outlining specific town roads for updating. It appeared at the last town meeting, the consensus was that the townspeople want to spend the money on roads, but they want to know what roads and what amount of money will be used. NNickerson replied the road committee is getting information together to present to the Select Board for completion. He also heard that the Select Board wants to dissolve the road committee because they felt that they had already completed what was requested of them. We haven’t.
CMorrocco said he has seen gravel roads in Hancock that have been maintained as an investment for the town. Their road agent sought information on how to maintain the road and compared to other towns’ road agents, he has done a great job.
RCilley asked if the Select Board is finding the road committee as being too critical. NNickerson said the road committee is trying to find solutions that save the town cash but will allow the complete repairs to last a long while.
Add to Weaknesses: lack of coordination and communication between town boards, committees and other organizations. PRenaud stated “RMarshall is trying to have occasional meetings with representatives of the various committees and boards to foster better communication and obtain input on how to make the town a better place. He hopes to organize the first meeting sometime in the fall at the new restaurant.”
Add: No take-out food delivery establishment in Greenfield.
Add to Opportunity: PRenaud said he read that Peterborough may use the old armory as an Art Center. I think that could work to our advantage as promoting Greenfield in proximity to Peterborough. This could be a marketing strategy for Greenfield. They already have an arts presence with the Peterborough Players, Monadnock Music, Sharon Arts Center, and McDowell Colony.
NNickerson said adding a small B&B to town would be beneficial. AWood said either pulling in a small tech business or a skilled person that has a high end product, like medical products, or skilled labor (machinist); a high profit value product business. Internet is needed for all of these businesses. Encourage low impact but high value business.
Add to Strength: NNickerson said, “We have to sell the life style of Greenfield to the public. Business taxes are lower in NH, but you have to attract that special person to the Greenfield way of life.”
PRenaud said next month we will have to continue to work on the SWOT. We will have Jack’s input and this will be finalized for an October presentation to the Select Board. SWOT is a ‘living’ document. We will continue to change it beyond October as the need arises. PRenaud asked committee members to go through the list for next month’s meeting and then we can begin to think of action plans for each item.
Organizational Matters
PRenaud said since our first meeting in January, we’ve all come up with a bunch of ideas and talked about them. In order to systematically address these ideas, at the next meeting, the list of ideas will be put into priority order and then we can begin to make plans on how to assign the tasks. JFletcher said he would like to see a Greenfield tradeshow allowing residents to view all the businesses in town and what they have to offer. It is difficult to get all the trades together, but it would be an opportunity for the townsfolk to see the local vendors.
PRenaud will compile the list of ideas and will e-mail it to the committee members and they may in turn add any additional ideas to the list as well.
PRenaud advised the committee that we are going to get a link on the website. He needs the committee members approval to list their individual e-mail addresses and/or phone numbers: CMorrocco, e-mail, AWood, e-mail, PRenaud, e-mail and phone, NNickerson, e-mail and phone, RCilley, email and cell, JFletcher, e-mail and phone; JMoran, to be contacted.
PRenaud said the link will have our meeting minutes and agenda, the EDAC charter and other links and information that can be added in the future.
Other Matters
PRenaud said the October presentation to the Select Board will be principally to advise them about industrial rezoning and options for broadband expansion. He will also incorporate the SWOT analysis into the presentation.
On re-zoning: There are several small lots to be rezoned. The proposed lots will be presented to the Planning Board on September 23rd for their feedback. After the presentation I will begin to write the ordinance. I won’t craft the final exact language as that will be the Planning Board’s job. RCilley said it would be easier to have a piece of property rezoned rather than a location overlay.
PRenaud asked the committee if we, as a committee, have to notify the current landowners or trustees of the land, of the rezoning. NNickerson said if we rezone this, we have to notify the landowner. PRenaud said “The only change would be the zone overlay, and the landowner could still sell as a house lot.”
In response to a comment by Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center CEO Donald Shumway at the June 24th Select Board meeting, RCilley said if we have a CMRC person on this committee, it will turn this situation with CMRC into a positive. NNickerson is in agreement with RCilley; if we have a CMRC person on board, we can turn this weakness into a positive. Perhaps in two months we can have this person come on board our committee. PRenaud said it was APatt’s idea to have all residents on this committee to start with, then at a later time to bring on business persons who reside outside of Greenfield.
PRenaud advised that the charter was accepted by the Select Board.
PRenaud will be attending the Regional EDAC meeting on September 20; he will also attend the SW Region Broadband Stakeholders Group meeting this Wednesday. There will also be a regional broadband forum, probably in late September, where a first draft of the regional broadband plan should be presented. This is part of the four year effort by the nine regional planning commissions, mandated by the NH Broadband Mapping and Planning Program, to devise a broadband plan by December 2014. These regional plans will then be coordinated into a state broadband plan.
He advised that RMarshall is having a September 14 community meeting with the Neighborhood Heritage District Committee where a draft ordinance for a Neighborhood Heritage District will be presented. This may have an impact on the EDAC, specifically regarding the extent of the proposed heritage district and any business restrictions within the district. All members are invited to attend.
PRenaud said “We need to form a broadband subcommittee. PRenaud and AWood and at least a third person will be needed. We have a few people under consideration. The subcommittee will need to meet more than once a month and will focus exclusively on broadband and technology matters. This committee could be a model for other subcommittees and projects. A synopsis of the subcommittee meetings we attend will be given to the main committee in addition to minutes.
10:02 Adjournment: JFletcher motioned to adjourn. NNickerson seconded. Vote unanimous in favor.
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