The Economic Development Commission held a special meeting on Tuesday, February 23, 2010 in Conference Room #3 at the Municipal Center, 3 Primrose Street in Newtown.
Present: Robert Rau (Chair), Mitchell Bolinsky, Martha LaMarche, Robert Morey, Ted Kreinik, Donald Sharpe, and Wes Thompson.
Chairman Rau called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
Public Participation – No members of the public were present.
Reports
- Director, Economic and Community Development
Ms. Stocker was not in attendance but submitted a report as follows
The newly designed web site (www.newtown.org) is live and training for the content management program (Adobe Contribute) is scheduled for the first week in March. Two support staff members will attend the training with Marty and I. I will work with the subcommittee to integrate the internet marketing with an overall marketing plan.
The NEREJ will be publishing the Spring Preview on or about March 15th. I reserved a ½ page ad that will be combined with a 700 word editorial. The cost is $425 and copy must be ready by March 8th. Suggestions for content are welcome.
We have been invited to submit copy for the next issue of the Chamber Newsletter. The deadline is March 15th and suggestions from the Commission are welcome.
Loop Net continues to provide ongoing feed back on the listings that were added for Fairfield Hills and the Tech Park. Unfortunately no live leads have been produced to date.
A proposal for two signs for the Tech Park to be installed on Commerce Road indicates a cost of $1,400. The listing for the site is part of my handouts. A price has not been posted it is listed as negotiable.
I have been actively visiting existing businesses and I am working with a couple of potential business in their expansion plans. One prospect involves the former Pitney Bowes building on Edmond Road. This site has been vacant for a couple of years. The prospect would bring a new research & development and manufacturing business in to occupy the 211,000 sf facility and hopes to add another 39,500 square feet to the building. Two property owners in Sandy Hook Center have shared their expansion plans with several staff members. The owners hope the Town will proceed with the streetscape plans. Private investment in the two projects is over $5 mill. Union Savings Bank will be opening their newest branch office in Plaza South in the coming weeks. Six employees will be placed in the new branch office, 3 are new hires. A new day care center, The Learning Experience is working toward a June/July opening. The day care center will employ between 24 to 40 people depending on
enrollment which may be up to 158 children.
Copies of the Ridgefield EDC Economic Development Action Plan, dated Dec. 2009 ere distributed for your reference.
The listing for the Newtown Technology Park is distributed for your reference and comments.
The committee discussed the cost for signs, whether it be borne by the Town or a broker. Also whether to go with brokers representing the property or a developer who buys the land to develop it. If a broker is used, find one with expertise, knowledge, integrity, and competence. Mr. Rau will arrange to have one or two brokers in to provide presentations.
The members also discussed the Finance Committee’s postponement of the Sandy Hook Streetscape. It was noted that Ms. Stocker found statistics showing that with every dollar of investment spent in a town center there is a return of $70 in tax revenue over a certain period of time. He asked the group to come up with recommendations to justify moving ahead with the Sandy Hook Streetscape earlier. The expansion around Exit 9 was also discussed as an option. The commissioners discussed Item #7 (Ridgefield EDC Economic Development Action Plan) of Ms. Stocker’s report. Ms. LaMarche said they may need a more detailed list of priorities.
b. Subcommittee Reports
- Maximization of Sites for Economic Development (Thompson/Morey) – Mr. Thompson discussed finding the target audience (real estate brokers) and target customers (people who own the property). He discussed Fairfield Hills being a long term plan and tactical being the buildings that are already in place. He will obtain a list of open sites from Ms. Stocker and will contact some key brokers for information. They noted that Pecks Lane and Pitney Bowes sites are ready to go and that there are many sites on Mt. Pleasant Road that are zoned industrial. It was also noted that Sandy Hook has builders ready to develop there and that there are plans for a bank in the center and that a restaurant will be opening soon by Joe Tartaglia on the corner of Dayton Street and Church Hill Road.
- Business Advocacy/Retention (Sharpe, Morey) –.
iii. Evaluate/Upgrade EDC Marketing Aids (LaMarche, Thompson) – Ms. LaMarche discussed two proposals for a marketing plan and that Ms. Stocker said she likes the level of detail in the Sandormax proposal but was concerned about how much time it would required. There will be a meeting explaining the costs. Ms. LaMarche explained the overcharge by Sandormax on the website and felt comfortable with it. The commission spoke about Sandormax creating the e-mail template because of the branding aspects, but using Jantris to place the data in the e-mail template.
iv. Development of Tech Park (Rau) - A developer and a commercial real estate broker will be invited to make a presentation at the next EDC meeting to discuss the possible role someone in their profession would play in the development of the tech park.
v. Strategic Plan (Bolinsky/Rau) - A draft will be prepared after each of the sub-committees have completed their objectives/strategies.
New Business
Respectfully submitted by Tammy Hazen, Clerk
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