Sharon Economic Development Committee 7 June 2007
In Attendance
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Eli Hauser |
Keevin Geller |
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Alan Lurie |
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Bill Heitin |
Ben Puritz |
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Ben Pinkowitz |
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Suzie Peck |
peckrsdh@speakeasy.org |
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Nancy Fyler |
nsfyler@comcast.net |
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Review of meeting notes from 29 March 2007 and 4 April 2007 meetings (Meeting notes reviewed and accepted).
Subcommittee discussion on project approach and findings to date.
Revenue Targets
New Business Creation: $250 - $500k on 15 parcels, 38 acres of undeveloped lands; $2.5M - $3.5M for 20 acres on S. Main.
New Revenue Sources: $200 - $500 in new revenue or offset costs.
Business Development: $500k to $1.5M in new taxes over next 10 years as businesses upgrade their facilities in PO Square.
7:30 Discussion of post-Town Meeting Focus for EcoDev team.
1. Focus on starting the PO Square waste water and economic development studies
2. Focus on Rt 1 business attraction
Operating budget side of the Town was discussed. Idea to have priorities committee or other committee spearhead the discussion, and have the EcoDev committee focus on revenue generation.
Discussion on needs for new town buildings and how that might be presented. Suggestion to work with PO Square team to place the discussion into the Town agenda.
Invite George Bailey for July meeting and Peter O’Cain to present.
Peter to update on sites available on Rte. 1
George to discuss expedited permitting and impact on Rte 1.
Get PO Square Revitalization Committee involved as well.
7:50 Update on PO Square Economic Study
Rob has held back a bit on moving the project forward because of concerns about targets for team; concern on funding. First issue has to do with jurisdiction; much of what we achieved and much of what we are looking to achieve has a lot to do with Planning Board charter. Susan Price can play a significant role in her experience of developing downtown areas.
There is quite a bit of previous work to study PO Square including traffic studies, business studies, and so on. PO Square revitalization committee. Also, we want to do the top down economic study that illustrates the interplay between the different areas of the town.
There have been discussions with all the owners in the center of town, the biggest constraint relates to the septic; including what we can build today. We need to know traffic and parking and septic. With those 3 constraints, we know the upper limits of the environment.
Earlier visioning exercises identified using the Square as a “service for the Town residents” as opposed to a “draw people from far away” environment.
A subgroup should approach both Susan Price and the PO Square revitalization committee to see if we can align the groups.
8:15 Update on PO Square Septic Study
Objective to determine how much septic capacity we can build. Depend upon existing zoning to determine the upper size of septic demands; play a few scenarios to assemble demand configurations. We expect the septic study will illustrate both conventional and state-of-the-art methods.
Timing wise, we are looking for quite some time to release the $200k from Brickstone for monies to Town for these studies from the Development Agreement.
Should we doing a survey in the center of Town asking what they would walk to, and want in the center of Town? We have done one of those surveys; we should do it again.
Sharon is one of the smallest Town center around; so we need to manage a tenuous balance to make sure it is active.
Suzi distributed a draft of an RFP for issuing to potential vendors.
9:00 Next Meeting: Thursday 19 July 2007, 7.30 pm, Sharon Town Hall
Rob to bring RFP and touch base with the consultants.
Suzi to complete RFP and work with Ben to identify funding source.
9:05 Adjourn