* Article reprinted from "Towns & Topics", Association of Towns of State of New York, Sept/Oct - 2002

These days we hear a great deal about doing more with less - less money, fewer grants, diminished resources. It is a mantra of pessimism and a blueprint for failure. Yet throughout the state a number of towns have seen these circumstances as an opportunity to step back and evaluate themselves. Are they doing all that can be done to encourage development? Have they taken stock of what they have to offer, the talents of their people and their opportunities to market their town? Have they communicated the desire for additional development to their communities and their region?

Making a town friendly to developers does not always require sophisticated technology or a large staff. Headway can be made by capitalizing on available resources and minimizing development obstacles. Is there a waterfront area to showcase? Does the town have excellent road and railway access? Are town residents the educated and skilled workforce that industry seeks?

Simple actions can create positive results. Developers often complain about regulatory runaround and the inability to find the right person in a town to answer a variety of development questions.

Tools that a community should put in place:

• Designate one knowledgeable person for all initial contacts.
• Establish specific hours when that person will be available for questions and providing information.
• Educate that employee in both town requirements and the benefits of development in that town.
• Make this person your ambassador to the public and the development world at large.

Provide your contact person with the tools necessary to launch a successful project. Create a fact sheet about the Town. Include relevant names and phone numbers of town officials, local lenders, and local agencies. Create a notebook which includes all the documents previously used for a variety of successful projects as samples of accurate preparation. Include a list of the most common mistakes that developers have made which has cost them precious time and expense and provide instruction on the appropriate way in which it is to be done.

• Consider institutionalizing pre-development meetings between town staff and applicants. Reviewing even the most preliminary conceptual plans and ideas can clarify issues, identify potential problems and provide an opportunity to solve them creatively. Developers respect action and will appreciate the town's efforts to work with them and prevent costly delays. The town too will benefit by providing these meetings, often avoiding the unfortunate "us" and "them" mentality that encourages discord and bogs down progress.
• Utilize available training resources. Today even the most rural communities may find themselves the site of significant projects which raise complex social, scientific and technological questions. Town staff and officials should have the knowledge and mechanisms to deal with these issues and to identify when they require outside assistance. Regional planning councils, the Association of Towns and the NYS Department of State all provide excellent training and resources.
• Evaluate your community's strengths and use that knowledge to determine the kind of development that you seek. Does your town, county or region have a particular industry base which makes you attractive to that industry's affiliates, suppliers or competitors? Has a company recently closed or left town and left behind a qualified workforce and an ideal site for development? Are there brownfield sites which could be attractive for redevelopment with some technical or financial assistance? Once this analysis is performed it becomes easier to formulate plans targeting specific industries and development projects.
• Work with available economic development agencies to market your community. Keep lines of communication open and foster frequent contacts with regional and state development agencies, such as the Empire State Development Corp.( http://www.empire.state.ny.us/nysdc/) to ensure that you are aware of opportunities and available grants and initiatives and that they are aware of your community's assets.
• The Build Now program administered by Empire State Development is an effective mechanism for marketing "shovel ready" sites. Once a site has been qualified as a Build Now site, it receives the benefit of a statewide marketing program which promotes qualified sites as locations available for development on an expedited basis. http://www.gorr.state.ny.us/gorr/About_BNNY.html

Consider streamlining the development process. Developers routinely take issue with the length of time which is required to take a project from concept to reality in New York State. Much of this criticism revolves around the environmental review process required by the State Environmental Quality Review Act ("SEQR").
(http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dcs/seqr/)
By working creatively with site owners, communities can pre-permit sites for development and utilize "as of right development" concepts to provide a turn key project.

As of Right Development ("ARD") allows projects compliant with local zoning to obtain a building permit without further referral to planning boards. ARD works best where the community has up-to-date zoning and a comprehensive plan which includes both zoning and planning and long-term infrastructure plans. The process is further facilitated when standardized engineering specifications for roads, utilities and other infrastructure improvements are also published, thereby avoiding the possibility that plans need to be redone in order to comply with community requirements.

The ARD process begins when the local legislature enacts zoning provisions allowing for ARD. The planning board participates actively in both the legislative and SEQR process. The locality prepares a Generic Environmental Impact Statement ("GEIS") which evaluates hypothetical projects consistent with zoning. The environmental impact statement considers several possible projects which include intensive uses and significant environmental impacts. Alternatives are examined and mitigation measures are proposed to mitigate or avoid these impacts. Thus, when an actual project is proposed all of the environmental impacts have been considered and addressed.

Utilizing ARD provides a municipality with an advantage attractive to most developers. It is an extraordinary mechanism in situations where communities are competing for relocating or expanding businesses. When an out-of-town parent is choosing between several locations for the placement of a new plant, a turn key location has a noticeable advantage and the new business can be up and running in no time.

The decision to choose a specific location for a project is a complicated one involving financing, market opportunities and workforce availability. Although a locality cannot control many of these project determinants, it can take steps to highlight its strengths, enhance communication and streamline the review process, making sure it is on the "short list" for development.

Resources: New York Department of State

Underberg & Kessler
Terry M. Richman
Underberg & Kessler
1800 Chase Square
Rochester, N.Y. 14604
Direct dial (585) 258-2829
Central phone (585) 258-2800
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trichman@underberg-kessler.com