Your local economic developer many times can be of considerable assistance in a proposed project. Try to look at your proposed project considering the economic developer’s objectives: creating good jobs and maintaining/improving the economy in the area. Keep in mind that quality of life and the environment are also considerations.
Why Work with an Economic Developer?
An economic developer can help your firm develop a sound business strategy and help you develop key business relationships. Economic developers can open doors for your firm. The developer will know the community leaders and the local bankers and builders. He or she knows the key people who are looking to support development deals. These people often rely on the developer to identify and make happen deals in the community.
An economic developer may be someone who works with a local economic development organization, or he/she may be an executive with the local Chamber of Commerce, a city employee or someone working with a utility or utility organization. This person also may work for the county or for a regional organization.
However, when you do go visit the economic developer, you should be prepared to provide answers to a lot of questions. You definitely should have completed many of the steps in this manual. Don’t leave gaps. For example, you should not be making any requests of bankers until you really have something to talk to him/her about (a welldefined and supported business plan).
Economic development agencies can provide a variety of services to assist your group in developing a business idea.
- Identify financial programs at local, county, state and federal levels.
- Provide general business development strategies to make your business a success.
- Help make the idea become reality.
- Assist in locating a suitable development site that will help the idea be a success.
- Help arrange for needed infrastructure for the site, such as water, roads and sewer.
- Assist with understanding and compliance with local, state and federal requirements.
- Make introductions to key local, state and federal business leaders.
- Discuss finance strategies to use all available programs.
- Serve as a source for information such as wage rates and employment rates.
- Critique your business plan from the standpoint of making your business a success in the local community.
Here are a few of the questions you should expect to hear from the economic developer you visit. If you do not have all of the answers, this person may be able to assist you in gathering information.
- Just what is it that you are proposing to do?
- What types of processes will be used?
- Have you determined the operations capacity and expected volume?
- Who will be involved?
- Have you identified a qualified manager?
- What would be the size, type of construction and estimated cost of building?
- How much land do you anticipate needing?
- Who would be the suppliers and the customers, and what are their locations?
- What would the wages and benefits be?
These also will be key factors to consider in site selection:
- What would be the traffic volume and type?
- Would you need parking area for trucks?
- How many shifts and how many employees per shift?
- What volume of water would be needed?
- What are volume and characteristics of sewer discharge?
- Would you pretreat sewage?
- What arrangements will be made for by-products?
- What amount and type of electrical service will be needed?
- What volume of LP gas or natural gas will you require?
- Will livestock be held on the site? (This could become an important consideration to assure compatibility with nearby land uses.)
- Will the holding area be open or enclosed?
Other factors to be used in site selection would include:
- Is the site flood prone?
- Are the soil types suitable for the type of development proposed?
- Land use zoning may also be a consideration.
- Is the property zoned for the proposed use and, if not, what are the chances of getting it rezoned?
The preceding is a laundry list of some of the many questions that should be answered in the process of project development. If you are armed with enough information, the local economic developers may be able to support you in your venture and identify financial programs on the local, regional, state or national level to help make your proposal a reality. They also can guide you through the maze of site qualities necessary to your operations, saving you time as well as site investment risk.