MetroWest creating economic points of contact
Natick is home to a bustling retail environment, anchored by the Natick Mall.
Marlborough has used its natural advantages to entice corporations from across the globe to locate their offices in MetroWest, the highlight being GE Healthcare’s planned facility for the city.
As economic competition heightens among MetroWest communities vying for businesses fleeing Boston's skyrocketing prices or coming into the area for the first time, cities and towns are putting an increasing emphasis on economic development to reel in businesses.
This can be seen through the communities of Marlborough and Natick, where development pressures are playing out in different ways. While the city of Marlborough has been able to snag large businesses like GE Healthcare in recent years, the town of Natick has a bustling retail center along the active Route 9 corridor. While the emphasis of these two communities is slightly different, the key to their growth has been a responsiveness and willingness to work with developers and businesses, said Paul Joseph, president and CEO of the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce.
“The goal for the towns is really to become more proactive. We are no longer in an environment where reactivity will allow you to survive,” Joseph said. “We have to invest in professionals that are educated, experienced and focused on this. You can no longer do this with a volunteer structure and compete with a community that is investing in it as a strategic priority.”
There are multiple models for a government focus on economic development, said Joseph who chaired the Natick Economic Development Committee for six years, but it hinges on a primary point of contact for the community that can help walk businesses through the process of locating to the area. Someone in this position can review applications and give developers and property owners not only a layout of the process but help them navigate around potential roadblocks.
“That navigational advice pays off because it saves the extra meeting cycles,” said Joseph. “The full-time professional does not only understand the map but also how the wind is blowing.”
In Marlborough, this economic development role is fulfilled by the Marlborough Economic Development Corporation (MEDC). That organization has been in place since 2007 using a hotel rooms tax specifically for economic development.
Natick takes a more traditional path to economic development with a community and economic development director. That role was recently revamped to have a more economic development emphasis and serve as a point of contact for development in the town.
“It can be a single, streamlined process for anyone looking to do business in the community… You can stay in the same department whether you are asking about simpler building codes or larger projects,” said Jamie Errickson, community and economic development director for Natick.
Courting businesses
In Marlborough, courting businesses is a time-consuming venture that means trips to New York City, Chicago and Boston for Mayor Arthur Vigeant as he meets with developers and businesses, but having a contact with the city for businesses and developers is key, he said.
While he primarily credits the city's recent success to its inborn benefits such as location and strong workforce, making sure the city is approachable and willing to work with businesses is the edge that communities need as growth continues in MetroWest, Vigeant said.
“We try to get projects done as quickly as possible knowing time is money,” he said.
This emphasis has paid off for the city. Since 2012, it has filled more than 2 million square feet of commercial space and brought more than 5,000 jobs to the city.
Establishing a vision
The job of economic development isn't just about attracting development, but directing it in a sustainable way that works for the entire community, Errickson said. Natick is moving forward with short- and long-term planning, with an effort underway to get voter approval for a master plan that would lay out desired development throughout every area of the town.
“Establishing a vision is the fun part because you get to engage with the community, you get to engage with the property owners and you get to figure out what you want things to look like 20 years down the road,” Errickson said.
Once in place, these plans inform zoning changes and serve as a guide for developers, who can quickly find out whether their plans fit with the town's goals for an area.
This is extremely important for the communities to figure out, so they can streamline the process and be proactive in determining what is the best use in certain locations, said Marc Draisen, executive director of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, which assists with planning for the region.
Not having anyone heading up planning and economic development at the local level can hurt communities, Draisen said.
“A lot of communities haven't really decided what they want, so their zoning doesn't actually match their aspirations,” Draisen said “Developers may be forced to wait for two to three years until they get a permit or are denied … No developer wants to spend all their money on attorney's fees. They want to build something.”
One area Natick will be looking at specifically is changing the permitted uses in the industrial parks zoned for uses more in keeping with the 1950's and 1960's, not today's research and development.
“I just want to make sure we are truly accommodating highest and best uses and market demands,” Errickson said. “Zoning is an extremely valuable tool to providing a private property owner or investor a vision for what the ideal use of a certain property is.”
Avoiding regional competition
Even as communities in MetroWest plan for and see growth from companies and developers, it is important for them not to cannibalize from each other, Draisen said.
“We are not encouraging [municipalities] to take a business from one place into their community,” he said. “Most of the time the company will be taken from the community right next door.”
Vigeant, who is in his fifth year as mayor, has seen his own attitude on this shift. While initially he was pushing entirely for Marlborough specifically, now he recognizes that any growth in MetroWest benefits the city.
“Taking a company from Framingham doesn't help the area, but if I can bring someone up here from New York, it does,” he said. “If we push it as a region, I think we do a lot better for all of us.”
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