Tipp City planning for future economic development
Goals include growing city’s population, attracting more jobs.
Consultants hired to guide Tipp City in its economic development efforts set a series of recommendations and goals, including a call for a 10% population increase in five years that likely will be reduced after comments from city council’s president.
The city’s population was 9,857 as of 2017, a 1.7% increase from 2010.
A 10% growth goal set by The Montrose Group in its recently shared report led City Council President Katie Berbach to suggest taking “that down a notch.”
Berbach pointed to the local schools and whether they could
accommodate that amount of growth. The facilities “are stretched currently,” she said.
Consultant Nate Green of The Montrose Group said the 10% would be a “stretch goal,” but added a city population of more than 10,000 would be a factor in attracting new business and retailers. The growth goal could be modified, he said.
“I think this looks great other than that. I think the others (goals/recommendations) look accomplishable,” Berbach said.
Other goals include diversify the industry base to double the number of white collar workers and retain existing base of manufacturing workers, both in five years.
The city paid The Montrose Group of Columbus $50,000 to conduct the study.
Among their work on the road to the report was talking with community and business leaders and researching the city.
Among the findings on the community were:
- Median household income is $68,179, which is above the state average of $52,407 and above the national average of $57,652
- Per capita income is $33,425, which is above the state average at $29,011 and above the national average of $31,177.
- Workforce - the people who work in the city - is heavily concentrated in transportation, production, architectural and engineering.
These numbers “are really what make your community incredibly special,” Green said.
The city needs to continue to attract jobs in machinery manufacturing, chemical manufacturing, automotive manufacturing and freight transportation along with also looking to attract jobs in software development, logistics and fulfillment centers, medical device manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies, the report said.
The next steps will include the city staff formulating a plan based on the recommendations, said City Manager Tim Eggleston.
“Matt and I have been reviewing the draft report and believe most is doable,” Eggleston said of himself and Matt Spring, the city community development director. “I think the report has energized staff to start looking at our commercial and industrial areas based on the study to implement additional Community Reinvestment Area districts and costs to certify sites for industrial property to be able to stand out from other communities,” he said.
Staff also will come up with suggestions for paying for costs associated with implementing some of the suggestions.
“The study showed how well Tipp City is doing nationally and that we have a strong industrial base that has stood strong even in the wake of COVID,” Eggleston said.