Old Lyme economic development study is in full swing
Old Lyme — In a move deemed unprecedented for the town, the Economic Development Commission has been moving forward with a more than $50,000 economic development study, EDC Co-chairman Howard Margules said.
The hope is to gain “a more comprehensive picture of the town’s current business climate, while also providing strategic insight toward development efforts,” he said.
“I think the town has never devoted resources to this kind of economic development project before,” Margules said by phone Thursday. “Many towns have a full-time planner who do these sort of activities, but we don’t. By doing this project, we will now have a very organized, comprehensive way of approaching economic development in Old Lyme.”
The study, conducted by the Connecticut Economic Resource Center, also known as CERC — a public-private nonprofit agency that works with towns across the state — is utilizing surveys, focus groups, workshops, housing studies, industry analyses and more to form a big-picture look at the town’s current economic climate. It also will help identify which changes can be made to
not only promote a better environment for existing businesses but also to attract specific business that will thrive within Old Lyme’s unique small-town environment.
After the Board of Finance agreed to allocate approximately $52,000 toward the study — $44,160 of which was part of this fiscal year’s budget — the town since has hosted a 90-minute workshop “designed to get everyone working collaboratively” in April and also initiated a yearlong contract with an on-site CERC representative who will help the EDC complete the study and then create a long-term marketing strategy to attract new businesses.
Describing the study as a three-part initiative after an EDC meeting Wednesday, commission member Greg Symon and Co-chairman Justin Fuller said the study will be based around both qualitative and quantitative information gained from three working parts: a townwide survey; a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, or SWOT, analysis; and a feasibility study conducted by CERC, analyzing “demographic trends” and demands for housing and retail, among several other points, through data and statistics.
Once information from those three parts is collected over the next five months, it will be compiled and organized by CERC to form an “easy-to-comprehend” visual analysis of the town’s economic climate and which businesses it can attract in the future. Symon said at Wednesday’s meeting he would like to have the results posted on posters in Town Hall for everyone to see, as well as on the town’s website.
Meaningful changes
From there, the EDC hopes to use the information to potentially create meaningful changes within the town’s Plan of Conservation and Development, as well as within its zoning regulations to more easily allow for, as some examples, mixed-use buildings and designated commercial districts, and to help guide incoming businesses on where they can best thrive.
“We know there will be a whole element of people who will say we do want change but town government hasn’t allowed us to change because we are so strict with our zoning rules, which isn’t unusual in colonial towns,” Symon said. “We haven’t had the vision yet to say, ‘Why don’t we have mixed-use building where people could live in apartments above shops below?’ We haven’t had a vision yet allowing the shore area to look like Watch Hill, for example. Something like that could be possible.”
The survey part of the study, which the EDC started distributing two weeks ago, is made up of both multiple choice and open-ended questions formed by CERC and modified by the EDC. It asks both business owners and residents throughout town questions like, “What kind of additional housing development would you like to see in Old Lyme, if any?” and which sorts of development or improvements residents would like to see along Halls Road, Hartford Avenue, Boston Post Road and Lyme Street, among other locations.
Margules said the EDC already has received more than 250 responses, while more than 1,500 will be distributed. The hope, he said, is to receive more than 500 responses. The survey, available both online and in paper format at Town Hall, takes approximately 20 minutes to fill out and will be available until the end of September.
“This is about balancing the thoughts and opinions of our residents and business owners with hard data,” Symon said, explaining the study’s specific blend of both qualitative and quantitative aspects. “Economic development is beyond retail stores and enterprises, it’s also about the town’s values, what it would like to be and the legacy it would like to have.”
Members of the EDC discussed at its meeting Wednesday night the study’s progress and what still needs to be done to successfully see its completion, as well as how to ascertain information from it that can be used to benefit the town in responsible, thoughtful and meaningful ways.
“We want to be in a position with this data to help bring meaningful change to planning and zoning regulations in this town. To say, ‘Look, the town wants this, and your current charter doesn’t meet these requirements,’” Symon said. “I think right now we are really stringent on certain types of zoning and I don’t think it is allowing people to grow certain parts of the town. But with a good plan, we can envision a lot.”
The online survey, available to all Old Lyme residents and business owners, can be found bit.ly/OLEDCsurvey.