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1999-10-13City of Beverly, Massachusetts Public Meeting Minutes BOARD: SUBCOMMiTTEE: DATE: PLACE: BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: OTHERS PRESENT: ABSENT: Economic & Connnunity Development Council October 13.1999 Beverly City Hall Brenda Spence, Bill Rodenbaugh, Dick Mooney, Wayne Mastin, Don Stacey, Deb Rosser, Joyce McMahon RECORDER: Jeannine Dion Joyce McMahon calls the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. Discussion on certified project application oflNOTEK Corp. at Cummin2s Center Andrew Salzman appears on behalfofINOTEK Corporation. Salzman states INOTEK was built because he wanted to make a difference. Salzman states the company is going to be in Beverly for many years and intends to be a good neighbor. Salzman states most start-up companies are going to Boston and Cambridge. Salzman states when 1NOTEK was looking for a location, the decision was between Beverly and Worcester. Salzman states he believes choosing Beverly has put Beverly on the map. Salzman states he has been getting calls from scientists looking at Beverly. Salzman states the cost of leasing space in Cambridge is $60 per square foot and Boston is $65 per square foot. Salzman states when people come to his facility, they can see there is a business community atmosphere. Salzman states that he wants to hire people, but trained scientists are hard to come by and expresses a need to train people in the area. Salzman states he just hired a very qualified office manager from the area and is trying to hire people at different levels. McMahon asks if there is a list of jobs available at INOTEK. Salzman responds that they are listed on the web www. inotek.corrk_ Rodenbaugh asks how far away INOTEK is away from selling a product. Salzman responds that 1NOTEK is a discovery company which h_as customers like Merck. Mastin asks how many separate projects INOTEK is undertaking. Salzman responds that there are 10 parallel projects at the moment. Stacey asks if the company is working on live vaccine research. Salzman responds 'no' and that is not the company's expertise. Economic and Community Development Council Minutes October 13, 1999 Page 2 Rodenbaugh comments that INOTEK should state that it is going to formalize an Affirmative Action Statement. Salzman notes Rodenbaugh's recommendation and adds that the company is very diverse. Rodenbaugh: motion to approve the application for certified project status, seconded by Mooney. All members in favor. Motion carries. Discussion with Citv's master I~lan consultant on ECDC's role in the master Dlan process McMahon introduces Ken Buckland, Associate Senior Planner ~'om the Cecil Group. Buckland states he is currently in the exploratory stage, which entails getting information fi'om other boards and committees. Buckland states he would like to hear about what in the business community has done well and what has not done well in the past. Buckland asks if the ECDC has a Mission Statement or Goals and Objectives. Rodenhaugh states there was a draft version of Mission Statement, Goals and Objectives prepared in 1995 but he does not know if it was ever fmalized. McMahon states she will speak with Tina Cassidy on this and she provides Buckland with a copy of the drat~ version dated January 1995. Rodenbaugh states the ECDC also conducted a business survey in 1996, which had only a 20% response. Rodenhaugh states fi'om the study the ECDC was able to put together what the business community thinks about the city. Highway access to the city was among the positive points and the presence of street people was among the negative points. A copy of the Response to Business Survey dated January 1996 was provided to Buckland. Rodenbaugh states that in t 990 the assessors' valuation of commercial/industrial propony was $450 million compared to a current evaluation of $300 million. McMahon states there is a list of land and buildings that are not taxed (i.e. schools, churches, health care) that she can provide to Buckland. Rosser states there was a brochure entitled Invest in Beverly's Waterfront which outlined the positive aspects ofBeverly's water~'ont (i.e. social, quality of life, etc.). Rosser states it was well done. Rodenhaugh states the ECDC put together a document several years ago with similar information. Buckland states the Chamber of Commerce can organize distinct groups to address specific issues of concern the business community may have (i.e. street people). Business Improvement District's (B.I,D.) can put funds together to focus on immediate concerns, as was done in Springfield. Buckland states in Springfield, 90% of the businesses signed on to address specific issues. McMahon adds that in these districts the Economic and Community Development Council Minutes October 13, 1999 Page 3 businesses agree to pay additional taxes and put the money toward specific areas. Spence states that the business owners in the City are fragmented and not cohesive. Rodenbaugh adds that Cummings Center essentially has that cohesiveness by nature. Mooney states he recalls years ago there was an effort to establish a common time to close businesses at the end of the business day which never came to fruition because the business owners could not reach an agreement. Buckland states he would be interested in attending an upcoming Chamber of Commerce breakfast to discuss the B.I.D. concept with business owners. Rosser states she just joined the Chamber and she does not think there would be agreement on a B.I.D. Rosser states the Chamber is doing a better job working With the city to make it easy to do business in Beverly. Rosser states that some view B.I.D.'s as almost micro management of private business affairs. Rodenbaugh states Beverly is like five towns jammed together with different characters and a common approach doesn't work very well. Buckland responds that most cities are diverse and B.I.D. could be described as a tool that is available. Buckland states he could provide a list of other tools that are available. Buckland asks how often the ECDC meets. McMahon responds that it meets once a month but can meet more frequently. McMahon states this is a project that the ECDC really wants to focus on, it is a big issue in the community and the ECDC wants to be a part of it. McMahon asks how often the Steering Committee will meet. Buckland responds it will meet once per month for one year. McMahon asks what the composition of the Steering Committee will be. Buckland responds that the diverse group will be comprised of 12-15 people. Rodenbaugh asks who will be making the decision on the members of the Steering Committee. McMahon states she believes City Hall is looking for a member of this committee to be the representative to sit on the Steering Committee. Buckland states he also viewed good access as a positive point for the city and asks why it is not an incentive. McMahon responds that the infrastructure is not developed. McMahon states the Airport Road industrial project had 60 acres of land that was industrially zoned but not accessible. There is a lack of water and sewer lines and there are minimal amounts of industrial zoned land in the city. McMahon adds that the city needs to maximize the revenue potential o f what industrial land it has. Rodenhaugh states that in past years the City administration was perceived as anti- business. Rodenbaugh adds that there is land along Route 128 that is zoned industrial but it can not be accessed. There was discussion about the lack of area for nexfv commercial development. Economic and Community Development Council Minutes October 13, 1999 Page 4 Mooney states Beverly has a strong environmental advocacy group and historically the city was a bedroom community that did not want commercial/industrial development. Stacey states that in the late 80's and 90's you could purchase property for a song in downtown Boston. Stacey adds there is a window of opportunity now because Boston has lost some of its charm. Buckland states that Boston is not building new office space and that extends to other regions. McMahon states a problem is the fact that the Cherry Hill Industrial Park is only leasing and that businesses that want to build have to look outside of the city. McMahon states if access is opened to Dunham Road, it would allow additional development to occur. Rodenbaugh states Hasbro could build another 200,000 - 300,000 square feet. Rodenbaugh states there are only three or four major players currently in the industrial tax base. Buckland states he would like to review a Mission Statement of the ECDC. He would then make implementation recommendations. McMahon asks when the Steering Committee will have its first meeting. Buckland responds mid November. McMahon informs any member interested in serving on the Steering Committee to let her know. Buckland also recommends the ECDC identify key business properties or business owners that mzke significant impact in the city. McMahon states the next meeting will take place on Wednesday, November 17, 1999 at 6:30 p.m. Meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m.