Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout3. Economic Development Update 01/27/2015Village of Mount Prospect� Community Development Department MEMORANDUM eo /M TO: DAVID STRAHL, ACTING VILLAGE MANAGER ` 7' I FROM: DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DATE: JANUARY 21, 2015 SUBJECT: DISCUSSION ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT The Village Board adopted the Village's Strategic Plan in 2014 to create a long term vision, to define a general Village mission and to provide direction for more detailed tactical planning and implementation. Key components of the Strategic Plan include six overall goals established by the Village Board, of which three deal directly with economic development throughout the Village. Discussion will focus on how current economic development efforts are meeting these goals and what other opportunities exist that can further these efforts. Staff will present an overview of development projects that are scheduled to take place in 2015, discuss current economic development efforts by staff and the Economic Development Commission, and evaluate how the Village's economic development efforts and budget compare to surrounding communities. The goal of the discussion is to begin an open dialogue with the Village Board regarding economic development efforts in the community and to ensure that staff and the Economic Development Commission are focusing on programs/activities that are aligned with the priorities of the Village Board. The Economic Development Commission has been invited to the meeting to participate in the discussion. I have attached a summary of economic activities that the Village currently employs to further investment in the community. These activities include business attraction, business retention and marketing efforts that are cornerstones of accepted economic development strategies utilized by communities nationwide. In addition, the document details business incentives that the Village employs and key process improvements that have been made to streamline and simplify the development review process. Please forward this memorandum and attachments to the Village Board for their review and discussion at the January 27th Committee of the Whole meeting. � William J. oney Jr. Economic Development Activities Business Attraction 1. Trade Shows The Village has historically focused its' trade show efforts by attending local and national International Conference of Shopping Centers (ICSC) events. The ICSC is the largest trade association of the shopping center industry. The Village attends the National RECON show and the Dealmaking and Alliance Programs in Chicago. The Economic Development Commission (EDC) will investigate attending local manufacturing and tech shows throughout 2015 in their efforts to attract businesses to the Kensington Business Center and other industrial properties throughout the Village. (Strategic Action Plan (SAP) 4A, 5A, 5B and 6A) 2. Entrepreneur's Cafe The Village, in partnership with the Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Merchants Association, Mount Prospect Public Library and Illinois Small Business Development Center offers quarterly events that are focused on the nuts and bolts of starting a business in Mount Prospect. These efforts are focused on small businesses and have been well attended. (SAP 4A, 4C, 5A, 5B and 6A) 3. Recruitment Efforts Staff has established a network of key contacts in the commercial/industrial brokerage community that we communicate with regularly on development opportunities. These relationships are critical as these professionals have a big impact on location decisions throughout the region. Staff reinforces the Village's pro -development attitude and encourages them to steer clients towards Mount Prospect. Back in 2007-08, the Village hired a consultant primarily to recruit businesses in the downtown district. While the recruiting efforts did not bear fruit, the consultant did assist the Village on its' marketing efforts by re -designing the economic development page on our website and formulating marketing pieces to promote businesses. These efforts have been reassigned among Community Development and Village Manager's Office staff who will continue to manage these tasks. (SAP 4A, 4C, 5A and 66) Business Retention 1. Business Visitation Program The EDC has conducted over 200 business visits throughout the community over the past 7 years. These visits have been very beneficial to the Village as they have provided a window into understanding key issues impacting businesses in town. The top issues raised by the business community were high property taxes, lack of restaurants in the area, lack of hotel options, ComEd service interruptions and maintenance of the infrastructure in the Village. The Village has worked hard to address all of these issues and has made great strides with the Randhurst Village redevelopment (and surrounding properties), interaction with ComEd and investment in the Village's infrastructure. The EDC's focus in 2015 will be setting meetings with shopping center owners to discuss issues impacting them. (SAP 4A and 4B) 2. Entrepreneur's Cafe The Entrepreneur's Cafe also focuses on existing businesses by providing local mentoring opportunities to interested business owners. Cafe meetings topics such as business marketing, networking and budgeting serve to educate small business owners, with the goal of strengthening and growing their business. Entrepreneur's Cafe topics are chosen in part by the participants, allowing future programming to address the small business community's specific needs. (SAP 4C and 56) Marketing of Village/Businesses 1. Web site updates The business tab on the Village's website provides interested parties with all information needed to locate and operate a business in the community. Staff updates the available retail, office and industrial properties on a monthly basis utilizing its' Costar subscription. Links to Village incentive programs, the Entrepreneur's Cafe, and Experience Mount Prospect are all easily accessible on the website. The Village is upgrading its' web site design this year which will provide greater flexibility in expanding/modifying the economic development portion of the site. (SAP 4C and 5B) 2. Experience Mount Prospect The Experience Mount Prospect site provides Mount Prospect businesses with free advertising opportunities that are sent to over 2,000 registered customers, via a monthly E -newsletter. Local businesses are also promoted directly through the Experience Mount Prospect website; business deals are posted on the main page and special events are posted on the Experience Mount Prospect calendar. Businesses are encouraged to submit for free listing in the Business Directory, which includes over 140 restaurants, retail and service businesses currently posted. The Experience Mount Prospect site continues to grow through greater business participation and addition of local subscribers. Continual promotion of the Experience Mount Prospect program and website will better connect businesses with local customers. (SAP 2B, 4A, 4C, and 5B) 3. Business Resource Guide This "how-to" guide is a document designed to assist prospective and new business owners understand the process of opening a business in the Village. Thorough in its contents, the guide provides contact information for local, county, and state business organizations. It also explains the various review processes within the village, such as building permits or business licenses. This document is available on the Village website. (SAP 1B and 4C) 4. Ribbon Cuttings The Village works in collaboration with the Mount Prospect Chamber of Commerce to organize ribbon cuttings, which celebrate and welcome new businesses to the community or to commemorate special events, such as a business anniversary. Businesses that have ribbon cuttings receive recognition in our quarterly Village Newsletter and additional exposure through the Chamber. (SAP 2B, 4A, and 5B) 5. Banner Program The Village promotes the Village's businesses and the Experience Mount Prospect program through a series of colorful banners displayed on light poles throughout downtown. These banners, which are rotated regularly, promote events such as the Block Party, Fall Fest, and the Tree Lighting. The banners encourage people to Shop, Dine and Enjoy Mount Prospect, while creating a sense of place unique to downtown. Our banners are updated on a regular basis, and in 2015, newly purchased Shop, Dine, and Enjoy banners will be displayed throughout downtown. (SAP 26, 5A and 5B) 6. Eddie Award In 2014, the Village and CVS/Caremark received an Edie Award, which honors businesses that "invest, build and bring jobs, growth and prosperity to Illinois communities". This award, given by the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and Illinois Development Council, is highly competitive and reflects the best economic development projects completed each year throughout the state. (SAP 2C and 4A) Incentives 1. Class 6b Cook County Classification The Village has supported over 20 applications for the Class 6b tax incentive that is available to qualifying industrial businesses. The program reduces the assessment level for industrial properties from 25% to 10% for ten years, then 15% in year 11 and 20% in year 12 before returning to the full 25% assessment level thereafter. The 6b incentive can be extended an additional term if approved by the Village. The intent of the program is to level the property tax rate for qualifying businesses to those that exist in surrounding counties. (SAP 5A and 6A) 2. Facade Improvement and Interior Buildout Program The Village offers matching grants to qualifying retail/restaurant operations in the downtown district. The grant is up to $10,000 for retail establishments and $25,000 for restaurants to make improvements to the interior and exterior of their establishments. The program is funded through the downtown Tax Increment Financing fund. (SAP 5A, 6A, and 6B) 3 3. Randhurst Village Redevelopment The Village entered into a Redevelopment Agreement with JP Morgan/Casto to redevelop the former Randurst Mall into Randhurst Village. The Village pledged $25 million towards the $150 million project to ensure that this key commercial property and the surrounding Rand Road commercial corridor continue to thrive into the future. All the funds that the Village committed to the project were "new" revenues that were above and beyond revenues that were generated by the property prior to the redevelopment. Fund sources included a Business District tax, shared state sales taxes, hotel taxes, entertainment taxes and food and beverage taxes. (SAP 5A and 6A) 4. Sales Tax Sharing Agreements The Village has entered into two sales tax sharing agreements over the past few decades to attract (Costco) and relocate (NW Electric) certain businesses. The Village did adopt a policy that requires that any business requesting consideration must have annual sales over $75 million for the Village to consider such requests. (SAP 5A and 6A) S. Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District The Village has utilized a TIF district as the primary economic development tool for its' downtown redevelopment efforts over the past few decades. The Village has utilized TIF funds for property acquisition, demolition, business relocation, site cleanup, infrastructure and streetscape improvements to attract private investment in the downtown district. The TIF district is scheduled to end in 2021. (SAP 5A, 6A and 613) Process Improvement 1. Monday development team meetings Staff from all departments involved in the permitting/development review process meets at 8:30 AM on Mondays to review the status of major projects in the Village. In addition, we invite developers or business owners that are pursuing a project in town to attend these meetings to open a dialogue regarding any potential issues that might pertain to their particular project. These meetings have been well received by participants as they provide them with an opportunity to openly discuss issues prior to moving forward with expensive plans. These meetings also establish much better communication between key Village staff and developers early on in the process which benefits both sides as projects move through the development cycle. (SAP 1B) 2. Building Permit Pre -Submittal meetings The Building Division holds pre -submittal meetings with developers/residents that are undertaking larger projects that require building permits. These meetings are held at the convenience of the applicant and are intended to ensure that the initial permit submission is complete so that valuable time isn't wasted on incomplete submittals. (SAP 1B) 4 3. TPI The Village has outsourced all building inspection and major plan review functions to TPI Building Code Consultants for the past 4 years. This move has enabled the Village to provide next day inspections (was up to 3 days depending upon the number of requested inspections) and 10 -day plan review turnarounds. (SAP 11B) Other Efforts 1. Annual Business Breakfast The EDC and Chamber host an annual Business Breakfast event that provides the business community with a current update on business activity in the Village. All licensed businesses are invited to the event. (SAP 4A, 46, and 5B) 2. Downtown Merchant Association, Chamber of Commerce and Lion's Club events The Village works in conjunction with local business and service clubs to put on several popular events in the downtown district. Over the past 15 years, the number and frequency of these events have grown due to their successes. Current events include Irishfest, Downtown Block Party, Oktoberfest, Pub Crawls, Tree Lighting Ceremony, Saturday Night Car Shows and the Farmer's Market. These events are well attended and provide downtown businesses with a great opportunity to market their businesses. (SAP 2B, 4A, 5A, 5B and 6B) 3. Friday Nights on the Green The Village sponsors the Friday Nights on the Green concert series throughout the summer. These free concerts draw hundreds of residents and provide downtown businesses with another opportunity to market their businesses. (SAP 2B, 4A, 5A, 5B and 6B) 5 Village of Mount Prospect Final Draft Strategic Plan for 2020 The Village of Mount Prospect Description The area known as Mount Prospect was founded by industrious farmers in the mid -1800s. As the farms and family-owned businesses prospered with the advent of the Chicago and Northwestern railroad, the community incorporated into the Village of Mount Prospect in 1917. Positioned in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, the Village continued to prosper by maximizing its resources and leveraging its proximity to the national business hub of Chicago. The Village has evolved into a vital component of the greater Chicago metropolitan area comprised of a cohesive blend of residential, business and corporate uses. Key features include the newly redeveloped Randhurst Village and the Kensington Business Center. Mount Prospect is a home rule community operating under the Council Manager form of government. The Village boasts more than 54,000 residents representing a wide spectrum of socio-economic groups that are rich in diversity. Forward thinking governance paired with visionary development allow the Village to continually evolve and remain economically and socially contemporary. The community takes pride in its award winning schools, diverse religious institutions, local commerce including many shopping and business centers, recreational excellence, and outstanding Village services. Mount Prospect's rich heritage and contemporary atmosphere champion the Village's long standing slogan, "Where Friendliness is a Way of Life". 1 Mission/Purpose Statement The expression of purpose answers the questions "what?" and "why?". and is that for which all actions, commitments and resources are in service. It is a clear, concise expression of the Village's fundamental reason for being. The mission of the Village of Mount Prospect is to advance our community's collective quality of life and potential through adaptive leadership and leading-edge service delivery. Guiding Principles These shared values signal our expectations for conduct and behavior. ➢ Respectfully engage all stakeholders in the exchange of thoughts, ideas and opinions. ➢ Listen well and be fully present. ➢ Be ethical in all things. ➢ Maintain a positive, optimistic attitude. ➢ Commit to service for the good of the community. ➢ Use sound analysis and decision making practices. ➢ Work toward consensus wherever possible and support the final decision. Our Vision for 2020 The Village of Mount Prospect represents the best of suburban communities —thriving, proud, diverse and connected — having a rich heritage, strong values and a timeless yet contemporary atmosphere.. 2 Goals for Vision Attainment 1. Governance: Ensure a thriving, healthy community that adapts to emerging needs and trends, stewards its resources and delivers value -defined municipal services. 2. Cultural Climate: Honor our heritage, respect our diversity, stimulate connectivity and foster a sense of community optimism. 3. Infrastructure: Ensure sustainable public spaces, facilities and systems that match our needs, respect the natural environment and enrich the community experience. 4. Business: Foster a climate for innovation and entrepreneurship. 5. Commercial Business Districts: Create a unique and vibrant sense of place — contemporary, family -friendly and having a lively feel. 6. Development: Sustain a balance between preservation, revitalization and growth. 3 Strategic Action Plan These are the strategies and means of attaining our high-level goals. 1. Governance: Ensure a thriving, healthy community that adapts to emerging needs and trends, stewards its resources and delivers value -defined municipal services. a. Fiscal Health: Maintain a solid fiscal position through active stewardship of Village finances. • Examine the Village's basic funding structure for long-term sustainability. • Adapt to the changing nature of retail commerce and tax revenues. • Determine sustainable levels of service. b. Quality Service: Provide high-value, relevant municipal services. • Examine the municipal service model (core services, level of service and delivery systems) to identify opportunities for improvement. • Explore and evaluate other cost options for provision of core services through consolidation or privatization. c. Leadership: Ensure policies are responsive to changing local and regional dynamics. • Maintain a positive political atmosphere by adherence to our community principles. • Commit to preparedness and open-minded dialogue and discernment. d. Relationships: Place a high priority on developing and maintaining productive local and regional relationships. • Focus on the positive aspects of all stakeholders and groups and find opportunities to appreciate and recognize them. • Convene gatherings that foster high quality relationships. 2. Cultural Climate: Honor our heritage, respect our diversity, stimulate connectivity and foster a sense of community optimism. a. Community Life: Ensure Village policies and practices honor and advance our character as a diverse, family -friendly and connected community. • Commit to inclusion and accessibility for all demographic groups. • Honor our heritage through a variety of visible and experiential means. 4 • Expand the Historical Society's reach into the community. • Encourage connection of "community neighborhoods." • Examine senior/youth service trends and respond accordingly to ensure generational inclusivity. b. Engagement: Invite and engage citizens to enhance community ownership and to enrich all aspects of community life. • Design experiential activities and extend personal invitations to residents and other stakeholders on projects of community interest. • Host events that appeal to a wide diversity of residents. • Partner with business and other governmental units to cultivate opportunities for stakeholder engagement. • Target younger audiences so that the community can enjoy the benefit of new, contemporary thinking and to ensure leadership succession. c. Image and Narrative: Broadcast Mount Prospect's pride in its heritage, composition, values, dynamism and quality of life. • Tell the story of what defines Mount Prospect's community life. • Feature citizen accomplishments, local celebrities and other points of interest. • Connect with and invite Mount Prospect natives back to the community for a visit or a lifetime. • Feature the high demand for Mount Prospect homes. 3. Infrastructure: Ensure sustainable public spaces, facilities and systems that match our needs, respect the natural environment and enrich the community experience. a. Transportation: Design and implement upgrades, improvements and maintenance for optimum mobility and system sustainability. • Lobby for improvements and efficiencies with regional transportation agencies. • Initiate communication with state and county highway departments to resolve troublesome intersection issues. • Investigate feasibility of intra -community public transportation. • Incorporate bike path routes into street design where practical. • Provide a reliable dedicated funding source for roads. 5 b. Flood Control, Water and Sewer: Improve and maintain infrastructure facilities and systems for public health and safety, to protect our investment in these vital community resources and to protect private property. • Provide a reliable dedicated funding source for each infrastructure component — flood control, water and sewer. c. Environmental Sensibility: Honor the natural environment's importance to community quality of life through strategic public investment. • Provide resources to enhance the urban forest. • Explore opportunities to provide green initiatives. 4. Business: Foster a climate for innovation and entrepreneurship. a. Influence: Utilize spheres of influence to leverage the existing business environment. • Engage small commercial landlords to attract small businesses. • Identify and market to specific business segments. • Expand the connectivity role of the Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Merchants with the community at large. b. Connection: Empower the Economic Development Commission (EDC) to play a connector role. • Foster a cooperative attitude among existing corporate citizens. • Utilize the data the EDC is gathering to focus our business development efforts. • Investigate needs of tech -savvy business to foster growth of the sector. c, Business Climate: Cultivate the climate for additional small businesses and business expansion. • Continue to engage in and promote entrepreneurship education. • Promote unique geographic business climate assets. • Explore policies to attract businesses. • Attract businesses with a regional customer base. 5. Commercial Business Districts: Create a unique and vibrant sense of place — contemporary, family -friendly and having a lively feel. a. Downtown: Create a flexible vision of downtown that is reflective of market conditions. ll • Explore policies to attract businesses. • Develop and feature unique identifiers of the downtown. • Incubate businesses in B space locations for move -up opportunities. b. Connectivity: Create a climate for connectivity among businesses and the community. • Partner with business organizations to make our commercial business districts attractive destinations. c. Traffic Influence: Facilitate traffic and pedestrian movements that stimulate commercial activity. • Re-engineer traffic signals. • Strategically place stopping off opportunities for commuters and others.. 6. Development: Sustain a balance between preservation, revitalization and growth. a. Commercial/Retail: Expand the development of the downtown, Kensington Business Center and the South Side. • Proactively solicit development proposals. • Explore building code incentives. • Create flexible zoning categories. • Explore ways to fund annexations and improvements. • Promote "small space" commercial development. • Explore geography -specific opportunities. b. Destination Development: Attract local and regional patrons to Mount Prospect with lively restaurant establishments, shopping choices and a variety of recreational opportunities. • Facilitate restaurant/shopping development. • Explore recreational improvements or opportunities by partnering with other entities. • Attract more restaurants/shopping/entertainment venues to draw people from the surrounding region. 7 c.. Housing: Ensure a continuum of housing opportunities meets residents' evolving lifestyles to allow residents to maintain their attachment to Mount Prospect. • Encourage high quality, diverse, housing developments, including high-end rental. • Explore ways to provide the continuum of housing options so that seniors can remain within the community. • Encourage continued upgrading of single family housing stock.