Study recommends Granville create CIC, JEDD to spur economic development with Intel
Officials across Granville have spent months researching the best ways the area can benefit from the Intel Corporation and other companies coming to Licking County — and now it has a path forward.
After working with a coalition formed by Granville Township, the Village of Granville and the Granville Area Chamber of Commerce since March, Jim Lenner of Neighborhood Strategies outlined his findings and recommendations during a Oct. 19 chamber lunch in front of roughly 140 people at the Cherry Valley Hotel.
Long before the Intel announcement in January, Granville village, township and chamber officials knew they needed to focus more on economic development and started their efforts with the chamber forming an economic development committee roughly two years ago.
The goal of the work, Lenner said, was to provide ways the Granville area can reap some of the benefits of the development coming to the central Ohio area, as well as diversify the local tax base so public entities don't have to rely solely on residential property taxes.
Lenner provided his detailed, 80-page plan to the village, township and chamber for them to use as a map going forward.
Create a community improvement corporation
Lenner's first recommendation is to create a community improvement corporation, or a CIC. He said the village, township and chamber have all being doing economic development on their own, and this would bring it all together. Other CICs already exists in the area, including Grow Licking County, which serves as the county's lead economic development organization, and Newark Development Partners, which focuses on the city of Newark. But a new organization could be specifically focused on the Granville area.
"That would be the front door to economic development in the village and in the Granville community, in the township and school district. Everybody pooling their resources together, whether that's labor, financial, whatever it may be, would be a way to have Granville's front door of economic development in one place," Lenner said.
Having a CIC in place, Lenner said would make it easier for businesses coming to the area because they would be working with one entity instead of going to the village, township and chamber all separately to get information about available spaces, infrastructure and other information.
Before Grow Licking County was created in 2012, county economic development was done by the Heath-Newark-Licking County Port Authority, Licking County Chamber of Commerce, and county commissioners. Now GLC handles that for the whole county, Lenner said.
"Let's not reinvent the wheel. Grow has been successful, let's replicate that. I think a huge opportunity is here in Granville to do the same," he said.
Establish community reinvestment areas, joint economic development districts
The Granville area, Lenner said, can also establish community reinvestment areas, which allow property owners to receive tax incentives for constructing new or renovating existing buildings.
He suggested placing them in areas where there already is — or soon will be — the infrastructure to support it. Lenner mentioned Cherry Valley Road and Thornwood Crossing where eventually a planned new road will connect Thornwood Crossing to Thornwood Drive, with a new bridge over Raccoon Creek and the bike path, and a new roundabout at an intersection of Reddington Road, Thornwood Drive and a relocated River Road.
Lenner said Granville Township could set up a joint economic development district, which allow townships to collect income tax on commercial properties within a defined area. Lenner suggested creating a JEDD along Columbus Road where the Granville Business Park is already established. Money from the JEDD could be used for water and sewer improvements in the area or other infrastructure improvements.
Continue downtown success
The unique restaurants, breweries and shops in downtown Granville set the area apart, Lenner said, and the community could take steps to build on that success.
He said there are properties along River Road and Weaver Drive that are currently in the township that could be annexed and bring their tax dollars into the village while also expanding water and sewer services.
The T.J. Evans multi-use path that runs from Newark to Johnstown goes right through the heart of Granville, and Lenner said it's presents an opportunity for Granville to become a "trail town" and invite people from the trail into the downtown area.
Lenner said Granville residents' love for the outdoors and activities leads to the idea of creating a sports and health district in which Granville could attract businesses in those industries.
Next steps
After the presentation, Granville Village Manager Herb Koehler said stakeholders have had the report for about a month and have been analyzing it. While some of Lenner's ideas are new, some have been discussed by the village, township and chamber previously, he said.
"We've been talking around a CIC for a number of years, we've been talking around a JEDD in that particular area over the years. What his project helped do is really confirm that that is a good solution for particular problems that we're faced with," Koehler said. "Most significantly, he's highlighted the absence of a coordinated economic development effort that we all kind of felt, but we really couldn't put our fingers on until he really kind of painted the picture."
He said conversations are ongoing about those two specific recommendations, and the village and township both have appropriated money to explore creating a JEDD.
The idea of a sports and health district is new, Koehler said, adding it's "a terrific idea and a way to maybe monetize sports in our community and bring economic development in tied around youth sports."
Just the fact the village, township and chamber worked with Lenner in the first place, has already changed the perspective of the area locally, Granville Township Trustee Bryn Bird said. Adding that an existing business is talking about local expansion because the work with Lenner showed the company that the township was taking economic development seriously.
"It really shows that we're working together as a community," she said. "I think Granville has long had this reputation regionally as being a community that's not friendly to development. This is us putting it out there that we are, so I think that's going to be seen and that's gonna go far."
mdevito@gannett.com
740-607-2175
Twitter: @MariaDeVito13
This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Study recommends Granville create CIC, JEDD to spur development
