G4 Bridging the Gap Between Land Use Policy and Economic Development Initiatives

2. Learning Objectives
 Connection between land use policy and
economic development
 Benefits of doing a regulatory audit
and market analysis at the same time
 How to talk your elected body into giving you
money for planning!

3. Snapshot of Groton
Population:
40,115
Jobs:
26,000+
Major Employers:
US Navy Base
Electric Boat
Pfizer
Points of Interest:
Fort Griswold
Branford House
US Navy Submarine Museum
Notable People:
Matt Harvey (NY Mets pitcher)
Lydia Longley (first Nun)
Brian Anderson (professional skateboarder)
Fran Mainella (former National Park Service
Director)

4. What Are Our Problems?
What Can We Do?
 Fat and happy, until…
recent HUGE tax revenue loss
 Word on the street
 Not an easy place to do business
 Confusing process
 Town Council initiative with $$$
 Economic development/
understand the market
 Regulatory reform
 Customer service

6. Opportunities
 New leadership in OPDS (AD/ECD)
 Community is ready for change
 Developable/Underutilized land
and grayfields
 Transit and multimodal options
 POCD/Zoning
 Sewer/Roadway infrastructure
 Water availability
 Others

7. Constraints
 Lacking a “development community”
 Town/City/Village(s)
 Looking for instant results
 No town center
 Resistance to change
(internal i.e. town hall)
 Everyone has ideas, lack of bodies
to implement

8. What Are Our Goals?
 Easier process and more diverse
economy!
 Plan and create an economically
diverse economy
 Identify areas where smart growth and
development should be encouraged
and supported (growth centers)
 Encourage mixed-use development that
creates great communities
 Address infrastructure needs for the future
 Protect open space, critical resources
and community character
 Develop buy-in and engage the
community in the process

9. What Should Groton Do?
 Most municipalities are dealing with the
same problems as Groton
 How have other municipalities handled
these same issues?
 Regulatory audit
 Market analysis
 Targeted industry assessments
 Market the town and its resources

10. Getting It Done
 RFQ
– Town Council plan and $$
– Selection committee and process
 Community support is key
 Focus group
– Develop buy-in and political support for
future changes
– Include boards, commissions, TC, RTM,
and others
 Make this their project, not just another
planning study

11. Market Analysis
 What this will do for us?
– Give us direction for solutions and an
awareness of the market
 What is the market?
– Retail
– Office
– Housing
– Hospitality
– Infrastructure
– Smart growth vs. conventional development
 “Add on” projects
– Pro forma analysis
– Marketing material
– Industry specific analysis

12. Regulatory Reform is the Equivalent
of Setting the Table
 Plan of Conservation and Development—
update in process
 Zoning Regulations—last rewrite in 1986
 Subdivision Regulations—adopted in 1980
 Economic Development Incentives

13. Customer Service
 Why is this important?
– Does the public like what we are selling?
– We are a service provider
 Change of attitude
 Change of focus

14. Development and Redevelopment
Equation

15. Regulatory Review
Zoning and Subdivision Regulation Audit

16. Goals
 “Less is more”
 Be user friendly: clear and concise
 Simplify the approval process
 Provide predictability
 Provide incentives to meet economic
development objectives
 Recognize “best practices”
 Ensure consistency with Town’s
Plan of Conservation and Development
 Recognize demographic trends that relate
to development patterns

17. Purpose
 Identify areas of concern
 Suggest changes
 Provide a “roadmap” to assist the Town in
implementing recommendations

18. Focus Areas
 Inconsistencies
 Organization
 Confusing/Vague language
 Out-of-date provisions
 Barriers to efficient permitting
– Staff review vs. commission approvals
– Consolidation of boards/commissions
 User friendliness
 Best practices
 Consistency with state statutes
 Consistency with Town’s economic
development objectives

20. Stakeholder Interviews
 Regulations are cumbersome, outdated and lack consistency;
hinder the Town’s ability to attract development
 Town is losing out to coastal communities in attracting development
 Capitalize on Town assets
– Waterfront location
– Regional access (highway, ferry, rail, airport)
– Schools, parks, museums, and destinations
 Complacency due to past success (Pfizer and Electric Boat)
 Multiple Committees and Commissions create complexities
 Confusion created by Town/City of Groton jurisdiction;
redundancy of functions and operations
 Land use regulations should support Town’s goal for attracting
economic development
 “Can do” attitude of current planning and ED staff

21. Implications for Zoning
 Decreased setbacks
 Smaller lot sizes
 Mix of housing types/models
 Adapting existing—“Granny flats”
 Options for aging in place
 Connectivity to services
and entertainment
Trends
Aging population

22. Implications for Zoning
 Increased demand for rental housing
 Increased density
– Live, work, play proximity
 Reduced parking
 Increased demand for biking, walking,
and public transportation
Trends
Millennials

23. Implications for Zoning
 Demand for mixed-use
and proximity to services
 Support opportunities for Traditional
Neighborhood Development patterns
 Locate development near
transportation nodes
 Transportation impacts
– Interconnected streets
– Complete Streets
– Sidewalks/crosswalks/bikeways
 Demand for on-site amenities
and outdoor space
Trends
Desire for live/work/play
opportunities

24. General Comments
 Zoning is difficult to get through;
lacks streamlined review process
 Few incentives to encourage development
– FAR bonuses, flexible standards
 Not supportive of emerging trends
– Particularly mixed use and on-site employee amenities
 Lack requirements
– Pedestrian and bike facilities, sustainability, alternative energy
 Organizational improvements
– Structure
– Definitions
– Consistency
– Consolidation of districts

25. General Comments
 Simplify table of permitted uses
– 12 pages long
 Consider creating a “developers handbook”
 Downtown Development District
– Create a new Overlay that reconciles existing strip commercial
land use pattern with desire to create a true town center

26. Recommendations
 Improvements to the organizational
structure, definition and clarity in
key sections
 Language to fill a void in the regulations
 Sweeping changes (eliminating a district,
creating a new overlay, or substantially
re-writing the content of a special district)

27. Next Steps
 Target areas for economic development
 Create a new Downtown Development Overlay District along
Route 1 corridor
 Initiate a master plan for the Route 1 corridor
 Staff
– Conduct land use studies in representative cross-sampling of the
built industrial environment to better understand development
characteristics (establish baseline for making adjustments to
dimensional and density requirements)
– Simplify use tables
 Address streamlining, including potential to hold
joint hearings
 Create a developers handbook
 Use technology (on-line permitting)

28. Market Analysis

30. Economic Development Tools
The Big Categories
 Business attraction, retention,
and expansion
 Real estate and site
development
 Innovation, entrepreneurship,
incubation, and acceleration
 Workforce development
 Community development
Our core focus in Groton:
Real Estate and Site
Development—blending land
use and zoning with economic
and market analysis.

31. Economic Development & Planning Overlap
The Groton Experience
 Land and site development
 Redevelopment
 Downtown development
 Corridor and district
development
 Infrastructure needs
and planning
 Placemaking
All are impacted by planning,
zoning, permitting, land-use
regulations, and codes; and
all are driven by economic
and market trends!

32. Leading Industry Analysis
The Groton Experience
 Industry sector and subsectors
– Manufacturing, life sciences, medical office, retail, tourism/visitation,
business and finance
 Includes analysis of
– Employment and occupations—trends, projections, concentrations, wages
– Market trends—regional, global, national
 Can also include analysis of
– Supplies chains, trade
– Output and impact—sales, GDP, multipliers
 Not a guarantee of the future
 Not meant to find “lightening in a bottle”

33. Real Estate Market Analysis
 Includes land and new building development, expansions,
redevelopment, business parks, sites, districts, and corridors
 Broken into categories of commercial, industrial, retail,
special (i.e. medical office lab, incubators), and mixed-use
 Analysis of
– Competitiveness—supply, demand, comparison to
market competition
– Needs—infrastructure, incentives, amenities
Keys in Groton:
Corridors, refreshing retail, integrating tourism/visitation areas,
flex space for manufacturing, mixed-use, and design integration

34. Lessons Learned
Placemaking Matters!
 Workforce is key to economic development
– Top issue for all sectors and all sizes
of business!
 Workforce requires infrastructure
and amenities
– Housing, transportation, water, parks,
recreation, community, etc.
– Defines quality of place
 Economic development must include
attention to quality of place and must be
integrated with community development
and planning

35. Lessons Learned
Less Is More!
 Focus on “low hanging fruit”—Prioritize!
– Don’t bite off more than you can chew—
break large projects into smaller digestible
components based on your organization’s
and partners’ capacity to implement
 Understand what you can have impact over
– At local level—land use, zoning, permitting,
customer service
 Be regional
– Workforce, transportation, industry cluster,
and housing all require regional strategies
 Be holistic and integrate
– Land use planning, community development,
workforce development, economic, and
business development

36. Next Steps
 Focus on setting the table
 Implement market analysis and marketing efforts
 Foster community support
 First steps in revising regulations
 Celebrate small successes
 Improve development and permitting process across
the board
 Master planning key areas
 Local assistance from partner organizations and the State
 Promised the Town Council some progress in 3 years
(give or take a little….)

37. Questions
Jon Reiner, AICP | Director of Planning and Development
Services, Town of Groton, CT
jreiner@groton-ct.gov | www.groton-ct.gov
Ken Schwartz, AICP, NCICS | Senior Vice President of
Planning/Urban Design
kschwartz@vhb.com | www.vhb.com
Jim Damicis | Senior Vice President, Camoin Associates
jim@camoinassociates.com | www.camoinassociates.com