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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 04-12-2007-1ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS WORK SESSION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: April 12, 2007 Action Agen~ Item No. SUBJECT: Economic Development Commission FY 2007-08 Goals Update DEPARTMENT: Economic Development PUBLIC HEARING: (YIN) No ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: A. Desirable Business Matrix B. Targeted Businesses for EDDs Dianne Reid, 245-2326 PURPOSE: To receive a report from the Economic Development Commission reviewing progress to date on the EDC's FY2007-08 Goals. BACKGROUND: The Orange County Economic Development Commission adopted its 2007- 08 goals in January 2007 and shared them with the Board of County Commissioners at a work session on February 12. One of the highest priorities was to reorganize the Orange County Small Business Loan Program Company; the BOCC approved the reorganization plan on March 13. Another was to secure approval for the feasibility study for the agricultural processing center; the contract was approved on March 3, pending securing the remaining funds. Other immediate goals were: 1) to identify target industries for the County's three economic development districts; 2) to expand broadband and cell coverage throughout the county; 3) to reorganize the Quality of Place Work Group; 4) to move forward Agricultural Service Enterprises and other planning changes to enhance opportunities for economic development in rural areas of the county; and 5) to continue the move to Central Permitting and a facilitated development process. The remainder of this report outlines progress toward these goals. Target Industries for the Economic Development Districts Attachment A shows the Desirable Business Matrix developed by the Business Climate Work Group during the past year. The first part of the matrix ranks the importance of potential criteria in determining the desirability of target businesses. The last section shows which of the ten industry clusters identified in the Research Triangle Regional Partnership's competitiveness plan, Staying on Top, could be appropriate in Orange County. It is the recommendation of the Business Climate Work Group that businesses meeting the criteria (particularly those ranked high) would be welcomed into our community, would receive expedited review, and would be eligible for any incentives that might be created at the local level. Attachment B gives more detail on the RTRP clusters, and makes a first cut at identifying target industries for the three Economic Development Districts. Expansion of Broadband and Cell Phone Coverage During March, members of the Infrastructure Work Group met with Jane Patterson, Executive Director of e-NC, whose mission is increasing statewide access to broadband connectivity. Ms. Patterson shared information on broadband availability in Orange County, and agreed to have her GIS staff work with Orange County staff to map access. The group will meet again in May to review the results and discuss next steps. The effort to expand coverage for economic development includes County Information staff, the County Manager's office, and County Planning staff in addition to EDC staff. Reorganization of QualitLr of Place Work Group Under new co-chairs Winkie La Force (Executive Director of Leadership Triangle) and Jon Wilner (Executive Director of the ArtsCenter), twelve potential work group members met on March 29 to discuss collaborative efforts to market the County and its many cultural assets. The group identified others to invite to a second meeting in early May, at which time it will develop objectives and a work plan for 2007-08. The overall goal of the Quality of Place Work Group is to create thriving partnerships ensuring that the county is a great place in which to live and work, attracting and retaining the "creative community" of innovators, artists and civic leaders that will drive the desired economy. Agricultural Services and Other Rural Enterprises A group consisting of Planning, Environment and Resource Conservation, and Economic Development Department staff are meeting weekly to wrap up recommendations for changes to support innovative agricultural enterprises throughout the county. The work will be presented at the May Quarterly Public Hearing. EDC staff is also working with Planning Staff on a proposal for Rural Economic Development Areas and on reexamining regulations governing rural crossroads community nodes. The Rural Economic Development Area concept will be part of the May Quarterly Public Hearing, with an update on the nodes targeted for the Fall Quarterly Public Hearing. Central Permitting and Facilitated Development Interdepartmental predevelopment meetings (including Hillsborough staff as appropriate) continue on a regular basis. Project applicants meet, face-to-face, with all staff who have a project review role, with Economic Development staff present in a ~ non-regulatory, facilitating role. The applicant has an opportunity to learn all of the steps involved in project approval and to ask any clarifying questions of staff. Minutes of the meetings become the road map for the approval process. While time consuming and sometimes difficult to schedule, staff and applicants have expressed great satisfaction with the results. Building Inspections is preparing information on additional staff requirements to formalize the one-stop permitting process. FINANCIAL IMPACT: None. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board receive the report and direct any comments to the EDC Board and the Economic Development Director. 3 Investing in Innovation Business Climate Workgroup Attachment A 4 Potential Criteria High Med Low Preference for headquarters X Supports community by: • Providing financial support to community agencies X • Supporting volunteerism and community involvement by employees ....................................................................................................................................................................... . . .. . . ................:.......................................... X .:....................................:.......................................... ... ... . . . ............................................................................. • Supporting community events and celebrations X Preference for business in one of ten industry clusters identified in Research Triangle Partnership's com etitiveness Ian Staying..on...TO.P..~ ............................................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................___...............P.................__......................._.....P..................._................. _..._..................... ............... ................................................_......................... • Pharmaceuticals (Low Manufacturing) Not Desirable • Biological Agents and Infectious Diseases X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . • Agricultural Biotechnology Not Desirable • Pervasive Computing ~ X • Advanced Medical Care X • Analytical Instrumentation X • Nanoscale Technologies X • Informatics X • Vehicle Component Parts Manufacturing X • • Logistics and Distribution X ®~FT Attachment B Targeted Industries GENERAL TARGETS (from RTRP Clusters of Innovation, with emphasis on clusters in which UNC-Chapel Hill has research strength): Biological Agents and Infectious Diseases Opportunities in .the area of biological agents include not only public health but also protection of the environment, water supplies and food sources (plant and animal) from natural or terrorist exposure to biological agents. Infectious disease is receiving increased attention because of emerging or re-emerging infectious disease (e.g. mad cow disease, West Nile virus, SARS), drug resistance across all classes of microbial pathogens and bioterrorism. At the regional level, the Research Triangle has multiple strengths, including • World-class public and environmental health research organizations • Discovery and development of new infectious disease therapeutics • Sensors and sensor webs, analytical instrumentation and data mining, which will be critical to early detection and monitoring of outbreaks • Nanomaterials research, which will provide improved barrier systems for infection control Pervasive Computing Pervasive computing enables on-demand access to information from anywhere at anytime. Creation of pervasive computing networks involves integrating wireless technologies, optical communications and computational hardware and software -all areas of strength in the region. The rise of pervasive computing networks will create opportunities in areas such as: • Medical devices that enable monitoring of patients in real-time and improve the quality of health care in rural areas • Wearable electronics that are incorporated into textiles or miniaturized to be worn unobtrusively on the body • Sensor networks deployed at remote locations for various uses, including inventory tracking • Laboratory information management systems, especially to support pharmaceutical research and clinical trials Advanced Medical Care In the next 10-20 years, combined advances in several fields -medical devices and diagnostics, drugs and drug delivery systems, genomics and proteomics, telecommunications and informatics -will revolutionize medical case. Our region offers world-class health care institutions that will continue to lead in the evolution of quality health care. Examples of advanced medical care advances include: • Diagnostic tests to identify early cellular and molecular changes that are characteristic of a given disease • Injectable nanomachines that deliver localized drugs, clean arteries, selectively destroy cancer cells or repair organs • Gene therapy to treat tumors • Remote, cost-effective monitoring of patient progress during and after treatment using wireless sensors and telecommunications 6 Analytical Instrumentation Analytical instrumentation incorporates advances in sensors in a variety of fields including chemistry, civil engineering and security. The Research Triangle Region has expertise in optics/photonics, combinatorial methods and informatics. Examples of new analytical instrumentation include: • Tunable lasers that will replace spectroscopic light sources • Advanced, low-cost, lab-on-a-chip technologies, such as corrosion monitors on bridges and chemical sensors in factories • Applications of combinatorial methods to the health care industry Nanoscale Technologies Recent advances in chemistry enable molecular-level engineering of complex structures such as polymers, metals, ceramics, proteins and genes. Our region is well-positioned to capitalize on the emergence of these nanoscale technologies, particularly for life science applications. Examples include: • The creation of medicines personalized to individual DNA structures • New composites useful in medical sensors, tumor labeling and cell transport agents • Creation of nanoscale materials for automotive components and architectural structures Informatics Informatics includes a broad range of information technologies, computer hardware, software and IT services used to manage and analyze data to drive innovation and create business advantage. In the knowledge economy, competitive advantage comes largely from an organization's ability to make effective and timely use of internally and externally generated data. Three areas with significant cross-cutting potential are critical to the continued growth of the region's informatics sector: • Distributed computing • Analytical software techniques • Imaging and visualization systems Logistics and Distribution The Research Triangle Region is also focusing on continuing to focus on this traditional industry sector that remains a viable job creation opportunity. Because of Orange County's strong transportation assets (Interstates 40 and 85) and its location midway between the Triangle and the Piedmont Triad, logistics and distribution has good potential, particularly in the Buckhorn Economic Development District. SPECIFIC TARGETS FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DISTRICTS Eno EDD The Eno EDD Work Group has not yet completed its visioning work for the types of businesses desired for the area. We expect that the group's draft recommendations will be completed this summer. However, given the general area, the size of the parcels, and the proximity to residential development, we would expect the targeted industries to include: • Construction offices • Light manufacturing and assembly, including within multiple-tenant flex space • Small-scare storage and warehousing • Wholesale Trade (both durable and non-durable goods) • Retail Trade, including restaurants and service stations • Financial institutions, insurance agents and real estate agents • Personal Services • Professional services Development is expected to be small-scale, one to two floors, and to generally blend in with the architecture along Route 70 on both sides of the county line. Hillsborough EDD Following the pattern of the Waterstone project, we expect development within the Hillsborough EDD to continue as mixed-use development, with single and multi-family housing co-existing near retail, office, and institutional uses. Retail will include big box and locally-owned businesses, movie theatres, restaurants, and hotel/conference facilities. Offices will include large Class Amulti-story buildings featuring a mix of tenant businesses (including research and development for the targeted industries described above) and linear one-story office buildings featuring personal and professional services, and finance, insurance and real estate businesses. Hillsborough is already home to several large call-center oriented businesses (A Southern Season, PHE, Sports Endeavors); we should build on the existing cluster, targeting financial services as well as other consumer goods centers. Another logical extension would be to add to the informal food cluster that is developing at the Hillsborough Business Center with the Weaver Street "Food House" and a coffee roaster. We should attempt to attract other relatively small- scale food preparation and storage operations serving the high-end specialty restaurants in the region. The office spaces should target UNC spin-offs, graduates of the incubator programs at Carolina North, and other research and development facilities that do not require close proximity to RTP. As Wake and Durham Counties are running out of large parcels of land, Hillsborough and Buckhorn will become more attractive. Buckhorn EDD Given the development of the Gravelly Hill Middle School and the West Ten Soccer Complex in the southern part of the Buckhorn EDD, we are proposing less industrial uses for the land along West Ten Road. We recommend destination or clustered retail for the large parcel fronting Buckhorn Road, with a mix of uses to include restaurants, a hotel, and small and large retail. An example of destination retail would be Bass Pro Shop or Ikea; an example of clustered retail would be home furnishings or auto dealers. We suggest exploring an open-air farmers market/ festival marketplace east of the soccer complex, possibly combined with a park and ride lot serving east-west transit. On the north side of Interstate 40/85 (which has rail access), we suggest awarehouse/distribution center on the western edge, moving to heavier industrial uses to the east, to the existing building at Redmond Crossing currently under contract to a custom millwork manufacturer. Possible targets for the distribution center would be big box retailers and parcel delivery services.