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City planner highlights sign-grant wins, retail analytics and business outreach
Summary
Community economic planner Jay Ritterbeck briefed the board on sign-grant reimbursements along West Main, deployment of Placer AI retail/visitor analytics, business outreach and site recruitment including interest from Sprouts and Trader Joe's.
City community economic planner Jay Ritterbeck gave the Board an overview of recent economic-development work, highlighting a sign-grant program, new analytics, business outreach and site-specific recruitment.
Ritterbeck said the city's sign grant program targeted West Main to replace nonconforming pole signs with monument-style signs. "The first one that came and took advantage of that grant opportunity was Mid Tennessee Tire...Directly next door, Auto Smith took down 2 of their pole signs and erected a single, monument sign," Ritterbeck said. He said 16 companies have applied and been earmarked for up to the $10,000 reimbursement limit; citywide, 24 pole signs have been removed along the corridor.
On data, Ritterbeck described a contract with Placer AI to analyze aggregated, opt-in cell-phone movement data. He said the tool lets staff see where visitors to Hendersonville originate, travel patterns and retail "leakage" when residents leave the city to shop elsewhere. "We can really drill down on a lot of those data and make very informed decisions," he said, adding the tool is also useful to parks and events.
Business outreach included a brief survey (41 businesses targeted so far), QR-code distribution and direct site information shared with national site selectors. Ritterbeck said there is active developer interest in West Main and several larger projects are expected before planning commissions and the board soon. He also noted contacts made with Sprouts and Trader Joe's site selectors to provide preliminary data.
Clarifying details Ritterbeck provided and that staff recorded: - Sign grant: up to $10,000 per applicant; 16 companies earmarked; 24 pole signs removed along West Main and adjacent streets. - Placer AI: aggregated, opt-in cell-phone data used to map visitor origin, travel routes, and retail leakage; maps show roughly 75% of the market originates from highlighted surrounding areas in the 2024 analysis.
Ending: Ritterbeck offered to meet with aldermen individually and provide further data to guide recruitment and site-specific outreach. He suggested presenting business-survey results and more detailed maps at a future meeting.
