Staff outlines plan to market small-area vacant lots to developers; monthly confidential briefings planned

Staff member briefed the Economic Development Corporation on a plan to focus incentive efforts on undeveloped land within the town’s small-area plan and to use an outside consultant to market those lots to prospective developers.

The staff member said the council’s direction from a January retreat is to make the small-area-plan vacant parcels the board’s “primary focus” for incentives and explained the EDC is working with Catalyst Commercial on outreach and advisory services. "They are doing some advisory services for us, and what they will be doing is, promoting our small area, our vacant lots to developers," the staff member said.

Why it matters: the EDC’s incentive fund could be used in future agreements to secure development on town-owned or otherwise targeted parcels. The staff member noted the incentive dollars in the EDC fund "can be utilized if we do any agreements," listing possible incentives including sales-tax credits, land acquisition assistance and other project-specific terms.

Board members pressed staff for operational details. One committee member asked for a vacancy rate for storefronts; the staff member said that figure was not available off the top of her head but that she could provide it by email. The staff member also said Catalyst will focus on the small-area plan parcels while the EDC will separately pursue incentives and outreach for existing vacant buildings and businesses in town.

The staff member told the board that Catalyst will report monthly on contacts and potential developers and that the EDC will review any proposals arising from those leads. "They are going to be giving us an executive report every month on what they've reached, who they've reached out to, and then they will also provide if they have any prospective developer that are interested in the property," the staff member said. She added that, when necessary, the board will move into executive session to review potential deals.

The staff member emphasized confidentiality for closed-session material: "All of this is confidential. The information that is spoken about in the executive session, you cannot speak about outside of executive session." She said that if the board decides to approve something after executive session, it will return to the public meeting to take formal action.

Next steps: staff will deliver monthly executive-session updates on Catalyst’s outreach and will bring any proposals back to the board for review and a public vote if a motion is made and carried.