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EDA approves $10,000 membership in regional development group; VDOT planning grant could fund Richardson Road access
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Summary
The Amelia County EDA voted to join a three-county regional economic development organization at $10,000 a year, heard details on branding and lead-generation services, and discussed a pending VDOT planning application and roughly $6 million in utilities costs for the Richardson Road site.
The Amelia County Economic Development Authority voted to invest $10,000 per year to join a proposed three-county regional economic development organization (RDO), after hearing a presentation on branding, lead generation and site services. The motion to accept the organization's proposal passed on a voice vote.
Presenters Liz and David described the RDO's core services as branding and message development, a social-media strategy (they recommended LinkedIn), regular reporting to the authority, and short "learning sessions" for board members. "Our work would be with the 3 localities, whoever you designate, to come to consensus on what are your common assets," Liz said, describing early steps to create a unified message and capability statement for the region.
The presenters outlined additional, optional services Amelia County could request separately: creating marketing collateral for the Richardson Road site, maintaining the site's Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP/Virginia Scan) listing, managing lead-generation providers, and managing site development tasks including funding identification and coordination on VDOT access work.
Board members pressed on timing and infrastructure. The chair said the county lacks water and sewer at the Richardson Road site and that a utilities cost estimate to bring water and sewer to the site could be about $6,000,000. A staff member said the EDA has a pending $150,000 VDOT application for detailed engineering of the main access road and turn lanes; the Commonwealth Transportation Board was expected to act on that application next week. If approved, the engineering contract (with B and B listed as expected primary engineering firm) could be in place by April, with design and right-of-way work taking roughly a year.
Presenters said the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) would be the primary source of lead generation for the regional effort, though the RDO could work with a lead-generation firm if the counties chose to share that cost. The presenters also recommended coordination across the three counties for workforce and tourism strategies because those areas work better regionally.
Following the presentation and questions, a board member moved to spend $10,000 a year to join the RDO; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote. The board directed staff to follow up on next steps for contracting, to provide additional materials and to continue work on the VDOT planning grant and Richardson Road utilities planning.
