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Goochland EDA details site work that helped land Eli Lilly and board approves $20,000 trial to join regional economic development partnership
Summary
Goochland County’s Economic Development Authority reported site studies and incentives that officials say helped recruit Eli Lilly and other projects; the Board of Supervisors voted to authorize staff to negotiate a two‑year trial regional partnership and appropriate up to $20,000 to test membership and services.
Nora Amos, Goochland County’s director of economic development, told the board that funds the county gave the Economic Development Authority (EDA) after an August 2024 workshop helped pay for site due diligence and incentives that officials say supported recruitment of major projects, including Eli Lilly.
“Governor Glenn Youngkin and Eli Lilly announced a $5,000,000,000 investment in West Creek,” Amos said during the presentation, and she described EDA expenditures — $77,250 for West Creek due‑diligence, a $58,500 EDA share of a West Creek site‑development grant, $22,000 for Terracon vibration monitoring and a $98,205 water and sewer analysis — as instrumental in making sites marketable to large prospects.
The update highlighted broader local investment: Amos said 2025 building permits showed roughly $488 million in investment for that year and more than 1,100,000 square feet of spec industrial space is expected in the next three years. She also cited tourism impacts and three small‑business expansion incentive awards that together aim to create jobs and add to the commercial tax base.
The county then heard a pitch from consultants David Denny and Liz Povar of Rural Resilience Advisors, who outlined a two‑year, on‑ramp pilot to form a regional economic development organization (a RITO) with neighboring Amelia and Powhatan counties. The consultants said a regional organization can improve Goochland’s visibility with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP), coordinate familiarization (FAM) tours and quarterly sector briefings, and provide research and branding support at lower per‑locality cost than some alternatives.
“You're on the cusp,” Liz Povar told the board, urging Goochland to consider how a large, permanent investment like Eli Lilly’s will affect workforce, land‑use and infrastructure planning.
Board members pressed on governance, cost and timing — some worried about adding a new initiative while the county onboards a new economic‑development director — but others said the limited trial cost made it worth testing. After discussion, a motion was adopted to authorize staff to negotiate an MOU and to appropriate funds for a two‑year trial regional membership. The motion was moved by the member who made the proposal and seconded; a roll‑call vote recorded one ‘no’ and four ‘yes’ votes, and the motion carried.
What happens next: staff will negotiate an MOU and return it to the board for final approval, per the motion. The trial was discussed in the meeting as a two‑year pilot with deliverables; quoted costs in the presentation described a $10,000 per‑year trial (two years) to test the model and provide the county an option to join or decline thereafter.
The EDA presentation, the RITO proposal and the board’s authorization are likely to shape Goochland’s near‑term approach to site readiness, strategic planning and workforce coordination as large projects move ahead.
