SUMMARY AND OVERVIEW i

Status, Funding, Completion Timetable and Responsibility Summary iii

MISSION STATEMENT 1

PRIMARY GOAL 2

INTRODUCTION 4

WETHERSFIELD AT A GLANCE 7

KEY FINANCIAL DATA 14

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMPETITIVE REALITIES 18

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES ASSESSMENT 22

CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES 28

GOAL 1: CREATE MORE DIVERSITY IN

WETHERSFIELDíS ECONOMIC BASE 30

GOAL 2: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT READINESS 35

GOAL 3: COMMUNITY EDUCATION 39

GOAL 4: COMMUNITY QUALITY IMPROVEMENT 41

GOAL 5: EXISTING BUSINESS ASSISTANCE 43

IMPLEMENTATION PLAN 45

EVALUATION AND MONITORING 46

In mid-2000 the Town of Wethersfield began the process of updating its economic development strategic plan, which had originally been prepared in 1995. This document presents the results of that effort, and although it is entitled an Update, it is essentially a new plan.

The plan addresses the Townís primary economic development mission , which is "Öto attract and retain an appropriate mix of business for the purpose of increasing the tax base and improving employment opportunities in Wethersfield."

The Economic Development Steering Committee, which guided the development of this plan, devoted extensive thought, analysis and debate to the fiscal needs and realities of Wethersfield for the future. Based on this discussion, the Committee set as its primary goal "Öto identify a set of actions intended to increase the non-residential portion of Wethersfieldís Grand List by 1% between the October 1, 2000 and the October 1, 2010 Grand Lists (from 15.72% to 16.72%)."

This may not appear to be an aggressive goal, but it is in the context of the realities that define Wethersfield. Three of those realities collide and pose a significant challenge to the residents and government of the Town in expanding the local economy:

• To reach the goal of a 1% increase in the non-residential portion of the Grand List will require a level of business development that is substantially greater than recent historical levels of such development.

• The existing residential character of the Town is very important to its residents, who work hard to protect it.

• There is very little undeveloped land for business purposes left in Wethersfield, and little motivation to "create" more business land through rezoning, so that any extensive business growth must come through the reuse of land that has already been developed.

This Economic Development Strategic Plan provides a series of action items that focus on five major elements:

1. Providing an Appropriately Diversified Economic Base
2. Economic Development Readiness
3. The Need for Community Education
4. Community Quality Improvement
5. Existing Business Assistance and Recognition.

The Plan focuses its attention of the improved development of Wethersfieldís primary business corridors:

• The Silas Deane Highway should be a positioned as a location for additional medical services offices and facilities. The northern portion will also have smaller, locally oriented retail establishments. The central portion will also serve as the government services center (with development of an improved United States Post Office as a key element). The southern portion, with its access to Interstate 91, will be the location of larger retail and office facilities.

• The Berlin Turnpike should be positioned as a restaurant and entertainment corridor, to take advantage of its high traffic count and continue the recent history of this type of development.

Finally, the Plan recognizes that for Wethersfield to reach its primary goal of expanding the non-residential portion of the Grand List, it must aggressively stimulate adaptive reuse of already developed areas. In some instances, this will be the upgrading of existing properties, while in other instances, it will be the replacement of lower value developments with newer and more valuable forms. The establishment and empowering of a Development Agency as allowed in the Connecticut General Statutes will be a key tool. So too will be the day-to-day efforts of a more active Town Economic Development Office.

The remainder of this Economic Development Strategic Plan provides more detail on the Action Items necessary for the future. The Table that follows provides a brief summary of Action Items that comprise the plan. This Table also indicates a suggested responsibility for implementation, an estimated cost range and a timeframe for completion.

This Mission Statement provided the basis for the prior Economic Development Strategy, for which this document serves as an Update. The Economic Development Steering Committee reviewed and discussed this Mission Statement and concluded that it remained valid for Wethersfieldís economic development future.

The Primary Goal of this Economic Development Strategic Plan Update is to identify a set of actions intended to increase the non-residential portion of Wethersfieldís Grand List by 1% between the October 1, 2000 and the October 1, 2010 Grand Lists (from 15.72% to 16.72%).

In establishing this Goal, the Economic Development Steering Committee carefully considered historical growth and investment patterns, development opportunities, the importance of protecting the Townís residential character, and conservative projections of the Townís future revenue needs and likely growth. The following charts summarize some key data considered by the Committee.

These projections are based upon the assumption that Wethersfieldís Grand List will continue its recent historical pattern of increasing by approximately 1% per year. Using the 1999 Grand List as a base, this would result in an October 1, 2010 Grand List of $1,587,850,800. The following table projects what the business portion of that 2010 Grand List would be under various growth scenarios ranging from merely maintaining the current 15.72% business portion to increasing the business portion to 20%. It also shows how much the business portion of the Grand List would have to grow each year to attain these percentages.

This compares to a 1999 business portion of the Grand List of $222,308,240 and a 2000 business portion of the Grand List of $229,883,770. The historic growth rate of the business portion of the Grand List since 1995 has been:

1995 to 1996 + $4,949,010

1996 to 1997 - $2,199,760

1997 to 1998 + $1,886,240

1995 to 1998 Average + $1,545,163

1998 to 1999 Unable to tell due to Revaluation

1999 to 2000 +$7,575,530

In June 1995, an Economic Development Strategic Plan was prepared for the Town of Wethersfield by its then economic development consultant, Bartram & Cochran. Now that nearly six years has gone by, that Plan is in need of updating for a variety of reasons: many of the plan elements have been completed; the regional economy continues to change; Town demographics and service/facility needs are also changing; and good management requires a revisiting of strategic needs and responses.

This Economic Development Strategic Plan Update was prepared by the Townís current economic development consulting team of Garnet Consulting Services, Inc. and Cosgrove Development Services. The consultants were assisted by an Economic Development Steering Committee comprised of:

Daniel A. Camilliere Resident and Former Mayor

Paul Courchaine Wethersfield Preservation Trust

Lee C. Erdmann Town Manager

Thomas Fitzpatrick Town Councilor

Brendan T. Flynn Deputy Mayor

Charles Ford Old Wethersfield Shopkeepers Association

Carmela L. Moore Wethersfield Chamber of Commerce

Arthur F. Nacht Old Wethersfield Resident

Stuart B. Popper Town Planner

Others who contributed to portions of the Committeeís deliberations were residents Thomas DeMille and Gerri Monroe, Mayor Wayne J. Sassano and Town Councilor Daniel OíConnor.

Input was also received from members of the Wethersfield Economic Development and Improvement Commission and the Board of Directors of the Wethersfield Chamber of Commerce.

This group met numerous times over an extended period of time to evaluate performance on implementation of the existing plan, provide insight on key characteristics, issues and opportunities shaping Wethersfieldís economic development future, and debate and prioritize alternatives around which the Economic Development Plan Update should be focused. In addition, the consultants received input from a series of interviews with businesspersons, residents and developers from the Town and from other forms of literature and database research.

Two public forums were held to obtain input from the residents and from the general business community and excellent dialogue took place.

The Plan that follows is intended to be consistent with the Townís newly revised Plan of Conservation and Development and responsive to the challenges and issues facing Wethersfield. It is somewhat mind-stretching in terms of not relying solely on the old, tried and true economic development programs, yet realistic in what can reasonably be achieved with the resources available.

This Economic Development Strategic Plan Update builds upon the prior Plan and much good work that has already occurred, or in ongoing by Town staff to implement it. In essence, the intent of this Plan is to provide a series of recommended Action Steps that fall into the following categories:

• Actions which, by their nature, should be continuing over time, or which have not yet been completed from the prior Plan.

• Actions that are new for Wethersfieldís Economic Development Strategic Plan, and that can be implemented with little cost to the Town.

• Actions that are new for Wethersfieldís Economic Development Strategic Plan, and that have moderate cost or other resource requirements.

• Actions that are intended to stretch Wethersfieldís thinking about its future economic development, either in terms of the nature of the action, or in the resource needs to accomplish it.

One of the primary realities is that Wethersfield is a mature community, is nearly fully built out, and therefore lacks the large undeveloped areas that other communities can utilize to stimulate economic development.

The adoption of this Economic Development Strategic Plan Update by the Town of Wethersfield is intended to fulfill the following essential community purposes:

• Create a blueprint to guide future economic development;

• Improve the quality of life for the residents of our community;

• Increase the standard of living of our residents;

• Help provide adequate funding for our municipal services and educational system;

• Attract businesses that will provide better quality jobs; and

• Maintain and improve property values.

The process of creating an Economic Development Strategic Plan is as important as developing the plan itself.

 

 

 

Wethersfield is the 16^th biggest migration gainer in the State of Connecticut in the 2000 Census count with a net migration of 1,417 people, a migration rate of 5.5% resulting in a total population change of 620 people according to the University of Connecticutís geographer and Director of the Center for Geographic Information and Analysis.

Traffic counts were requested from the Connecticut Department of Transportation for various locations in Wethersfield. The traffic counts show how many vehicles pass by and whose occupants may be potential customers of goods and services sold in Wethersfield. These numbers are for Average Daily Traffic (ADT) and were taken in August and September of 2000.

Retail has played a major role in the historical economy in Wethersfield. Retail sales generated in 2000 were $164,150,810 and for all other outlets were $102.219,345 with a combined total of $266,370,155. The following charts show the trend in retail for the past six years in the community. According to the State of Connecticut Department of Revenue Services researchers, large retailers with more than one establishment usually report all their sales and taxes from their primary location, therefore the figures for various towns may not reflect actual business activity. For instance, Stop & Shop reports out of Danbury and is not reflected in the Wethersfield chart.

Reporting of returns up through 1997 were calculated by adding the total number of returns, many of which were filed quarterly, giving an inflated impression of the number of business establishments. Beginning in 1998, the method of calculation was for the number of businesses (taxpayers) filing returns.

An indicator of business growth is the filing of trade names. Wethersfieldís Town Clerk provided the following information on business filings of trade names:

The number of trade names filed usually undercounts business formations in most communities because many small businesses do not register with the local government. Based on national data that indicates an annual business startup rate of 1 business per 200 - 250 people, Wethersfieldís 2000 population of 26,271 would yield 105 - 131 new businesses per year. This data indicates a "hidden" Wethersfield business community that could generate demand for additional space in the community in the future as these small businesses grow.

According to the Connecticut Economic Resource Centerís Business Data for the First Quarter 2001, Wethersfield has a total of 1,141 businesses with 238 listed with one employee.

 

Housing Data

 

The Capitol Region Council of Governments has been producing the Capitol Region, Home Sales Price Report for ten consecutive years; this report provides a snapshot of the housing market on an annual basis and allows a year-to-year comparison. Because the type of housing differs in each community, and communities experience changing forms of housing development from year to year, one should not assume that a change in median sales value equates to an actual change in the value of the entire housing stock.

The table below includes single, two and three-family homes and condominiums. The reporting period is from July to June of each year. Median sales price is the value at which half of the sales prices are above, and half are below. Mean sales price is the value of the average sales price. The mean or average is calculated by adding the sales prices for a geographic area, and dividing the sum by the number of sales.

KEY FINANCIAL DATA

 

1. Wethersfieldís Net Grand List as of October 1, 2000 totaled $1,439,607,940. This list is subject to change by the Wethersfield Board of Appeals. The 1999 Net Grand List was $1,423,228,965. The Grand List increased by $16,378,975 between October 1, 1999 and October 1, 2000.
2. In the four years prior to revaluation in 1999, the Net Grand List increased annually by an average of $18,335,199, or an average percentage increase of slightly less than 1%. More than three-quarters of the annual increase in the Grand List was attributable to residential properties.
3. The business portion of the Grand List (commercial, industrial and utility real estate, business personal property and commercial motor vehicles) for the period 1995 to 2000 is shown in Table 1. The impacts of revaluation are shown in the 1999 column.

Table 1: Business Portion of Wethersfieldís Net Grand List

	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
Commercial Real Estate	12.66%	12.56%	12.43%	12.33%	10.10%	9.96%
Industrial Real Estate	1.52%	1.51%	1.49%	1.46%	0.88%	0.88%
Utility Real Estate	0.33%	0.33%	0.33%	0.33%	0.19%	0.19%
Business Personal Property	3.43%	3.61%	3.50%	3.52%	4.29%	4.50%
Commercial Vehicles	0.11%	0.12%	0.12%	0.12%	0.16%	0.17%
Total Business Portion of Net Grand List	18.05%	18.13%	17.87%	17.76%	15.62%	15.72%

 

4. Since 1995, the value of commercial and industrial property has not been growing substantially, with the decline between 1998 and 1999 due to revaluation. Table 2 shows the value of the commercial, industrial and utility real estate, commercial motor vehicles and business personal property. Once again, the 1999 column shows the impact of revaluation.

1898. Table 3 shows the current (Fiscal Year 2000-2001) Wethersfield budget, projected budgets through FY 2006-2007 (reflecting both normal budget growth and debt service on anticipated construction projects) and the increase in revenues necessary to cover the annual budget in each fiscal year:

6. The average annual Needed Revenue Increase from one fiscal year to the next shown in Table 3 is $2,979,600 for the Approved Budget Projections and $3,083,500 for proposed forecast revisions not yet approved.
7. Under Wethersfieldís current mill rate of 30.81 and Connecticutís mandated 70% assessment ratio, each $1 million of new taxable property adds $700,000 to the Grand List and results in $21,567 in new tax revenues.
8. To generate the average annual $2,979,600 of Needed Revenue Increase shown above in the Approved Budget Projections solely from Grand List growth would require more than $138 million in growth to the Grand List each year for 6 years. Nearly $143 million in annual Grand List growth would be needed to yield the $3,083,500 of Needed Revenue Increase shown in the revised budget forecast scenario. As the historical growth of the Net Grand List (prior to revaluation) was $18.3 million annually, it is unlikely that the additional revenue needed will come solely from Grand List growth. Obviously, there are other sources of revenue that the Town will receive; however, property taxes account for 84.99% of total revenues in the FY 2000 ñ 01 budget.
9. Between 1995 and 1998, the business portion of Wethersfieldís Grand List grew by $1,149,526 from 1995 to 1996, declined by $1,231,720 from 1996 to 1997, and grew by $664,855 from 1997 to 1998. Normal growth in the business portion of the Grand List, or even a reasonable but significant growth in the business portion will not generate the additional revenues needed for Wethersfieldís projected budget needs.
10. As a point of reference, Table 4 shows Wethersfieldís current top taxpayers. As one example of the impact of economic growth, if the value of real property at Putnam Park ($9,279,300) were to double through new construction, this would yield Wethersfield an additional $285,895 at the current mill rate. While substantial, this comes no way near meeting the revenue needs discussed above.

Table 4: WETHERSFIELDíS TOP 25 TAXPAYERS

Real Estate, Personal Property and Motor Vehicles Combined at 70% Assessment Ratio

October 1, 2000 Grand List (Before Board of Appeal Adjustments)

RANK	OWNER	TYPE	70% ASSESSED VALUE
1	Connecticut Light & Power / N.U.	utility	$16,322,200
2	Executive Square Ltd Partnership	apartments	$12,104,200
3	Wethersfield Residential Assoc.	apartments	$11,969,200
4	Connecticut Mutual Life Ins. Co.	shopping center	$9,318,600
5	Putnam Park Associates	office building	$9,286,400
6	Connecticut Natural Gas	utility	$7,915,800
7	Neiditz, Daniel M. et. al.	shopping center	$7,824,000
8	I.B.M. Credit Corp.	leased equipment	$5,607,100
9	Crosstone Realty Assoc. et. al.	nursing home	$5,548,500
10	1290 Realty LLC	office building	$4,917,300
11	Fleischmann, Karl Trustee	apartments	$4,345,200
12	Wethersfield LLC	office building	$4,326,400
13	Silas Deane Assoc. Ltd. Partnership	shopping center	$3,420,400
14	Silver Cove Associates LLC	shopping center	$2,914,800
15	Wethersfield Commercial Assoc.	shopping center	$2,777,300
16	Susa Partnership L.P.	self storage facility	$2,761,400
17	Prime Development Group LLC	shopping center	$2,678,000
18	Baldwin, Merritt N.	office building	$2,633,800
19	Balf Co.	vacant land	$2,473,500
20	Wethersfield Country Club Inc.	private golf course	$2,426,950
RANK	OWNER	TYPE	70% ASSESSED VALUE
21	Gersten, Charles D., Trustee	bank/offices	$2,373,200
22	Burritt Assoc. Realty Development Corp.	office building	$2,370,000
23	Singer, Allan & Bruce	retail furniture outlet	$2,097,200
24	General Equities Inc.	warehouse/distribution/ convenience store	$1,936,100
25	Scata Family Ltd. Partnership	motel	$1,859,900

Source: Data from Wethersfield Assessorís Records

11. Although dated, the Connecticut Policy and Economic Councilís analysis of the commercial, industrial and utility portions of the FY 1998 ñ 99 municipal grand lists (based on the October 1, 1997 grand list numbers) shows Wethersfield has a smaller business portion of its Grand List than surrounding communities (except Glastonbury)