County Planners Creating List of Economic Initiatives
 The under-construction science center at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts made the list but not the massive library building project at Williams College. |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — When Brian Domina saw a report listing the millions of dollars that went into economic initiatives in the last year, he was surprised by the size and number of projects that had taken place.
But the list was lacking when he checked it twice.
The planner for Berkshire Regional Planning Commission consulted the most comprehensive list of projects in the county and realized that some major projects were missing.
Now he is working with the Comprehensive Economic Development Committee to find those projects that got missed.
So the BRPC is asking private companies, towns, agencies, contractors and banks to tell them about upcoming plans.
"This year we are trying to send it out to as many people as we can," Domina said on Wednesday. "We're casting a wider net."
In 2010, BRPC organized the 18-member CEDS committee to create the region's first Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy since 2001. The strategy is a requirement for any of the county's projects to receive funding from the federal Economic Development Administration.
The committee, consisting of a majority of private-sector representatives, sought out information on the county's projects and plans from towns, economic agencies and some of the public higher education agencies. The result was the creation of the lengthy list of undertakings — but while the new science center at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts made onto the document, the significant construction of the Stetson Library on the Williams College campus didn't.
Planners want to expand the original solicitation for information to the private sector, too.
"We really just see it as a listing of projects ongoing or planned in the county," Domina said. "I think the committee felt we didn't capture all of the projects."
The CEDS needs to be updated every year and the entire process must occur every five years. While only certain projects can receive EDA funding, that list can serve other purposes because it encapsulates everything going on in the county..
"If this was solely for EDA eligibility, we wouldn't be looking at private projects," Domina said.
The full list will give projects exposure and be used by planners in other facets — such as for the MassWorks Grants on which BRPC comments. For example, the commission will be studying locations for passenger rail on the Housatonic Rail Line and would be able to consult that list to see what other developments are in the works to complement the location.
It isn't just the bricks and mortar BRPC wants to know about but also work-force training initiatives, studies or other types of programming.
"There aren't any parameters. Just that it should contribute to the economic development of the region," BRPC Planner Sarah Hoecker said.
BRPC has sent packets requesting information to all municipalities, some of the county's businesses, banks and higher-education facilities in hopes to gather more information. The deadline is May 24 and from then until fall, the committee will categorize by each project's economic significance and by stage of development. The new list will be submitted with this year's progress report to EDA.
"I want information on every single project," Domina said.
BRPC staff has revamped the questionnaire so that it narrows the focus to get a better sense of the stage of development, which will help even out a problem the committee had in 2011 when some projects were submitted with little information while others had a lot.
The resolicitation isn't expected to happen every year; the CEDS committee will instead assess the progress each year.
The project solicitation form is available below.
2013 Priority Project Solicitation Package
Tags: Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, BRPC, CEDS, economic development, economic report,
