
{"id":3521,"date":"2008-09-25T08:39:41","date_gmt":"2008-09-25T16:39:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=3521"},"modified":"2008-09-25T17:05:40","modified_gmt":"2008-09-26T01:05:40","slug":"economic-leaders-put-on-a-brave-face","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2008\/09\/25\/economic-leaders-put-on-a-brave-face\/","title":{"rendered":"Economic leaders put on a brave face"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Downturn hits the charts throughout Orange County<\/em><br \/>\n<a href='http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/biz092508.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/biz092508-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Photo by Kirk Ross. Diane Lea asks about economic development plans while Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce executive director Aaron Nelson listens in during a Q&#038;A section of the chamber\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Orange County Development Briefing Tuesday at the Friday Center.\" title=\"biz092508\" width=\"240\" height=\"180\" align=\"left\" size-medium wp-image-3522\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/biz092508-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/biz092508.jpg 1256w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Kirk Ross<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Staff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Closer ties with UNC and RTP, more coordination in recruiting between local governments, setting up an economic incentive program and leveraging a new Orange County Airport were among the ideas discussed Tuesday at an Orange County  development briefing at UNC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Friday Center.<\/p>\n<p>One by one, planners from Carrboro, Chapel Hill, Orange County and Hillsborough spelled out in detail what the 150 or so business leaders assembled already knew or suspected: Commercial and residential construction is down considerably from heights hit in 2000.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nAs each took a turn at the lectern at the Chamber of Commerce-sponsored event, the charts displaying the bad news came up front. They were quickly followed by a more enthusiastic presentation of what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ahead, a litany of building projects that countywide would add millions of square feet of residential and commercial space.<br \/>\nChamber of Commerce president and CEO Aaron Nelson said he was impressed with the amount of building taking place in a down economy. But Nelson and others acknowledged that one of the big challenges ahead would be finding businesses to fill the new spaces being created.<\/p>\n<p>Brad Broadwell, Orange County\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new director of the Economic Development Commission, said that the county\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reputation as a difficult place to do business and the current economic climate makes building jobs and increasing the commercial tax base harder. But the county\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s assets, particularly the university, still make them possible, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We do have strong assets in Orange County, so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m very encouraged despite the current situation,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Broadwell said the county needs to do a better job of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153matching assets to opportunity,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d citing UNC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s $700 million in annual research funding.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We need to draw closer to UNC to look for economic opportunities and spin-offs from the university,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t done that very well in the past.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.<\/p>\n<p>A new airport, he said, could help bring in federal investment and help in recruiting new industries. Asked for specifics by audience member Mary Trosclair, Broadwell said that aerospace research and technology businesses that want to handle their own shipping are possibilities.<\/p>\n<p>Nelson said it might be time for local governments to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153embrace the third rail\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of incentives in order to recruit new businesses to fill new inventories of commercial space.<\/p>\n<p>Broadwell called incentives a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153perilous journey,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but agreed that targeted incentives such as a green building fund to help developers build LEED structures could have some utility.<\/p>\n<p>Chapel Hill\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s economic development officer, Dwight Bassett, said he would like to see better coordination between the county and the towns on incentives. One reason the town lost a bid to recruit a company with 450 jobs, he said, was that they learned that the county would not offer incentives.<\/p>\n<p>Nelson also acknowledged that the county and its municipalities have made strides in streamlining their review process and that complaining about how hard it is to do business here is not going to help the recruiting mission.<\/p>\n<p>Following are snapshots offered by planners on the state of development in the county and towns.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Carrboro<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Roy Williford, Carrboro\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s planning director, noted that Carrboro had issued 143 building permits for single-family housing units and six for multi-family units. Those numbers dropped over the past few years to 51 single-family and four multi-family this year. Certificates of Occupancy issued by the town show a similar picture with 160 COs issued in 2000 and 50 this year. Looking at the two lines drifting south on the chart, Williford mused, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if this is the NASDQ or the Dow.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>On the upside, Williford outlined the major commercial changes in store for downtown, including the large 300 East Main Street project, which could be voted on in a special meeting called by the Carrboro Board of Aldermen for next Tuesday. The town is also looking at a sizeable increase in downtown housing thanks to recently approved condominium projects and is anticipating the continued buildout of already approved subdivisions on the town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s north side.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hillsborough<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Planning director Margaret Houth called the county seat the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153smallest but most happening town\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in the county. She noted the town has seen a drop in the past couple of years in the average number of new projects, but that several major residential developments are moving ahead and others are in the planning stage.<br \/>\nHouth said that redevelopment in the downtown will lead to more activity there and that a new senior center and improvements around the Sportsplex is creating interest in that area.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Chapel Hill<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Bassett acknowledged a slowdown in single-family attached homes and multi-family housing construction, but pointed to several large commercial projects around town as the bright spot. The current mix of development projects is 39 percent commercial, a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153tremendous shift\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for a town with an 80\/20 ratio of residential to commercial space.<\/p>\n<p>Chapel Hill has about two million square feet of building taking place, representing an investment of roughly $408 million.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Orange County<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Planning director Craig Benedict said that the county will continue to push for development in its Economic Development Districts, with the proposed Buckhorn Village project a prime example. That project, he said, is close to the finish line and should help stem the flow of Orange County sales tax dollars out of county.<br \/>\nBenedict also cited a new airport as having economic development potential.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Downturn hits the charts throughout Orange County<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3521\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}