Central Mass. Towns Dominate Tech List
Worcester area stands out for welcoming businesses
A handful of communities in Central Massachu-setts have announced they are ready for business, according to a recent study by the Massachusetts
High Technology Council.
The recent MassTrak survey sponsored by the MHTC of all of the state's 351 cities and towns ranked six communities surrounding Worcester in the top 10 in terms of their friendliness to hi-tech business expansion.
Spreading The Word
The towns of Shrewsbury, Grafton, Douglas, Uxbridge, Athol, and Medway all achieved the highest possible rating from the MHTC, a testament to both the individual towns' efforts to make themselves more appealing to business and the overall convenience and value of the region, according to Wyndham Lewis, vice president of the MHTC.
"Companies that are looking to expand and build a manufacturing facility are looking at places where they can get permits easily, where they can work with the town government in a friendly way and where real estate is more reasonable," Lewis said. "Worcester County certainly was at the top in terms of regions that distinguished themselves in those ways this year."
For the towns ranked highly in the survey, the trick now is how to capitalize on the newfound recognition and get the word out.
Harold Davis, chairman of the Douglas Economic Development Commission, said the high ranking of his town has placed Douglas on the state's radar screen more than ever before.
"It has really helped our overall economic development as a whole, not just the high tech stuff," Davis said. "Now, the state, they're aware of Douglas, where they weren't maybe five or six years ago."
One of the common bonds all of the towns that ranked high on the MHTC listing shared was their adoption of Chapter 43D expedited permitting laws. Previous rankings did not factor in a town's participation in 43D, Lewis said.
"Look into adopting 43D, that's the strongest message we have from this year's rankings," Lewis said. "The municipal governments that have adopted 43D have shown a willingness to make the accommodations that businesses need."
Laws Of Attraction
Stephen Bishop, town planner for Grafton, said adopting 43D just made sense to him, especially when taken from a business' point of view.
"The patents on some specialized manufactured goods have a limited shelf life," Bishop said. "The longer it takes to set up their operations, that can really affect their profitability."
Bishop said the importance of time is particularly relevant when dealing with potentially very lucrative biotechnology and pharmaceutical developments.
Attracting more biotech development to the area in the coming months and years will be the ultimate indicator of whether the MHTC's rankings are valid and pertinent.
"In Worcester, Shrewsbury, Grafton, Uxbridge, we've really started to build up a critical mass of those biotech industries," Bishop said. "Now, hopefully it's a lot easier for the state to focus on this area as a growth area, and there certainly is a willingness to be the site of expansion and location of a number of different industries here."
Thinking regionally, rather than strictly locally, will be critical to keeping the ball rolling as the towns in the region look to capitalize on their potential, said Lawrence B. Adams, executive director of the Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission.
"While there's always a competitiveness between communities, there are tremendous benefits to working together," Adams said. "Most solutions need to be regional, since our workforce is so regional. We can't stop planning at municipal boundaries."
Examples of successful regional planning to make the area more competitive include efforts between the towns of Douglas and Webster to extend water and sewer service from Webster to a pad ready site in Douglas, both Davis and Adams said.
Davis said the high rankings within the region, in addition to the individual towns, can't help but draw companies to the area.
Short of having a company locate in Douglas, Davis said, he'd rather have it next door in Uxbridge than in Springfield or Lowell.
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