Planning Ahead For A Strong Economy
For businesses looking to locate or expand in Massachusetts, getting the state and local permits needed to do business has been a major challenge for many years. We need to address this issue front and center in order to grow our economy and create jobs.
We can fix this problem, without sacrificing the character of our communities or the quality of our environment, by planning ahead for new growth and development.We have developed a bad habit in Massachusetts, at both the state and local levels of government, of not planning ahead for new growth. Instead, we wait for and react to private proposals for commercial and residential development, using our permitting processes to debate and decide the important questions of where and how new development should occur.
Proactive Planning
This is a losing proposition for all concerned. Reacting to individual development proposals is not a constructive way for our communities and our Commonwealth to shape and guide a vision of what we want to be. Waiting to discuss these important questions until after the permitting process for a particular project has begun makes it extremely unlikely that permits will be issued in a timely and predictable manner.
Under Gov. Deval Patrick's recently announced "Growth Districts Initiative," we are starting the process of breaking these bad habits by highlighting some great examples of where our local communities are thoughtfully planning ahead and pledging to focus our state efforts and resources on making those plans become a reality.
Within these districts, all of which have been identified locally as promising locations for new growth, we will work closely with communities and property owners to make districts "development ready" with respect to local and state permitting, site preparation, infrastructure improvements and marketing.
The City of Worcester has been a leader in local efforts to improve our business climate and so it was fitting for the Patrick-Murray Administration to designate "Innovation Square," a district at the north end of Worcester's downtown including Gateway Park, as the Commonwealth's first Growth District. It is a great model of how to plan ahead, with careful thought having been given to every aspect of getting these sites ready for new development, from proper zoning to brownfield remediation to infrastructure and parking.
We are now in the process of announcing 15 other districts around the state that will demonstrate that planning ahead is the right approach for all kinds of new development; whether urban or suburban, commercial, residential or mixed-use.
There is a lot that the commonwealth can and will do to support growth within these new districts. State assistance with brownfield remediation and infrastructure has already played a major part in getting the Innovation Square district to where it is today. The next step will be to help market the available development ready sites there to the business community, both locally, nationally and abroad.
At the upcoming international Bio 2008 conference in San Diego, we will be telling the world about the opportunities for life science companies to locate in Gateway Park, in close proximity to the cutting edge research now occurring at WPI and at the UMass Medical School.
We believe that each of these Growth Districts will, with our support, become regional hubs of economic activity, creating new employment opportunities both for the communities in which they are located and for neighboring communities as well. Of equal importance, we believe that these Growth Districts will be a critical first step in shaking our bad habits towards new growth and development. By planning ahead, Massachusetts communities will take a responsible, sustainable step towards propelling the Commonwealth's economy through the next century.
Gregory Bialecki is undersecretary in the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments