Regional Development Approaches Can Help All Of Central Mass.
We in New England have a long-standing habit of seeing our lives through the cities and towns in which we live and work. Because of that, taking regional approaches to problems and issues has been difficult here, compared to, say, Southern states, where county government has much more muscle and can facilitate regional solutions.
Even a regional school district — a handful of which you’ll find in Central Massachusetts — can be a delicate undertaking when, for example, each member town has to approve a school’s budget.
But in a still-struggling economy, taking a regional approach to economic development can be just as valuable, if not even more so, than a community-centric approach. That’s why we particularly like one of the Patrick Administration’s economic development goals for 2012: the encouragement of regional approaches to spur economic growth. The administration is backing it up with some dough too: state aid for infrastructure improvements as a primary incentive.
Regional economic development collaborations are not without precedent in the Bay State. The administration points to efforts in MetroWest and the South Coast (the Fall River-New Bedford area) as examples. Many communities in Western Massachusetts share regional services as well.
Cities and towns should embrace this effort. Communities with larger populations can’t help but bang the drum for more business; broadening the non-residential tax base pumps more money into key services such as education, the chief beneficiary of local property tax revenue, without adding children on whom to spend that money. But to attract businesses, cities and towns in Central Massachusetts need to take both local and – where appropriate – regional approaches with surrounding communities to accomplish this goal.
For example, in MetroWest, local and regional planners, with the state’s help, have been working to assemble a list of potential development sites in the region. In the process, it has brought together people from more than 35 communities to be part of a dialogue that can address both local and regional benefits. This makes sense; the effects of a new business development can impact more than the town in which it’s built.
There are other examples. The Blackstone Valley towns of Northbridge, Uxbridge, Douglas and Sutton are collaborating with six private landowners to establish a business park that would flank both sides of Route 146. And Shrewsbury and Grafton officials came together in 2010 to expand the CenTech industrial park between routes 20 and 30.
David McKeehan, president of the Fitchburg-based North Central Massachusetts Development Corporation, which encompasses 26 communities, says the Patrick Administration’s plan can help spur regional efforts, especially in the Route 2 area, where he said potential development sites are more affordable and there is a favorable climate for manufacturing.
We encourage more regional approaches to economic growth, especially in Worcester.
The new mayoral administration, as well as the City Council, should include neighboring communities in business development efforts that will impact them. The city has made a commendable effort over the last two years to reach out to the business community. But it can do more.
While a Worcester-centric focus is important, there are business zones abutting communities on the city’s eastern and southern edges that could stand to benefit from the state assistance the Patrick Administration is promising. To broaden the Central Massachusetts economic base, the region needs to take advantage of every possible card in its deck. Having such support from the state can’t hurt.
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