ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR REPORT 2/15/07

Submitte= d by Joe Seacrist-Coordinator

1. &n= bsp; Met with = the President of American Country barns, web-site: http://www.americancountrybar= ns.com/. They manufacture high end wooden b= arns, both very large buildings and smaller sheds whic= h they sell in 8 states. He is looking for a manufacturing facility in Watertown, since his partner lives in Cheshire and he lives in Washington= CT, and Watertown is roughly in between. They specifically wanted a “country location” so we toured the Busin= ess Park on Echo Lake Road, and specifically Hardrock Development’s project, which impressed him. They manufacture the buildings by post and beam construction and then ship the parts to the cust= omer who either erects it, or hires a carpenter to erect. They originally want about 6,000 <= span class=3DSpellE>sf with room to expand.

2. &n= bsp; Met with a local building owner and a potential tenant for his 11,700 sf building which is just coming on the market. The potential tenant, a power equi= pment dealer, expressed real interest in the property

3. &n= bsp; Met with several representatives of a national retail chain, which would like to bui= ld in Watertown. After our meeting, took them for an informational meeting with Ruth Mu= lcahey and Chu= ck Berger in the P&Z office to discuss possible zoning ramifications of the site they are proposing.

4. &n= bsp; Had preli= minary discussions with a businessperson who is in the process of purchasing a Watertown busines= s, and seeks to build a dry cleaning plant in the business park. The plant would handle dry cleaning for multiple retail locations in the state. The Hardrock<= /span> Development project in the Business Park seems to be a = good fit. More to come.=

5. &n= bsp; On1/12 at= tended with Chuck Frigon the Waterbury Chamber of Commerce legislative breakfast at Waterbury UCONN, which featured some 10 members of the Waterbury area legislative team. They discussed pending legislation= which might effect area businesses and municipalities.=

6. &n= bsp; On 1/18 attended the Watertown Oakville version of the legislative breakfast at the Siemon Company, where Sean Williams was the sole speaker. Senator DeLucca was unable to atte= nd.

7. &n= bsp; Met withDr. Joe Erardi, Thad Hasbrouck-Principal at WHS, and Anthony &nb= sp; Salerno and Michae= l Lopes to get moving on their part of helping with the EDC website. This will coincide w= ith the re-make of the town’s web-site &n= bsp; recently approved by the Town Council. In trying to bring = focus to the tasks which shou= ld be immediately performed by Anthony and Mike, I suggested the following:

Scan in the EDC brochure in several distinct segments as follows:
1. “If loc= ation is the question…Wa= tertown is the answer” as a separate section and sub-tab of ED
2. “A perf= ect place to raise a business” as a separate section and sub-tab of= ED
3. “A perf= ect place to raise a family” as a separate section and sub-tab of E= D
4. “ItR= 17;s all right here!” as a separate section and sub-tab of ED <= /o:p>

Please scan the brochure as something other than a .pdf fi= le, since I’ll want to be able to edit the files to update informati= on which is outdated from the original brochure printing date and replace= the picture of the EDC members which is terribly outdated. I think t= hat if you save as a .tif or even a Word docum= ent it will allow for editing.

Please clean u= p the appearance of the “demographic data” to make it more appealing. For instance change the typeface, highlight various sections in color, or perhaps choose an appropriate ICON for each sect= ion of the demographics.

We’ll ge= t rid of the “History” section for the time being.

Using the Tighe&Bond GIS information, which= we reviewed yesterday, isolate and map the industrially, BSC and BG zoned areas of town by the colored zoning overlays, so we can then list available developable land by street address, and allow potential busi= ness customers to look at each lot size, see an aerial photo of the propert= y, and be able to overlay water and sewer, fire hydrants, tax information etc.

This should gi= ve us a start on modernizing the page. We can then take a look at this “first cut” and let the Commission weigh in on their ideas= .

I propose that when the above is completed to the Commissions satisfaction, t= hat one quarter of the $1,500 stipend be paid, or $375.00. The second quarter, or $375.00 be paid when the Commissions&= #8217; ideas and suggestions concerning the above are incorporated to their satisfaction, and the second half or $750 be paid when the Commission feels that you have gone as far as you can go, without a professional web-site development firm’s help.

8. &n= bsp; Met with = Peter Dorphalen, Executive Director of the COG Central Naugatuck Valley. Lisa Cattaneo and I completed an extensive questionnaire about = Watertown, which will be posted on the CERC web-site.= Dorphalen later said Watertown’s q= uestionnaire will be used as the best practices example for all other of the 10 or so towns to use when they comp= lete their forms. Dorphalen also congratulated Watertown on bein= g the only city or town in the COG which has such a complete GIS system, which is available to the general public.

9. &n= bsp; Attended = Brownfields seminar at Waterbury Chamber Office.=

10. Will set up meeting with Steve Pearlman, Presi= dent of Risdon when he returns later this month from a trip to Asia. Purpose of the meeting is to disco= ver current status of Risdon, after its purchase.

11. Met with Ed Godin = from Matthews Realty to discuss how we can work together to market Watertown.

12. Attended the CL&P large customer meeting a= t the Farmington Marriott with Joe McGrail, both in his capacity as a representat= ive of Emerson, and in his capacity as Chairman of the EDC.

13. Attended a committee meeting of the Public Pol= icy Committee of the Waterbury Regional Chamber, of which I am a member representing Watertown. The committee completed Mayor Jarjura’s performance review, which the Chamber issues every year.

14. Met with Jack Walton, Roy Cavanaugh, and Mark Tedesco to discuss possible support from the EDC for his Watertown Business<= /st1:PlaceName> Park project.<= /o:p>

15. Met with Peter Hargraves<= /span>, VP of Commercial banking for Webster Bank, to explore possible low cost financing for potential business enterpris= es which might want to re-locate to Watertown. Peter asked to see me as a result = of a meeting his manager, an old friend of mine, and I had at the legislative breakfast. (As a sidelight, <= span class=3DSpellE>Hargraves is looking for a place to live, so I direct= ed him to the Watertown Crossings, since he showed interest as we toured the town)= .