Saratoga County, NY Development Plan

Define the Business Development Goal Statement with short- and long-term goals for Saratoga County Empire Zone development by reflecting the goals stated in the original Empire Zone application submitted in December 2000 and updating new zone initiatives.

Establish an economic development strategy for the zone by making commitments for the current zone and identifying the business clusters the zone seeks to attract.

Identify the geographic areas where development is desired and/or expected and goals for expansion.

Clarify the criteria for expansion and the local process by which the zone community and the zone administrative board will evaluate requests for amending the zone's boundaries.

§ 36-7 Business development goal statement.

The Saratoga County Empire Zone Administrative Board is committed to fulfilling the goals set forth in its original application including job retention and creation and business retention, growth and attraction.

The application for Empire Zone designation was submitted in 2000 with goals and objectives outlined. These goals were:

The creation of additional job opportunities for residents of underserved communities throughout Saratoga County.

Deliver needed programs, training and services to new businesses locating in the Empire Zone.

Retain existing jobs in existing businesses.

Create greater opportunities for small businesses.

Increase opportunities for tourism.

§ 36-8 Business development goals.

Goal One: Create additional job opportunities for residents of Saratoga County by attracting new businesses that are in the economic interest of the empire zone community. Objectives:

Create a regional product that clearly demonstrates to outside investors the benefits that can be obtained by locating in the region and especially the Empire Zone.

Assess the needs of the residents within the area of impact and organize training and human resource needs so that they will be able to work when the jobs are available.

Identify types of businesses that are appropriate for each area of the zone. Saratoga County Empire Zone seeks to attract businesses that add to the economic vitality of the community by showing positive economic impact through increased employment and capital investment in the Empire Zone.

Link existing business entrepreneurs in the zone to appropriate resources, which in turn will support a cost-effective environment for entrepreneurial business expansion and provide on-site strategic business planning and technical assistance.

Develop a systematic process of pre-permitting sites. Participate in New York State's statewide campaign to "pre-certify" sites for development with the Build Now-NY Program.

(6)

Participate in the regional effort to attract the chip-fabrication industry so as to be prepared to provide needed support for this industry and their second-tier companies.

(7)

Assist corporate and industrial parks with bringing in necessary infrastructure to support their needs including access to fiber optic networks, high-speed Internet access, water, electrical service and transportation.

(8)

Foster the distinctive public/private/academic partnership that has created the best model for economic development in New York State.

(9)

Continue an economic development program that produces wealth for our communities, so that the people of Saratoga County can prosper.

(10)

Cultivate the infrastructure needed to grow and sustain a knowledge-based economy while still delivering the required resources for our brick-and-mortar industries.

(11)

Foster countywide solutions to provide necessary infrastructure to improve the quality of life for residents of the County.

Goal Two: Identify issues that provide obstacles to residents who want to work. Objectives:

Target dislocated and underemployed workers as a resource for identifying and recruiting new industry.

Work with social service providers to link resources with the private sector.

Goal Three: Deliver programs, training and services that will enable residents to work. Objectives:

Create better integration between job training agencies and new and existing employers.

Work with public and private educational institutions to develop and promote new education initiatives and new course offerings to meet the ever-growing needs of business and industry.

Continue to seek grants that assist communities in all kinds of various ways including identifying "ready-to-go" business and tourism sites to attract and expand businesses, increase capital investment, diversify the tax base and create new jobs.

Encourage increased availability of public transport services.

Goal Four: Encourage retention and expansion of existing businesses throughout the Empire Zone that are in the economic interest of the Empire Zone community. Objectives:

Develop innovative structuring for large and small companies including business planning, financial packaging, and innovative financing programs.

Articulate a business support program for businesses in the Empire Zone.

Work with local industries that are struggling to remain competitive to find ways to reduce costs and to remain competitive by diversifying their operations and looking for "specialty niche markets."

Continue the process of pinpointing the location of a potential workforce in a tight and spread out workforce.

Develop Commercial and Light Manufacturing Incubator Spaces and Technology Accelerators for small businesses. Incubators provide the necessary support for the growth of startup businesses while accelerators aid existing businesses to grow into mid-level operations. These incubators/accelerators will allow small businesses to remain profitable and expand into larger flex/spec buildings in targeted zones throughout the County.

(6)

Work with local and regional developers to develop flex/spec buildings within the zones in industrial and business parks throughout the County allowing creation of new business and the retention and expansion of existing businesses.

Goal Five: Revitalize core business areas of communities in the Empire Zone. Objectives:

Identify the gaps in the existing business mix.

Develop a cooperative advertising and marketing strategy.

Identify problems with building code enhancement to open up multiple uses in downtown buildings.

Goal Six: Enable new businesses that are in the economic interest of the Empire Zone community to more fully participate in the global marketplace. Objectives:

Develop policies and implement programs that will enhance and accelerate economic growth for all businesses in Saratoga County by sustaining a business climate that encourages private sector investment and focuses on the cultivation and strengthening of such critical economic development factors as technological innovation, workforce skills, public infrastructure development and expansion of our export market capacity.

Attract, retain and grow diverse industry segments in the Empire Zone.

Expand upon the momentum of the recent economic success in the County. The strategy is to incorporate the fundamental principles of SEDC, economic development through leadership, innovation and teamwork. Advance our attraction and retention of jobs for Saratoga County residents by improving the economic development structure with relevant plans of action, developing and introducing new capital access programs, enhancing the critical public and private sector coalitions and strategizing with local community groups.

Continually update the overall economic development plan for Saratoga County that includes an export development program, extensive in-house financial services, community economic development, marketing initiatives, and business retention.

Remove barriers and disincentives in Saratoga County that discourage business growth in the region.

(6)

Become fully aware and responsive to the new world economy and the information revolution.

(7)

Continue to participate as part of the strategic team for organizing a statewide alliance and participation at the world's largest industrial trade fair, the German Hannover Trade Fair.

(8)

Develop a Saratoga County Zone Capital Corporation; use $1.5 million of the Zone Capital Credits allocated to the Saratoga County Empire Zone.

Goal Seven: Increase opportunities for tourism that are in the economic interest of the Empire Zone community. Objectives:

Revitalize waterfront areas including the Great Sacandaga Lake and the Sacandaga and Hudson Rivers.

Revitalize the commerce, commuter and tourism rail systems along the north-south route from Albany to Corinth to Hadley to North Creek in recognition that railroads play an important role in supplying the economic engine for local industries and tourism.

Join regional recreational forces that are making heritage tourism an economic industry.

Goal Eight: Encourage the formation and growth of cottage industries that are in the economic interest of the Empire Zone community. Objectives:

Identify the cottage industry that exists.

Develop micro-entrepreneurial training for cottage industry owners.

Link cottage industry owners to the Internet with existing high-speed fiber optics.

Develop a support group for these cottage industry owners.

Goal Nine: Diversify and expand the local economy by actively facilitating Internet-centered jobs and businesses that are in the economic interest of the Empire Zone community. Objectives:

Ensure availability of education and training opportunities for entrepreneurs who might locate in the Empire Zone.

Goal Ten: It is in the economic interest of the Empire Zone community to develop vacant, abandoned and underutilized commercial and industrial lands. Objectives:

Review the potential for adaptive reuse of all vacant buildings and land in the Empire Zone and recommend specific possibilities.

Ensure that vacant and developable lands are zoned appropriately.

Goal Eleven: Increase intermunicipal cooperation. Objectives:

Continue to promote the idea of micro-regionalization where economic development committees from towns and villages come together on a regular basis to ascertain their readiness for new enterprise growth, to set economic development goals, share resources and assets, and plan for the future.

Using a "team" approach by working with Saratoga County officials, local communities and private sector businesses to develop a strong marketplace.

Expedite programs and the review process for local approvals.

Goal Twelve: Expand local and county tax base. Objectives:

Provide business-friendly incentives without outright property tax abatement.

Target state and federal resources to repair/upgrade/expand infrastructure in the Empire Zone.

Goal Thirteen: empower local communities to become more self-sustaining. Objectives:

Encourage communities to initiate their own solutions to common economic problems and thereby build their long-term capacity for jobs.

Support and find funding for transportation, environmental, land use planning and other studies necessary to assess total impact on a region and clear the way for future economic development.

Encourage responsible land use planning by working with local communities on their comprehensive plans and making sure they are aware of the economic development strengths and constraints when developing a vision for the future. Encourage communities to create and maintain a "business friendly" environment.

Improve and develop infrastructure necessary to the successful operation of businesses including, but not limited to, water, sewer, transportation, electric, gas and telecommunication.

Goal Fourteen: build regional capacity through interagency relationship. Objectives:

Continue an excellent working relationship with the Small Business Administration and New York State Business Development Corporation to provide Section 504 financing to small businesses. Continue working relationship with Empire State Development Corporation in providing Economic Development services.

Work with all five Industrial Development Agencies (IDAs), Saratoga County, Clifton Park, Town of Corinth, Mechanicville/Stillwater, and Town of Waterford, to allow eligible companies to receive significant economic development incentives to create quality jobs in Saratoga County.

§ 36-9 Economic development strategy.

Redraw the boundaries of the current Empire Zone to distribute the Empire Zone throughout the County.

§ 36-10 Site identification.

Goals for expansion. The Saratoga County Empire Zone Administrative Board is committed to optimizing economic development opportunities in existing zone-designated areas, amending boundaries in areas with little or no potential for economic growth and applying undesignated acreage to an expansion of the zone that will create new economic development opportunities that are in the economic interest of the Empire Zone community. The Saratoga County Empire Zone board will use the following guidelines to determine areas for inclusion in future boundary amendments for the Saratoga County Empire Zone:

Priority will be given to sites that will suit manufacturing, warehouse, distribution, research and development, software development, high-technology industry development, nanotechnology, biotechnology and biomedical industry, agriculture, the paper industry, wood products manufacturing and commercial/light manufacturing incubator space and technology accelerators.

Priority will be given to businesses that create new jobs and make capital investment in the Empire Zone.

Priority will be given to projects that will bolster downtown redevelopment and community development in the northern and shoulder towns of Saratoga County.

Municipalities proposing expansion must provide evidence of willingness to work with the Saratoga County Empire Zone Administrative Board on gathering necessary community approvals.

§ 36-11 Criteria for boundary amendment and local process.

Identify the local process by which a zone community and the Zone Administrative Board will evaluate requests for amending the zone's boundaries.

In considering and recommending areas appropriate for addition to the Saratoga County Empire Zone, the Zone Administrative Board will review and evaluate areas based on the following state and local criteria:

A change in the boundary must be in the economic interest of the Empire Zone Community receiving the boundary change.

Demonstrate that a change in circumstance has occurred since the establishment of the existing boundaries, which makes the revision necessary or desirable.

The properties to be included are developable in terms of environmental condition and proper zoning. Businesses will be ineligible for Empire Zone Certification if they are tax delinquent.