YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A strategic plan designed to help guide economic development across the city could have a lasting impact on everything from housing to growing its retail and manufacturing base, officials say.
The city presented details of an Economic Development Strategic Plan during a meeting of the City Council Community Planning and Economic Development Committee on Tuesday. The report, prepared by Columbus-based Montrose Group, identified both short-term and long-term objectives to improve economic growth and opportunity.
“It is happening,” said Stephanie Gilchrist, the city’s economic development director. “But development takes a long time.”
The strategic plan lays out five tactics the city should adopt to improve development. Among the first is to expand the city’s economic development department, the report said.
This process is currently underway, Gilchrist said. The study shows that Youngstown, despite bleeding population over the past six decades, still boasts more than 58,000 residents, making it the 11th most populous city in Ohio. In addition, the city spans 34 square miles and is ranked the seventh largest city in the state by area. Moreover, there are 15 different economic development entities either operating in or near the city.
The development department, the report emphasized, employs just two full-time people to address new and existing business growth. “The staff within the city of Youngstown’s economic development department should be expanded to meet the size of benchmark cities around the state of Ohio,” Gilchrist said.
A second tactic is to enhance business retention efforts through the department.
Third, the plan recommends that the city assemble 1,000 acres from its pool of vacant, unimproved and abandoned land to develop single-family homes, multifamily units, industrial parks and available land to support a retail sector along three major business corridors. These corridors include Market Street to the south, Belmont Avenue to the north and Mahoning Avenue to the west.
Gilchrist said her charge is to assemble and help develop 500 new single-family houses by 2030. However, much of this is well underway, with organizations such as the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. and the Mahoning County Land Bank helping to spearhead construction and development of new housing units.
“We’re almost there,” she said. “It’s realistic; it’s possible. We just need the support of council and the city to make it grow.”
A fourth element of the plan targets industrial growth. The report recommends setting aside 500 vacant acres for new industrial development, using a model enacted by the city of Cleveland.
Industrial development could also be enhanced by streamlining the city’s incentives policy through a business incentive guide that explains benefits and eligibility of tax abatements, tax-increment financing programs or community reinvestment area programs. Moreover, the city should consider entering into Joint Economic Development Districts, or JEDDs, with neighboring townships, cities and villages. The report encourages, for example, a JEDD with Liberty Township in Trumbull County to the north to encourage development of the Belmont Avenue corridor.
Gilchrist pointed to the impact of such organizations as the Youngstown Business Incubator and the proposed Innovation Hub for Aerospace and Defense, a project now underway in the former Vindicator building.
“Aerospace and defense is coming,” she said. The goal is to accumulate as much land as possible to accommodate growth associated with these industries. “We, as a city, can get starting sites ready for development in manufacturing.”
Finally, the strategic plan calls for a more aggressive marketing campaign by the city to attract new investors, promote positive trends and position it as a hub for growth and innovation. “We have to tie all this together with housing, workforce and then building a community that is ready to win and thrive,” Gilchrist said.
As such, the city was presented with a plan to consider issuing a request for proposal to firms that could help develop a comprehensive marketing plan, said Andy Resnick, who handles media relations and communications for the city.
“It allows us to really maximize this foundation that we’ve built already,” he said. The RFP would not exceed $200,000.
The strategic plan recommends in the long term that the city continue to work closely with organizations such as Lake to River Economic Development, the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, Eastgate Regional Council of Governments and the Western Reserve Port Authority to leverage development.
Councilman Julius Oliver, 1st Ward, CPED chairman, said he welcomed the report, noting that the city now has a solid roadmap to work from. “I congratulate you guys. I think we’re on the right path. I look forward to playing a role supporting moving forward with this strategic plan,” he said.