This document discusses economic development opportunities and challenges in Groton, Connecticut. It outlines learning objectives around land use policy, regulatory audits, and obtaining funding for planning. It then provides an overview of Groton's demographics, major employers, and attractions. Issues facing Groton include loss of tax revenue and an unfriendly business environment. The document recommends conducting a regulatory audit and market analysis to identify opportunities for targeted industry, redevelopment areas, and regulatory reforms. Next steps include implementing the market analysis, beginning regulatory revisions, and building community support.

2. Learning Objectives
 Connection between land use policy and
economic development
 Benefits of doing a regulatory audit
and market analysis at the same time
 How to talk your elected body into giving you
money for planning!

3. Snapshot of Groton
Population:
40,115
Jobs:
26,000+
Major Employers:
US Navy Base
Electric Boat
Pfizer
Points of Interest:
Fort Griswold
Branford House
US Navy Submarine Museum
Notable People:
Matt Harvey (NY Mets pitcher)
Lydia Longley (first Nun)
Brian Anderson (professional skateboarder)
Fran Mainella (former National Park Service
Director)

4. What Are Our Problems?
What Can We Do?
 Fat and happy, until…
recent HUGE tax revenue loss
 Word on the street
 Not an easy place to do business
 Confusing process
 Town Council initiative with $$$
 Economic development/
understand the market
 Regulatory reform
 Customer service

6. Opportunities
 New leadership in OPDS (AD/ECD)
 Community is ready for change
 Developable/Underutilized land
and grayfields
 Transit and multimodal options
 POCD/Zoning
 Sewer/Roadway infrastructure
 Water availability
 Others

7. Constraints
 Lacking a “development community”
 Town/City/Village(s)
 Looking for instant results
 No town center
 Resistance to change
(internal i.e. town hall)
 Everyone has ideas, lack of bodies
to implement

8. What Are Our Goals?
 Easier process and more diverse
economy!
 Plan and create an economically
diverse economy
 Identify areas where smart growth and
development should be encouraged
and supported (growth centers)
 Encourage mixed-use development that
creates great communities
 Address infrastructure needs for the future
 Protect open space, critical resources
and community character
 Develop buy-in and engage the
community in the process

9. What Should Groton Do?
 Most municipalities are dealing with the
same problems as Groton
 How have other municipalities handled
these same issues?
 Regulatory audit
 Market analysis
 Targeted industry assessments
 Market the town and its resources

10. Getting It Done
 RFQ
– Town Council plan and $$
– Selection committee and process
 Community support is key
 Focus group
– Develop buy-in and political support for
future changes
– Include boards, commissions, TC, RTM,
and others
 Make this their project, not just another
planning study

11. Market Analysis
 What this will do for us?
– Give us direction for solutions and an
awareness of the market
 What is the market?
– Retail
– Office
– Housing
– Hospitality
– Infrastructure
– Smart growth vs. conventional development
 “Add on” projects
– Pro forma analysis
– Marketing material
– Industry specific analysis

12. Regulatory Reform is the Equivalent
of Setting the Table
 Plan of Conservation and Development—
update in process
 Zoning Regulations—last rewrite in 1986
 Subdivision Regulations—adopted in 1980
 Economic Development Incentives

13. Customer Service
 Why is this important?
– Does the public like what we are selling?
– We are a service provider
 Change of attitude
 Change of focus

14. Development and Redevelopment
Equation

15. Regulatory Review
Zoning and Subdivision Regulation Audit

16. Goals
 “Less is more”
 Be user friendly: clear and concise
 Simplify the approval process
 Provide predictability
 Provide incentives to meet economic
development objectives
 Recognize “best practices”
 Ensure consistency with Town’s
Plan of Conservation and Development
 Recognize demographic trends that relate
to development patterns

17. Purpose
 Identify areas of concern
 Suggest changes
 Provide a “roadmap” to assist the Town in
implementing recommendations

18. Focus Areas
 Inconsistencies
 Organization
 Confusing/Vague language
 Out-of-date provisions
 Barriers to efficient permitting
– Staff review vs. commission approvals
– Consolidation of boards/commissions
 User friendliness
 Best practices
 Consistency with state statutes
 Consistency with Town’s economic
development objectives

20. Stakeholder Interviews
 Regulations are cumbersome, outdated and lack consistency;
hinder the Town’s ability to attract development
 Town is losing out to coastal communities in attracting development
 Capitalize on Town assets
– Waterfront location
– Regional access (highway, ferry, rail, airport)
– Schools, parks, museums, and destinations
 Complacency due to past success (Pfizer and Electric Boat)
 Multiple Committees and Commissions create complexities
 Confusion created by Town/City of Groton jurisdiction;
redundancy of functions and operations
 Land use regulations should support Town’s goal for attracting
economic development
 “Can do” attitude of current planning and ED staff

21. Implications for Zoning
 Decreased setbacks
 Smaller lot sizes
 Mix of housing types/models
 Adapting existing—“Granny flats”
 Options for aging in place
 Connectivity to services
and entertainment
Trends
Aging population

22. Implications for Zoning
 Increased demand for rental housing
 Increased density
– Live, work, play proximity
 Reduced parking
 Increased demand for biking, walking,
and public transportation
Trends
Millennials

23. Implications for Zoning
 Demand for mixed-use
and proximity to services
 Support opportunities for Traditional
Neighborhood Development patterns
 Locate development near
transportation nodes
 Transportation impacts
– Interconnected streets
– Complete Streets
– Sidewalks/crosswalks/bikeways
 Demand for on-site amenities
and outdoor space
Trends
Desire for live/work/play
opportunities

24. General Comments
 Zoning is difficult to get through;
lacks streamlined review process
 Few incentives to encourage development
– FAR bonuses, flexible standards
 Not supportive of emerging trends
– Particularly mixed use and on-site employee amenities
 Lack requirements
– Pedestrian and bike facilities, sustainability, alternative energy
 Organizational improvements
– Structure
– Definitions
– Consistency
– Consolidation of districts

25. General Comments
 Simplify table of permitted uses
– 12 pages long
 Consider creating a “developers handbook”
 Downtown Development District
– Create a new Overlay that reconciles existing strip commercial
land use pattern with desire to create a true town center

26. Recommendations
 Improvements to the organizational
structure, definition and clarity in
key sections
 Language to fill a void in the regulations
 Sweeping changes (eliminating a district,
creating a new overlay, or substantially
re-writing the content of a special district)

27. Next Steps
 Target areas for economic development
 Create a new Downtown Development Overlay District along
Route 1 corridor
 Initiate a master plan for the Route 1 corridor
 Staff
– Conduct land use studies in representative cross-sampling of the
built industrial environment to better understand development
characteristics (establish baseline for making adjustments to
dimensional and density requirements)
– Simplify use tables
 Address streamlining, including potential to hold
joint hearings
 Create a developers handbook
 Use technology (on-line permitting)

28. Market Analysis

30. Economic Development Tools
The Big Categories
 Business attraction, retention,
and expansion
 Real estate and site
development
 Innovation, entrepreneurship,
incubation, and acceleration
 Workforce development
 Community development
Our core focus in Groton:
Real Estate and Site
Development—blending land
use and zoning with economic
and market analysis.

31. Economic Development & Planning Overlap
The Groton Experience
 Land and site development
 Redevelopment
 Downtown development
 Corridor and district
development
 Infrastructure needs
and planning
 Placemaking
All are impacted by planning,
zoning, permitting, land-use
regulations, and codes; and
all are driven by economic
and market trends!

32. Leading Industry Analysis
The Groton Experience
 Industry sector and subsectors
– Manufacturing, life sciences, medical office, retail, tourism/visitation,
business and finance
 Includes analysis of
– Employment and occupations—trends, projections, concentrations, wages
– Market trends—regional, global, national
 Can also include analysis of
– Supplies chains, trade
– Output and impact—sales, GDP, multipliers
 Not a guarantee of the future
 Not meant to find “lightening in a bottle”

33. Real Estate Market Analysis
 Includes land and new building development, expansions,
redevelopment, business parks, sites, districts, and corridors
 Broken into categories of commercial, industrial, retail,
special (i.e. medical office lab, incubators), and mixed-use
 Analysis of
– Competitiveness—supply, demand, comparison to
market competition
– Needs—infrastructure, incentives, amenities
Keys in Groton:
Corridors, refreshing retail, integrating tourism/visitation areas,
flex space for manufacturing, mixed-use, and design integration

34. Lessons Learned
Placemaking Matters!
 Workforce is key to economic development
– Top issue for all sectors and all sizes
of business!
 Workforce requires infrastructure
and amenities
– Housing, transportation, water, parks,
recreation, community, etc.
– Defines quality of place
 Economic development must include
attention to quality of place and must be
integrated with community development
and planning

35. Lessons Learned
Less Is More!
 Focus on “low hanging fruit”—Prioritize!
– Don’t bite off more than you can chew—
break large projects into smaller digestible
components based on your organization’s
and partners’ capacity to implement
 Understand what you can have impact over
– At local level—land use, zoning, permitting,
customer service
 Be regional
– Workforce, transportation, industry cluster,
and housing all require regional strategies
 Be holistic and integrate
– Land use planning, community development,
workforce development, economic, and
business development

36. Next Steps
 Focus on setting the table
 Implement market analysis and marketing efforts
 Foster community support
 First steps in revising regulations
 Celebrate small successes
 Improve development and permitting process across
the board
 Master planning key areas
 Local assistance from partner organizations and the State
 Promised the Town Council some progress in 3 years
(give or take a little….)

37. Questions
Jon Reiner, AICP | Director of Planning and Development
Services, Town of Groton, CT
jreiner@groton-ct.gov | www.groton-ct.gov
Ken Schwartz, AICP, NCICS | Senior Vice President of
Planning/Urban Design
kschwartz@vhb.com | www.vhb.com
Jim Damicis | Senior Vice President, Camoin Associates
jim@camoinassociates.com | www.camoinassociates.com