Editorial: Setting the framework for economic growth

Published on May 30, 2008

In Amherst, homeowners pay 90 percent of the property taxes. That percentage may shift a little if a plan to turn a North Amherst parcel into a cutting-edge research and development park comes to fruition.

Economic development is the key to broadening the town's tax base and easing the burden on single-family households. Town Manager Larry Shaffer has been looking for a project like the one now shaping up in North Amherst to jump-start the town's economic engine.

If the deal goes through, the 140-acre property, currently owned by the Patterson family, would become an R&D hub, roughly 250,000 to 500,000 square feet in size and valued at somewhere between $70 million and $250 million, depending on how much of the land is developed.

The idea is to create a place that will allow new businesses to start and flourish, primarily from research work currently underway at the University of Massachusetts. The proximity of the site to the campus makes it an ideal location.

The aim is for the town to prepare the site, essentially absorbing some of the initial development expenses. It is expected to cost about $12 million for water and sewer connections and road and parking improvements. Shaffer is looking to spread those costs out through grants, tax-incremental financing, bonds and existing water and sewer enterprise funds.

The potential payoff is $1.6 million to $4 million in property taxes a year.

The project would also cue up the economic development director position, which Shaffer has talked about since arriving in Amherst. Shaffer has said that he wants a specific project for such a person to sink his or her teeth into, rather than have them trying to generate business in a vacuum.

Shaffer has experience with economic development endeavors like this. In Vernon, Conn., where he was town administrator, Shaffer helped secure money and lay the framework for a mill project that garnered $3.8 million in grants to aid in its transformation.

He also brokered a deal for a $61 million mixed-use development that's expected to add $1.8 million to the tax rolls.

The North Amherst plan needs a careful review of the risks as well as the opportunities. The Select Board needs to review Shaffer's assumptions; the lessons from other communities with similar projects should be evaluated, and a clear case for the purchase will need to be made to Town Meeting. The earliest that could happen is this coming fall.

The research park will not be an instant success story. Economic development is a slow process. However, Shaffer is pointing Amherst in the right direction for what could be a 21st-century magnet for businesses and new tax revenue.