SUN PHOTO BY SARAH COWARD,
scoward@sun-herald.com
From
left, Team Punta Gorda president Roger Kress, TPG economic and
community development liaison Thomas Kerr, Punta Gorda city
councilwoman Marilyn Smith-Mooney and councilman Larry Friedman
celebrate the passing of TPG funds to the city of Punta Gorda for an
economic feasibility study Tuesday.
CHECKING IN
Adding up Punta Gorda’s assests
By BOB FLISS CHARLOTTE BUSINESS EDITOR
Oh no, not another economic impact study!
Considering that any community worthy of the name gets a new one of
these every few years, it’s perhaps easy to be a bit cynical. Too
many of these documents wind up on the shelf.
But Roger
Kress and Tom Kerr of Team Punta Gorda say that they expect results
from a study that the community service group will be funding in
part.
For example, they hope that the study will include a strong
recommendation that Punta Gorda develop its own small business
incubator. This is a facility where entrepreneurs can share office
expenses while building their businesses to the point where they can
afford their own locations. Small business incubators became popular
nationally during the 1980s, often subsidized with grant money from
various sources.
Roger Kress, president of Team Punta Gorda, said that a small
business incubator is an asset to almost any community. But in view
of Charlotte County’s increasingly pricey real estate market, it may
be a necessity if Punta Gorda has any future as a haven for
entrepreneurs.
“We can’t control the fact that land values are about four times
what they were five years ago,” Kress said. “The thing we can do is
to put our best effort to ensure that it won’t just be high-end
businesses here.”
And having a battery of economic data will definitely help whenever
Punta Gorda needs to deal with these same “highend” national
businesses that now seem mainly clustering in the Murdock area —
Panera Bread Co. and Havertys Furniture being just a couple recent
examples.
“Without having this information, we will not be able to build the
community to the next level,” said Kerr, a Team Punta Gorda
volunteer who has specialized in economic development.
For example, Wal-Mart is planning a store on Jones Loop Road near
Interstate 75. Other big retailers are sure to follow.
But suppose local business boosters were to approach one of these
big national chains with the simple question “what’s it going to
take to get to get one of your stores in our community.” Kerr
explained that the first thing the big players want to see is
economic data.
Simply, demographics rule.
For now, the immediate task is to hire a consultant to do the study.
A committee of community stakeholders will review bids in
mid-August. This group will include not only Team Punta Gorda
volunteers but also local officials, especially from the Charlotte
County tourism and economic development offices.
Exactly how the study will be structured is hard to say until all of
the consultants’ proposals are in, Kerr said. But the basic idea is
to inventory the economic assets of the community, beginning with
the all-important population statistics.
Although Team Punta Gorda is often considered to be focused on
downtown redevelopment, this is a misconception. Actually, Kerr
explained that the geographical boundaries of the study will be
roughly those of an urban development study completed for Team Punta
Gorda by Miami architect Jaime Correa. It will include the
fast-growing Burnt Store Road area, and even touch on the north
shore of the Peace River
A war chest
of about $52,000 is available to pay for the study.
Team Punta Gorda presented a check for $13,212, its share of the
study, in a brief ceremony Tuesday morning outside the Punta Gorda
City Hall. The city council has already voted to match this money,
which in turn will be matched by a U.S. Department of Commerce grant
for about $26,000.
Kress explained that although Team Punta Gorda has held various
fund-raisers, including a golf tournament, over its nearly two-year
existence, it still depends a lot upon small contributions from
residents.
The idea for an economic development study was hatched more than a
year ago, explained Harvey Goldberg, a Team Punta Gorda volunteer
who is also a candidate for the Punta Gorda City Council.
Goldberg and Kerr originally formed a two-man committee to work
with FEMA on a long-term economic recovery plan. They were advised
that federal money was available for a study, but that the chances
of a successful grant application would be much greater if Team
Punta Gorda brought the city on board as a co-sponsor.
Convincing city officials that a study was needed wasn’t
particularly tough, and the council voted its share of the matching
money late last year.
“You can’t have economic development or revitalization without the
key economic data that show where you are and where you’re going.
Nobody is going to invest without those facts,” Goldberg said.
