Welcome to Season 2, Issue 1 of Down To Business. Granted, Season 1 was a bit truncated, but who’s concerned about that?

The Planning Board recently held its annual Land Use Board Meet and Greet. In that meeting, Scott Johnson, chair of the Dover Business and Industrial Development Authority (DBIDA), noted some of the accomplishments that the DBIDA had in 2022. In part, he reviewed DBIDA's engagement in developing Enterprise Park. This includes conveying lots and endorsing site plans. He also noted DBIDA's increasing role in advising the City Council on public-private partnerships.

Over the past decade, we have seen a shift in Dover where community and economic development have moved closer together. In the past, you might see projects, such as a business park and enhancing the quality of life in Dover, as distinct and exclusive from each other. Today we wouldn’t think to site a business park without considering the environment or the impact that park might have on other aspects of the community. Dover’s planning and business development staff are in the same area of City Hall and work together daily to support good, thoughtful planning as our community evolves. This synergy continues to strengthen, and it's a sign of the collaborations to come.

Speaking of collaboration, it is positive to see DBIDA increasingly engaged in public-private partnerships. As noted before, the past decade has seen a shift where we have embraced development agreements where the city and a private entity work together to ensure that a development that might not have occurred not only is built but also furthers a community need. This need might be infrastructure, employment or housing. When City of Dover staff negotiates these agreements, it does so with the idea that the public investment has to have a sizable return; the idea isn’t just to assist the developer with creating a project. The city needs to protect the taxpayer and provide a return that has public benefits which are tangible (additional lanes, traffic controls or similar) and intangible (vibrancy, the seed for further development, employment centers), as well as tax revenue to cover and exceed any financial investment the city puts into the project.

This process enhances the city’s investments and encourages the private sector to reinvest in itself. My hope is that over the coming year, we find more of these opportunities to explore and that we continue to see the fiscal and quality of life grow as the quality of development continues to reflect more of what the Master Plan and our land use regulations envision. By the way, all of these agreements are designed to be transparent and in the public eye. You can find these agreements on the Planning Department Reports and Publications page under the “Public Private Partnerships” header.

A different type of synergy, collaboration and engagement that is forthcoming is the Business Visitation program, which Business Development Specialist Reid Amy has been coordinating over the last few months. Below she discusses the program and its rollout next month.

Happy New Year and happy reading,

Deputy City Manager: Development and Strategic Initiatives