City Needs One-Stop Development Shop to Compete, Advisers Say

To best compete with area municipalities for new business development, the city needs to tweak its planning and financial approval processes and embrace a one-stop shop mentality, members of a city advisory committee say.

"We're OK, but in our world ... OK isn't enough for Wauwatosa," Robert Simi, chair of the city's Economic Development Advisory Committee (EDAC) told Common Council members at their Committee of the Whole meeting Tuesday. "We need to be the best."

To become the best, Simi said, the EDAC recommends the city create a Community Development Authority (CDA), a seven-member advisory commission that would take on oversight of and provide recommendations for redevelopment, economic development and other planning initiatives.

The CDA also would take on financial issues related to new development, such as city-backed financial support through Community Development Block Grant loans, grants and other financial assistance.

A CDA would be a one-stop shop for new and existing businesses that seek to set up or expand within the city, allowing the city to be "more nimble and efficient" in responding to economic development initiatives, according to Timothy Kronquist, an EDAC member.

"This is all an attempt to make the organization customer-friendly" while providing the necessary expert oversight to do what is best for the city, said Paulette Enders, city economic development director.

A CDA would create a more streamlined process for developers who want to bring their business to the city, Enders said. For instance, the CDA would eliminate some of the multiple separate committees and commissions that currently are involved in working with businesses and developers, such as the Wauwatosa Economic Development Corp., the Redevelopment and Housing authorities and the Wauwatosa Revolving Loan Fund.

Council members were receptive to the idea but noted some concerns. Among those concerns were whether the CDA would swallow too many oversight committees and eventually replicate – albeit in one place – the cumbersome red tape that can slow developers, and whether the focus of the city's economic development too heavily favored major new development.

"My concern is that we went away from the WEDC because it was too unwieldy ... and implementation lacked traction," said Ald. Michael Walsh, adding that he would want to ensure that the CDA not morph into the "same maze."

A Community Development Authority would not replace all aspects of the city's planning and development process, although it would serve as a first stop to streamline processes and provide direction for developers on other steps in the planning and approval process that are beyond the CDA's purview, EDAC members said. The CDA also would function as an adviser, with the Common Council providing final approval of CDA recommendations.

A CDA would not eliminate the Plan Commission and the zoning, building code and other regulatory oversight provided by the city's Community Development Department, Simi said. The EDAC does, however, recommend the CDA take on tax incremental financing issues that currently reside with the Plan Commission.

Enders would be the CDA's staff liaison, ensuring that developers who start with the CDA then are directed to other committee and departments involved in the approval and permitting processes.

Ald. Linda Nikcevich asked how small businesses, like those in her district along North Avenue, fit into the city's overall economic development focus. Her concern, she said, is that major development would receive priority over small business.

Simi said the work of the economic development committee incorporates small business, even if the city is most visibly working on major new developments. New, large-scale projects, he said, create the additional tax base that allow the city to help existing small businesses.

"Money makes the world go round, and if we can do some good solid deals, like the GE (Healthcare) deal ... to create more tax base and the coffers are full, then we can do more stuff to help the small businesses," Simi said.

In creating a CDA and taking other action to spur “thoughtful” economic development, Simi said, the current council “is in a position to create a vision for Wauwatosa for the next 50 years.”

Simi also noted that June 1 the EDAC will host a public rollout of the committee’s work, which to date has focused on improving structures, processes and incentives – dubbed the SPI initiative – to attract and accomplish new economic development. The CDA is the first recommendation made to the council that springs from the SPI initiative.

The CDA proposal was presented to the Community Development Committee (CDC) Tuesday, which unanimously recommended a CDA ordinance be presented to the Common Council at its April 5 meeting. The ordinance then returns to the CDC for discussion April 8, with the council to take up the CDA proposal for discussion and vote April 19.

To read the text of the ordinance creating a new Community Development Authority, click this link: http://patch.com/A-gpJt.