Service of Bearing Resources Site Identification Service of Bearing Resources

my philosophy “In fact, we showed it to a prospect on Friday” The site identification service identifies good and viable economic development sites that the EDO could work on for the next couple of years getting ready Getting the property under control, etc. As an example, a while back, I ran into a person that worked for a regional partnership and asked; What ever happened with that site I had identified for you guys? It was a couple of years after I had performed the study for them His response was “In fact, we showed it to a prospect on Friday”

first review GIS I first investigate a county’s GIS website and identify sites that COULD be worthy of being investigated as an economic development site At this stage, I’m simply interested in larger parcels and access

identify locations that COULD be a viable ED site My investigation thus far has simply produced several sites, 10 in this example, that COULD be an economic development site At this stage, the number of sites hasn’t yet been narrowed-down

Narrow-down number of sites Then I obtain input from the local economic development people

Speak with the locals The local EDO may be aware of circumstances that render a site to not be worthy of investigating The local’s input is taken into account and the exact sites that are worthy of being investigated are determined

wetlands Investigate wetlands using the National Wetlands Inventory

floodplain Investigate the floodplain using FEMA

Rivers and streams Investigate rivers and streams using the National Wetlands Inventory

Topography Investigate topography. The picture to the side is from the USGS, but many county GIS websites have a topography layer which may be more detailed

Getting arms around topography In an effort to quantify a site’s topography, I developed a simple algorithm which takes a site’s relief, and divide that by a site’s developable acreage The algorithm results in a ratio Relief is defined as the highest elevation of a site minus the lowest elevation

Topography Algorithm

The scoring of Topography will change based on the area The area from this example was from a coastal county where EVERYTHING is flat so topography was already good on every site

Utilities I conduct telephone conversations with water and sewer, electric, natural gas, and telecommunication utilities to simply understand WHAT infrastructure is currently in place. Who is the contact

Very Important aspect I talk to, via telephone, the land owners and determine IF they’d simply be willing to conduct a conversation with the local economic development organization about selling their property. If they indicate “yes”, the site continues to remain a viable site If they tell me to “go jump in a lake”, the site isn’t a viable one at this time (but may be later)

Scoring the sites A “weight” is assigned to each attribute that was investigated 1 through 5, with 5 being the highest The particular attribute being investigated for a site is then “scored” “weight” x “score” = a weighted score Summarize all the weighted scores for a site The higher the total weighted score, the better the site is

Scoring the attributes

Closer view

The outcome - Convey to the EDO Which sites are optimum From the scoring spreadsheet, the sites can then be “ranked”. The ranking indicates the ones which are the best ones With the example to the side, the EDOs time is MUCH better spent on developing the Caston or Nelson sites They’re simply wasting their time if it’s on the Graham or Abbey sites

An opinion from someone in Economic Development During an investigation of a site, Pros and Cons are denoted Provides an experienced “set of eyes”

Example of the information on a site

Example of the information on a site

The deliverable Hard-copy notebook with details of investigation including maps Electronic copy of notebook with details of investigation including maps Conduct a conference call to discuss results Continued support from someone who has been in the economic development industry for 16 years