Thank you for shedding some light on this topic (Benny’s Plaza) as most of our residents don’t understand the issues or how to approach the changes occurring in Plymouth. The Benny’s site would have been a great location for our affordable workforce housing (40B) but I don’t think the neighbors would have appreciated an affordable housing project and modification or changing the zoning would have been a nightmare. That said, I completely agree with what you wrote regarding bringing in businesses that don’t require a lot of infrastructure or services from the town. We do need high revenue businesses such as medical, tech, green economy (mostly green tech) and light industry (creating products and restoration services for niche markets).
What scares me most is how the town is going about getting this accomplished. I’ve worked in real estate, building/development and commercial/industrial development for approximately 30 years and can say the town is clueless on getting these industries to come to Plymouth. I asked Plymouth’s Economic Development and The Plymouth Foundation how this will be accomplished, and I hear crickets. When asked:
1. What is the town offering business to relocate or start in Plymouth?
2. Do you have a welcome/marketing package to provide to potential companies?
3. Do you have a map and list of the sites available to develop and/or lease/rent for these potential companies (other than current zoning maps)?
I never got a response. I know of several companies that could possibly relocate here that are startups and ready to take off, but no one knows what is going on with the town. The Plymouth Foundation is the same old people and families that have been around forever, and it seems they are going “back to the pot” of friends to create Plymouth’s future economy which is a bit scary. We need new businesses that generate a lot of revenue to come to Plymouth and help us with our current tax shortfall. I don’t see any great changes to our economy or issues with the Foundation taking from the same pool of people. I also know of several people who have family that lives in Plymouth and have for 40+ years who are trying to work with me to help but we need the three items I listed above to be a contender.
No one wants to make a jump to Plymouth with their business without knowing what they are getting into. I know the Town is focused on a “blue economy” which I also have some contacts in but most of these companies are settled on or near the water in RI or on the North Shore and certainly wouldn’t move or open up a satellite office in Plymouth without some guarantees (help and assurances) to get setup in the community. I don’t see the “blue economy” being a major player in Plymouth, but I could see a few more “blue” companies moving here if they had some direction from the town.
There are a lot of possibilities with a “green economy” for Plymouth but again, we need some direction from the Town. I have a friend who helped facilitate a “green economy” in the Boston area and it worked out well. She is willing to work with me and through our contacts at UMASS, URI and MIT we could likely make a significant contribution, but the town doesn’t seem to have anything together for us to do the legwork. Working in real estate and development for many years I’ve learned that without a good marketing plan and outreach to these companies to lure them here, not much will come of it.
Thanks again for the article,
– Garrett Tunison