New Economic Development Professional to Advise Local Businesses

By Kurt Steele

A promising new chapter in Norfolk’s planning and development is about to open. The Northwest Hills Council of Governments (NHCOG), through its Northwest Connecticut Regional Planning Collaborative, has recently received a $249,000 grant from the state to fund “village center vitality” initiatives in the collaborative’s eight member towns, which include Norfolk.

As part of this grant, NHCOG will hire a small-town economic development consultant to be shared among the eight towns. The consultant will be engaged for two years of full-time work to help Norfolk, Canaan, Cornwall, Goshen, Kent, North Canaan, Salisbury and Sharon. The consultant will work mostly on-site in these towns.

The project’s focus will be on supporting existing businesses, attracting new businesses, creating jobs and filling vacant commercial spaces. Particular emphasis will be on attracting new businesses that will generate revenue and jobs and strengthening the current customer base.

Marketing will be a significant part of the consultant’s job. Besides helping each town market its center and assets to businesses and customers, the consultant will also oversee deployment of regional visitor marketing tools such as The Secret Corner campaign and the DiscoverNWCT website and social media outreach.

The consultant will also provide professional support to each town’s economic development commission, coordinate marketing and economic development activities with regional organizations and keep each town’s stakeholders well informed and engaged.

The town of Norfolk will contribute $2,000 to help fund this effort. Although the town has hired professional town planners in the past to help with writing its 10-year, state-mandated conservation and development plans, Norfolk has been unable to afford consulting help for detailed, focused economic development planning.

First Selectman Sue Dyer says, “I’m very excited by this opportunity for our town to collaborate with our neighboring towns and receive help from an economic development consultant to make our town center stronger. Working together should help maximize our chances of success. Clearly, we have work to do, ranging from filling vacant storefronts to the need for more local jobs.”

Jocelyn Ayer, NHCOG’s community and economic development director, will oversee this project. “We are very excited to work on this project with Norfolk over the next two years,” she says. “We will look for ongoing community input and involvement to carry out this work in a way that will maximize the expected results. ”

Ayer adds, “As residents of this region we all need to understand that we are each part of the solution. We will hire this economic development professional, but one of the things they will tell us and help us communicate to the community is that people who live here need to shop here, eat here, spend more of their money in town and less at big-box stores or on Amazon.”

NHCOG is a coordinating body for the first selectmen or mayors in the 21 towns in northwest Connecticut. It was organized on January 1, 2014 as the result of a state-mandated reorganization of regional planning organizations. Its mission is to make the Northwest Corner a better place to live, do business and visit and to provide a forum for regional cooperation.

Coupled with the $500,000 state grant that Norfolk has already received for its City Meadows project, these new resources should help Norfolk become an attractive and vital hub for residents and visitors.