Firm receives mixed grades from Norfolk businesses

By Wiley Wood

Two years ago, with the Corner Store shuttered and half of the old hardware store unoccupied, it came as good news to Norfolk residents that the regional council was hiring an economic development consultant to help Norfolk and seven other Northwest Connecticut towns revitalize their downtown areas.

The contract, worth $206,000 and paid for by a State grant, was awarded to the firm of Goman+York, whose activities were to be “focused on supporting existing businesses, creating jobs and filling vacant commercial spaces.”

Goman+York’s contract will come to an end on December 30, 2016. The old corner store is still shuttered, Haystack Pizza is gone, and the hardware store building is now completely empty, but a bright new sign in the window announces the imminent arrival of the Berkshire Country Store.

By all accounts, the firm’s principal, Michael Goman, played an important role in bringing the owner of the new store, Ryan Craig, into 6 Station Place. “Mike and his team have put in countless hours with me and been instrumental in putting a lot of this together,” says Ryan Craig. “I’ve never felt I can’t pick up the phone to ask him whatever might be on my mind.”

Others who have worked with Goman on bringing the convenience store and deli to downtown Norfolk agree. “He understood the financials, knew what equipment would be needed for the kitchen and helped the Norfolk Foundation formulate its lease with Ryan. He was involved in everything,” says Bill Brown, a member of the EDC. “This would not have happened had Mike not been involved.”

If Goman+York have made good on their promise to help fill a vacant commercial space, it’s less clear that their activities have created jobs or supported existing businesses.

A team from Goman+York made visits to downtown businesses in the winter of 2015 to collect general information and ask about the challenges they faced.

“We participated in the process,” says Kathy Williams, co-owner of the Norfolk Artisans Guild on Station Place, who would have liked to receive advice about raising her store’s visibility. “There were two interviews at the beginning, but we never heard anything back.”

Other businesses spoke along the same lines. “We’ve been here five years, and I’ve never heard of them,” said Susan Burke of Mountain Spirit on John J. Curtiss Road.

Jocelyn Ayer, community and economic development director for the Northwest Hills Council of Government (NHCOG), wrote the original grant proposal and oversees Goman+York’s performance of it. She notes that each of the eight towns is entitled to about $25,000 of service from the firm over the grant’s two-year run.

“Small towns often have great ideas, but they lack the expertise to know whether they will work,” says Ayer. She cites the case of North Canaan, where Goman+York ran a series of “visioning workshops.” Many residents, it emerged, wanted to attract a hotel to downtown North Canaan.

Goman+York was able to put together a packet with the information that a hotel chain’s site locator would need to consider, including traffic counts and a tally of surrounding accommodations. Thanks to its contacts, the firm was then able get the packet into the hands of the decision makers in the hotel industry.

“We can’t tell yet if it will result in a home run, but at least Canaan will know whether to keep the hotel project on its to-do list,” says Ayer.

Ayer also points to the invigorating effect that Goman+York’s presence has had on economic development efforts within the eight towns. Over the past two years, Norfolk has stepped up its efforts to attract visitors, developing and distributing a colorful fold-out map, inaugurating its Weekend in Norfolk festival and starting to turn a disused railbed into a recreational trail. These projects, however, were undertaken largely without the involvement of Goman+York.

At the September meeting of the Norfolk EDC, Michael Goman offered to collaborate with Norfolk on a number of projects before his grant expires: a study of additional parking possibilities; an approach to the Department of Transportation to slow down traffic on Route 44; a series of visioning sessions to establish goals and priorities for economic development; and a workshop on tax increment financing.

“If we get all those things, we’ll have been very fortunate in having had Goman+York’s help,” says Libby Borden, chairman of the EDC. She credits Michael Goman with one of the EDC’s most intriguing projects for next year, organizing an event every Friday night on the village green during the summer months.