Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
17 <br />FY 10 -11 thru FY15 -16 V4 <br />Estimated Economic Development Department Een o ,Y <br />Ecorwmis Developnmt <br />Places <br />• Estimate for Buckhorn EDD ($4,400,0000) <br />• Eno EDD Engineering and Build -Out (TBD) <br />• NC Department of Commerce Site Certification (TBD) <br />4 <br />Tools <br />• Business retention, recruitment, and loan' <br />funds ($2,000,000) <br />• Completion /Implementation of County <br />Unified Development Ordinance (TBD) <br />Knowledge <br />• RTRP Dues, Intra- County Collaboration Events, Focused <br />Research and Strategic Planning ($300,000) <br />Total = $6.7 million + Eno EDD + UDO <br />We anticipate that the engineering, build -out, and NC DOC site certification will require 36 — 48 months <br />at best, assuming no delays for Buckhorn EDD alone. Given the state of negotiations with Durham, we <br />anticipate that it will require up to 72 months for engineering, build -out, and NC DOC site certification <br />for Eno EDD. Thus the EDC addressed a six -year timeframe for our strategic recommendations and <br />within which to estimate the "order of magnitude" of the required investment in a comprehensive set of <br />Economic Development activities. <br />With Orange County being one of the top 10 start-up centers in the country, we anticipate that there will <br />be strong demand by talented entrepreneurs for small business loans the county can provide, especially <br />since the credit squeeze is expected to impact entrepreneurs for the coming years. Similarly, with RTP <br />continuing to be a magnet for incoming executives and businesses, and with the competition for those <br />businesses expected to increase, we anticipate that Orange County will need more - - -not fewer - -- options <br />for reducing time and expenses required by established businesses to expand or locate in OC. <br />Our estimates for research and analysis funding is based on current cost estimates provided by UNC <br />research faculty, combined with actual expenditures invested by Chatham and other neighboring <br />counties for the cluster /R &D /gap /funding stream analyses and strategic planning. <br />In summary, based on current information available, we estimate that Orange County will need to invest <br />roughly $11M over six years, with about 80% supporting water /wastewater build -out, approximately <br />20% supporting a basic economic development tool kit, and less than 5% for data acquisition and <br />analysis. Note that with respect to infrastructure financing, there are both matching funds and <br />alternative public - private financing mechanisms, such as Tax Increment Financing, that can <br />substantially reduce Orange County's share of the total investment in water and wastewater <br />infrastructure. "Although the estimates stated here are not exact, they point to the order of magnitude <br />of the funding required to transform the virtually empty EDD land into revenue - producing assets. Failing <br />to do so will cause Orange County to continue to be by- passed by private investors for surrounding <br />counties for years if not decades. <br />10 <br />