ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

INTRODUCTION

Providing jobs and the necessary means to enter and advance in the work force is the subject of the Economic Development Chapter of the Comprehensive Plan. It considers such things as the existing and desired job mix, the level and diversity of job training, the appropriate level of government involvement in attracting major employers, and the future of the downtown as a provider of jobs.

In order to obtain input on the topic of Economic Development, participants in the Town Planning Workshops were asked to imagine it was the year 2020 and they had the power to wave a magic wand and make whatever they wanted happen relative to a number of topics related to economic development. Their responses were quite interesting and form the general themes of this chapter. First, however, it is useful to examine some background information concerning economic development in Easton.

BACKGROUND

Perhaps no other chapter of a Comprehensive Plan relies more on tables and statistics as a means of portraying background data than the one on Economic Development. This chapter will be a little different in that regard. While some statistics are necessary, the intent here is to not overwhelm the general theme of the chapter with what can quite frankly be a rather boring method of conveying information. Thus only three tables are presented here and they are done so in the vein of providing an economic profile of the community of Easton. Each of the three tables presents corresponding data for Talbot County and for the State of Maryland for comparison purposes.

TABLE 13

EDUCATIONAL STATUS

TABLE 14

EMPLOYMENT STATUS & JOURNEY TO WORK CHARACTERISTICS

Among the highlights from these tables are the following observations:

o Income is significantly lower and poverty is significantly higher in Easton than in either Talbot County or the State of Maryland.

o While Talbot County exceeds the State Median Income, Easton does not.

o Poverty levels in Easton are high across all age groups.

o Easton exceeds both the State and Talbot County in percentage of students enrolled in Private Schools.

o The percentage of both high school and college graduates is lower in Easton than in either Talbot County or the State.

o Both Talbot County and Easton have lower unemployment rates than the State, although the County's is much lower than Easton's.

o The percentage of Easton Residents who use carpools in order to get to work is higher than both Talbot County's and the State's.

o Public Transportation usage is almost non-existent in Easton and Talbot County.

o Easton has a very high percentage of females with young children in the labor force.

Some immediate implementation options come to mind in reviewing this list. For example, with relatively high poverty and low education levels, greater exposure to high school equivalency or GED classes seems appropriate. Second, with a high percentage of workers willing to use carpools, but with almost no public transportation available, it seems as if Easton residents might be more inclined to support some sort of public transportation than might be the case in other rural communities where usage rates are generally quite low. Finally, the high percentage of working mothers suggests a need for more day care opportunities and perhaps other support services for young children and their parents.

As mentioned above, Town Planning Workshop participants provided interesting input in the area of Economic Development. The participants were asked to imagine it was the year 2020 and that they could "simply wave a magic wand" and make whatever they envisioned for Easton a reality. There were nine questions with this general theme. Throughout the responses to these questions there are some common threads. The remainder of this section will discuss some of these common threads.

The first thing suggested by the participants is that they want Easton to offer more. They would like to see more variety in shopping, more entertainment options, more diversity in the employment market, and more training for this job market.

With regards to goods and services that should be available, participants indicated that they would like to find the same kinds of things as can be found in our neighboring metropolitan municipalities (i.e. Baltimore/Annapolis). People would rather not drive to Dover or across the Bridge and would prefer to support local merchants, but only if they do not have to sacrifice quality or price. Participants also indicated that they would like to see more entertainment options, meaning more restaurants, theaters, etc. The idea of Easton as a self-contained unit was expressed several times.

Diversity was the key to what employment options should be available. Participants emphasized more entry-level and trade opportunities. Types of jobs recommended to be available included light industry/manufacturing, telecommunications, medical research/biotechnical, and tourism (including marina and related job opportunities). There was also an emphasis placed on having a broad range of opportunities across all education levels. Black and Decker was often noted as an example of a desirable type of business. It was also mentioned as an example when the similar question of what types of industries should exist in Easton in 2020 was posed. Other responses included light industry/manufacturing, environmentally friendly, and aquaculture.

The level of diversity in the local job base is illustrated by the following list of businesses in Easton with over 100 employees:

Business                                  Number of Employees*

Celeste Industries                  200

The Pines-Genesis Eldercare 186

Wildlife International, Ltd.           150

William Hill Manor, Inc.           185

Wal-Mart                                    210

Cadmus Journal Services            290

Black & Decker                            1,200

The Memorial Hospital            1,000

Wheaton Tubing                    150

Chesapeake Publishing Corp.   165

* - Based on data supplied by the Talbot County Chamber of Commerce dated October 18, 1995 and the 1996-97 edition of Tradewinds.

This table indicates the relatively small number of major employers in Easton. With a lack of such large-scale employers, Easton's job base is already fairly diverse in terms of number of employers. Future diversification might therefore be focused more on attracting different types of businesses.

In the area of training, it was clear that participants wanted to see an improvement over the present day situation. Comments often focused on inferences to what Easton does not now have in the area of training. Suggestions included a high-school system that is the best in the State, a Vocational-Technical Center with the business community involved in establishing the curriculum and training, better tech-prep at high school, schools for retraining people when jobs become obsolete, training in the hospitality industry, apprentice training, and computer science, agriculture, and the medical/biotechnical fields.

Another question asked what types of government resources were used to foster economic development. This generated both general comments like, "use financial resources to cause business and economic development", and "more friendly business environment" and more focused comments such as "tax abatements" and "low-interest financing for businesses which will make infrastructure improvements consistent with the historic image of Easton." Participants seemed to be saying that the Town should be more proactive in encouraging economic development. This also corresponds to the results of the budgeting exercise during which the area of economic development was "voted" a large increase in its percentage of the budgetary pie (from 1% of the actual Town 1995-96 budget to 14.2% of the dream budget), second only in percentage increase to parks and recreation.

Concern over the future of downtown led the Mayor and Town Council to form the Easton Business Management Authority (EBMA) in 1993. This organization was founded to represent the business community of all of Easton and to work in partnership with the Town government on business issues. The impetus for forming the organization and the group's initial focus was concern over the future of the downtown area. One of the first tasks of the group was to work with a consultant on a study of the downtown, or as it was renamed, the Town Center. The consultant, LDR International, Inc., submitted a Revitalization Strategy for the Easton Town Center in July 1994. This study included a number of recommendations ranging from simple policy changes to bold new physical improvements. EBMA has been working diligently with the Town to implement a number of these changes since 1994. Such things as the Farmer's Market, the revamped parking management, the more active and visible promotion of special events, and the hiring of a full time Executive Director for EBMA are all consistent with the Plan.

One particular area which received a fair amount of attention during the Town Planning Workshops and even more during ensuing discussions with the Visioning Committee was tourism. The Visioning Committee strongly believes that tourism holds a great deal of potential for future economic development in Easton and further that this type of economic development is particularly beneficial for the local community due to the spin-off effects associated with it. For example, say a family of four comes to Easton for a weekend. Besides the obvious impact they have on the economy by staying at a local hotel, other businesses such as restaurants, shops, museums and other attractions all benefit. Furthermore, the increased business realized by these establishments theoretically means that their owners and employees have more money to spend in the local economy. Thus a dollar generated by tourism has the potential to turn-over many times in Easton.

In addition, several recommendations contained in this and other chapters are directly or indirectly related to tourism. The interest in the development of Easton Point has huge tourism implications. Similarly, the establishment of an extensive bicycling/hiking trail system into and beyond Easton has major tourism potential. Thus the growth of the tourism industry as a component of Easton's future economic development is an important part of the Goals, Objectives, and Implementation Strategies of this chapter.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GOALS, OBJECTIVES AND IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES

GOAL

To encourage and enhance a healthy and diverse local economy and provide the means for Town residents and workers to advance within the local job market.

OBJECTIVES

IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES