AGENDA DATE: 7/1/2015
TITLE:
Title
Route 29 Solutions Business Assistance Plan
BODY
SUBJECT/PROPOSAL/REQUEST: Discussion on the marketing elements of the proposed Route 29 Solutions Business Assistance Plan
ITEM TYPE: Regular Action Item
STAFF CONTACT(S): Foley, Catlin, McClintic, Graham, McCulley, Burbage
PRESENTER (S): Lee Catlin
LEGAL REVIEW: Yes
REVIEWED BY: Thomas C. Foley
BACKGROUND: On June 3, 2015, the Board considered final recommendations for a Business Assistance Program for the Route 29 Solutions Project. At that meeting, the Board directed staff to begin working on strategies as outlined in the implementation matrix, excluding the marketing and communications workshops, the collective marketing campaign, and the matching grant program. The Board requested staff to provide additional details on these three programs at its July 1 meeting. The Board also requested that staff provide an analysis of a proposal by the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce that the County erect large temporary signs for businesses impacted by the construction to help inform motorists as part of the County's Route 29 Solutions communication and outreach efforts. Both of these topics are discussed in detail below.
STRATEGIC PLAN: Economic Prosperity: Foster an environment that stimulates diversified job creation, capital investments, and tax revenues that support community goals.
DISCUSSION: Business Assistance Plan - Marketing Elements. Board members requested additional details regarding the marketing elements of the proposed Business Assistance Plan and the justification for why the County should consider funding these particular elements. Based on our research into other communities across the country and on communication and engagement with the business community, staff believes that a comprehensive marketing program is a reasonable and effective method of encouraging customer loyalty and continued patronage of this important business district in Albemarle County. This proposed investment is important to businesses in the area, as evidenced by attendance and comments at the many open house and drop in opportunities that were provided, and can make a real difference for businesses who depend on the continued flow of customers and traffic through the most intense periods of construction.
The business assistance plan, including the marketing elements, is intended to support the vitality and well-being of individual businesses and to protect tax revenues that support critical County services. The Board has acknowledged the value of the construction project and its ultimate outcomes for the community on many occasions, and has also indicated its desire to ensure the least amount of disruption to business operations in the area. The collective marketing campaign would encourage local citizens and tourists to continue visiting the area and patronizing these businesses and local tourism destinations instead of mistakenly believing that it is too difficult to attempt a trip through the construction zones.
In summary, the intended outcomes of the collective marketing campaign are:
· encourage customer loyalty and minimize disruption to impacted businesses and their employees
· support the larger tourism industry in the County, as many of the visitors who support the County's tourism destinations are from locations such as northern Virginia/Washington DC and travel to the area using Route 29 North.
· protect tax revenues generated from the general business district along the Route 29 corridor
The Board expressed an interest in partnership opportunities to further the impact of the marketing program. The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is funding a notification campaign focused on helping people navigate through construction zones. The VDOT advertising campaign is an important foundational level of communication that provides basic construction update and traffic management messages. The proposed marketing plan will build on VDOT's notification campaign to achieve the intended outcomes mentioned above which are an extension beyond VDOT's information/communications role.
Board members were interested in more detail regarding exactly what the marketing campaign would entail and how the proposed funding would be spent. Attachment A provides a general outline of what such a campaign might involve, with the understanding that the details of the campaign would be finalized once an advertising agency was engaged to provide guidance.
Marketing and communications workshops and the matching grant program are intended to support the marketing approach described above by providing training and mentoring that would allow businesses to develop their own effective advertising and by leveraging dollars invested by individual businesses for promotional efforts with some level of a County matching grant provided by the Economic Development Authority. Additionally, the workshops would build business expertise and capacity in the Route 29 business district that would help with the future vibrancy of the area. As explained in the program outline presented to the Board on June 3, only businesses that have demonstrated a willingness to be a positive partner by attending a workshop or other outreach activity will be eligible for the matching grant program. The Business Assistance Program will remain a work in progress during the course of construction so that it can be adapted to respond to conditions and needs as they occur.
Chamber of Commerce Signage Request. At the June 3 meeting, the Board requested that staff conduct research in response to the Chamber's May 29 request to place four signs along the Route 29 corridor prior to and during construction of the Route 29-Rio interchange (Attachment B). In response to this request, Community Development staff assessed issues, including sign size, sign location, sign content, and duration of display, which is outlined in Attachment C for the Board's consideration. If pursuing a sign program is directed by the Board, exact details pertaining to the duration, size, location and other related issues will be finalized in partnership with the Chamber, and the cost would be included as an expense in the collective marketing campaign. Staff will bring these issues for discussion and further direction to the Board at its July 1 meeting.
BUDGET IMPACT: As noted on June 3, while many of the strategies can be accomplished using existing resources, the three (3) marketing elements would require $167,000 of funding, as outlined below, from several sources. It is important to note that all of this funding has already been dedicated to economic development and does not involve any additional revenues not already designated for that purpose. The County's total proposed level of support is $152,000.
1. $17,0000: Targeted Marketing & Communications workshops, to be provided by Small Business Development Center and Senior Corp of Retired Executives speakers, counselors and other technical consultants
a. Source: $2,000 Economic Development Office budget
b. Source: $15,000 from the Economic Development Authority (EDA) budget
2. $100,000: Collective Marketing campaign to place focus on the area during and after construction (would include signage as suggested by the Chamber if approved by the Board)
a. Source: $80,000 FY16 Economic Development Office budget (to be reappropriated from FY15)
b. Source: $20,000 FY17 Economic Development Office budget
3. $50,000: Matching grant program, to leverage and extend the impact of existing business investments in marketing and branding in the affected area
a. Source: $50,000 funding in the adopted FY16 Budget dedicated to the Route 29 Solutions project
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Staff recommends that the Board approve funding for the three remaining strategies in the Business Assistance Plan - (1) the marketing and communications workshops, (2) the collective marketing campaign, and (3) the matching grant program. Staff also recommends that through discussion at Wednesday's meeting, the Board provide final direction regarding development signage in partnership with the Chamber.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment A - Route 29 Marketing Campaign Goals
Attachment B - Chamber letter re: Business Assistance Plans and Signage
Attachment C - Chamber sign request assessment