Every time I write a story about the latest update on the Country Village Shoppes and its eventual transformation to a self-storage facility, I find myself lamenting the loss of this prime real estate close to downtown and smack in the middle of our retail corridor. I had visions of a mixed-use plaza that combined small-scale retail and dining with much-needed apartments. Alas, my property development dreams have been dashed as we move closer to having another place for people to store stuff they probably don't need.
With this in mind, I’ve been thinking about the direction the Economic Development Commission (EDC) should take. As a member, I've often wondered what we're actually empowered to do given that much of our attention (when we manage to muster a quorum) was on efforts that are more in the purview of Planning and Zoning or the Board of Finance. So, I reached out to Town Clerk Karen Troiano, and she was kind enough to send me the language used when the EDC was created:
“The Commission is empowered to conduct research into the economic conditions and trends of the town, to make recommendations regarding action to improve its economic condition and development, to coordinate the activities of and cooperate with other bodies organized to promote such economic development, to advertise and prepare, print and distribute information which will further its official purposes, and to prepare an annual report of its activities and of its recommendations for improving such economic conditions and development.”
The EDC must keep this scope in mind as we chart a course for 2024. In the past, we've been guided toward focusing on eliminating retail caps and possible tax abatements. I suppose that suggestions regarding retail caps and/or tax abatements fall under “recommendations for improving such economic conditions and development,” but it's never struck me as a good use of the EDC's time, especially when there are other headwinds we must fight.
One of the documents then-First Selectman Sal Titus shared with the EDC early on was a study commissioned by Planning and Zoning to look into the viability of a second grocery store in Stafford. Here’s the concluding paragraph of the report:
"Our recommendation for Stafford would be to move on, to not expend time and energy on efforts to attract an additional grocery store to town at this time. We say this full-knowing it may not be the desired or most popular answer. However, it is the only realistic answer with the low traffic counts in the Route 190/32 corridor. That said, we encourage Stafford to expend time and energy on economic development and the related land use permitting process that is part of the work of economic development. Stafford is a viable market for retail investment and development and the Town of Stafford should encourage and support community scaled retail investments."
It wasn’t all bad news, though:
“The retail gap analysis reveals that Stafford as a trade area for retail trade has a positive leakage factor of 17.9. This indicates opportunity for retail sales within Stafford that are now leaking out of the community. For example, the gap for food and drink in Stafford is even more positive, with a leakage factor of 45.3 and the potential for $10,429,356 in food and drink sales in Stafford. Overall, these are positive findings and indicate that Stafford can support a greater number of retail stores and food and drink establishments.”
So what are we to do with all of this information?
Some will point to Walmart's efforts to come to town as a missed opportunity. I'd disagree, but I couldn't tell you the last time I walked into a Walmart. (I'll find any excuse to make a Target run, though.) Big box stores are always a gamble, and that's especially true as brick-and-mortar retail becomes a harder sell, especially for the kind of mass-market goods these stores sell. It's hard to make a case for visiting a big box store instead of just ordering something online and having it shipped to your door at regular intervals.
Retailers are, however, already moving to stores with smaller footprints, which could be a good fit for a town like Stafford. We saw this first-hand as Walgreens moved to its new smaller store right next to its bigger location. (Meanwhile, Dollar General is moving to bigger stores. That may sound like good news for some, but for a number of reasons, chain dollar stores are bad for communities.)
For me, focusing on helping our existing businesses grow is key, even if that means giving them tax abatements that make it possible to grow their footprints or offerings. I would also love to see Stafford develop a fund to help property owners improve and update spaces to make it easier for new small businesses to move in. (Here is a similar program in Torrington.) With the right spaces available, we could work with resources like UCONN to find budding entrepreneurs and become an incubator for their businesses.
Focusing on these initiatives could bring more traffic to town — and more residents — which could ultimately get the people of Stafford the Aldi’s they crave.
But I’m just one person. I’d love to hear from the people of Stafford. Where do you think Stafford should focus its efforts to help grow the local economy? Email me with your ideas, and I’ll curate some of the responses for another article — and maybe bring those ideas to the EDC.