GORHAM – With the economy still trying to bounce back from one of its worst slumps in U.S. history, most of America is still watching and waiting for a recovery to happen.
In Gorham, officials at a joint workshop Tuesday night were doing more than just waiting. They were planning and preparing for Gorham to have a head start when businesses begin to grow and expand once again.
“When the economy turns around, Gorham wants to be ahead of the curve,” said Town Council Chairman Matthew Robinson, who ran the workshop among councilors and members of the board of directors of the Gorham Economic Development Corp.
The goal: to make sure the council and the corporation worked hand in hand to encourage and attract new industry and businesses to Gorham, and to hold onto the business and industrial community it already has.
Dan Willett, a member of the economic development corporation board, said building a stronger relationship between the two groups now will reap benefits later, when business interests in the greater Portland area pick up again.
“This is the time to start planting, so we can start harvesting a little later,” he said.
Willett, who has been with the corporation since its inception in 1992, said he remembered the town’s industrial park, which is now full, was virtually deserted at the time.
“There were a lot of empty lots, a lot of empty buildings,” he said.
The corporation, he said, is basically a group of “advocates” for the town, encouraging businesses to move in, but the corporation also represents the town to business owners who wish to make discreet inquiries before deciding whether to move to town.
“(Business owners) wanted to be able to work with somebody until they made a decision,” Willett said.
Fellow board member Bob Petitt said another goal of the corporation is to act as a liaison between businesses and the town, addressing needs and concerns so Gorham can hold on to the business and industry it already has. Doing that, Petitt said, can in itself encourage further development.
“These companies do business with other companies,” he said.
Robinson said the workshop is the latest in a series of new efforts on the town’s part to encourage economic development. Recently, the town has begun discussing re-zoning certain properties in town, prompted in part by a request from developer Hans Hansen, who wants to build up a business park on land adjacent to a medical facility off County Road in South Gorham.
Hansen has said he wants to market the park to food outlets, gas stations, day care centers, banks or other professional buildings, but right now the 25-acre parcel sits in two different zones, so Hansen needs a contract zone before he can develop the land. That request has prompted other landowners to submit four more similar proposals to develop projects hampered by zoning laws.
In addition to the possible zoning changes, Robinson said, the town has cut the planning process in half, hired a new zoning administrator, and is now working in conjunction with neighboring communities on a major project to help improve traffic to and from Interstate 95, all measures that officials hope will attract new business and industrial interests.
Now, Robinson said, the council wants to see what it can do next to help encourage new investment in Gorham, and is turning to the corporation for suggestions. The council and board spent two hours discussing what the roles of each are and will be as the economy progresses.
Board president Tom Ellsworth encouraged those at the workshop to remember that economic development is not just about constructing new buildings, which hasn’t happened much in town lately.
“I think that’s forefront on everyone’s mind,” he said.
Ellsworth acknowledged that there had been virtually no new commercial construction at all in Gorham in the past two years, but added that in that same period of time, a number of new companies did move into town, taking up residence in what had been empty buildings.
“Filling an empty building is solid economic development,” he said.
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