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Final Report, Volume One:

Recommendations and Implementation

Board of Supervisors

Wyoming County, New York

County Office of Planning and Development

JULY, 2001

Executive Summary

1.1 Background and Important Trends

In January 2000, Wyoming County retained a consultant team to work with citizens and staff to formulate a comprehensive economic development strategy. The strategy was developed through an extensive public participation program. It included a steering committee, focus groups, a survey, interviews of key persons and businesses, and five public workshops. The strategy is also founded on focused in-depth research and analysis. This report, which is Volume 1, summarized the strategy. Volume 2, available upon request from the County Office of Planning and Development, is a compilation of research and public input gathered over the course of the work.

The data we gathered and analyzed indicate many important implications with respect to the County’s future, but three trends stand out as having the greatest implications for strategic action:

· Declining growth in household income as the County loses ground relative to the region and the nation.

· A shift to lower-paying service and trade jobs.

· An increasing concentration of jobs in government-driven sectors.

1.2 Key Action Areas

Five key areas were identified as being of special interest to Wyoming County and the following recommendations were developed for those areas.

Business Development

Dairy and metals manufacturing are important industry clusters. They have remained strong over time and offer good prospects for further development. While economic conditions are favorable and trends are generally positive, there is an urgent need to diversify the county’s economy and expand the level of opportunity.

Key recommendations for business development focus on using limited resources to retain and attract businesses in targeted industries: agribusiness, metal fabrication, plastics and communications centers. There is also strong emphasis on enhancement of the Villages as places to live and conduct business, with recommendations on targeting infrastructure investments and creating a County-led “Main Street” revitalization program. The strategy proposes a program to find new uses for obsolete, deteriorated, and sometimes contaminated buildings and sites. Other recommended actions to support business development include support for workforce improvement programs and County and regional marketing. Most recommendations in this category have high-level importance and need immediate attention.

Infrastructure

Lack of adequate infrastructure is probably the single most important factor limiting economic development in Wyoming County. A systematic approach to the development and management of infrastructure is needed. It should allow Wyoming County businesses to remain competitive in an increasingly technology-driven economy.

Key recommendations for the improvement of the County’s infrastructure focus on the prioritization of needs through the implementation of a capital improvement program and an annual capital budget for infrastructure. It is also recommended that the County evaluate the creation of a County-owned fiber-optic network. For its water and sewer utilities the strategy recommends that the County create a public water and sewer agency so it can optimize its investment in these types of facilities. To expand industrial location opportunities the County, through its IDA, should develop a “spec” industrial building and begin planning for a new corporate/industrial park.

Agriculture

No other County economic sector produced as much job growth over the past several decades as dairying and the sector also produces high-income multipliers. The County should expand its efforts to integrate agriculture into the economic mainstream to avoid self-isolation by the farm community and benign neglect by the non-farm community.

The strategy provides a series of recommendations to promote and expand this important sector. It is recommended that the County promote agricultural alliances throughout the industry among farmers themselves and with agribusinesses and institutions. It should also establish a revolving loan fund, capitalized through HUD or EDA funds, to help agricultural enterprises that cannot benefit from NYS tax incentives. A key recommendation is that the County develop an educational and research center that would become a symbol of its state-wide leadership in agricultural activities. In its leadership role in this industry the County should lobby the State legislature for changes in laws and regulations related to CAFO and agricultural utility rates.

Rural Resource Preservation

The conversion of agricultural lands for development in recent years has been substantial. Trends suggest losses in population in a number of villages in spite of forecasted gains in the towns around them. This redistribution of population adversely affects farming and has other harmful effects.

There are three recommended actions associated with preservation of rural resources. Each depends on a high level of coordination and cooperation among the County and towns and villages. The County should expand support for best management practices outside water resource areas, to all farmland. It should also strengthen farmland protection measures through clustering and other land use techniques. Finally the County should provide model land use regulations that the towns and villages can use when revising and adopting regulations for their specific needs.

Tourism

Wyoming County has strengths upon which to potentially expand its tourism program, including its proximity to major metropolitan areas. However, there are weaknesses in this industry, notably a lack of overnight accommodations and facilities to accommodate the motor coach trade, deterioration of the historic village centers and insufficient interpretation of heritage themes.

Tourism holds great potential for new job development in concert with the preservation of rural resources. The strategy provides for three actions that relate closely to other areas of interest. It recommends that the County create a heritage farm attraction that interprets the history of the dairy industry and illustrates modern farm practices while also providing training and research opportunities. It is also recommended that the County take the lead in the creation of an arts, crafts and specialty foods marketing cooperative for the western New York region. Finally the County should support businesses in the expansion of overnight accommodations, including bed and breakfast rooms, in order to enhance its tourism infrastructure.

1.3 Actions and Priorities

The strategy proposes a total of 27 actions in the five areas cited above. These are critical actions that should be the focal point of county resources. Wyoming County will have significantly advanced toward its goal of being a world-class rural community if it implements them.

Exhibit ES-1 summarizes recommended actions by time frame:

· “Immediate” means that action is underway now or should be in the next year.

· “Mid-Term” means that action should start in three to five years.

· “Long-Term” recommendations will require action over five years and longer.

The strategy proposes a process to monitor progress toward implementation. It also recommends that the County measure the success of implementation over time through the use of selected economic development indicators or benchmarks.