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17 <br />Board of Selectmen <br />Minutes <br />December 1, 2014 <br />Economic Develonment Industrial Cornoration (EDIC) Discussion: (continued) <br />Fiscal impact model: Over the past two years, the Commission has worked with TischlerBise to <br />develop fiscal impact models for a few Cape communities as a form of requested technical <br />assistance. The purpose of a fiscal impact model is to help municipalities and developers better <br />understand the impact of specific development proposals and of different types of development <br />on public funding and demand for services. The models estimate potential revenues and costs by <br />residential and commercial land use types. The Commission would commit to funding the <br />development and implementation of a fiscal impact model including data acquisition for Mashpee <br />and providing the associated staff support and training. <br />Infrastructure financing: There are multiple financing and funding opportunities available to <br />the Mashpee and the region for public and potentially private infrastructure, including <br />transportation, wastewater, broadband etc. These include but are not limited to MassWorks <br />grants, Chapter 23L Local Development Infrastructure Program funds, District Improvement <br />Financing (DIF), and TIGER grants. Additionally, Cape Cod was recently designated an <br />Economic Development District by the Federal Economic Development Administration (EDA) <br />through the work of the Cape Cod Commission in implementation of the Comprehensive <br />Economic Development Strategy (CEDS). This district designation should make available <br />additional funding through the EDA and the Commission could help the Town of Mashpee <br />identify and apply for infrastructure funding opportunities. <br />Hotel feasibility study: Recent market analysis prepared by The Chesapeake Group for the Cape <br />Cod Commission identifies the potential for the expansion of limited hotel services in Barnstable <br />County over the next 10 years. The Commission could partner with the Cape Cod Chamber of <br />Commerce and/or the local chambers to conduct a hotel feasibility study for the area, which <br />would include Mashpee. The undertaking of this study is not yet certain, but a request to do so by <br />the Town and the possibility that the town would partner with the other parties would be an <br />important step forward. <br />The four collaborative measures and partnership suggestions above will help us better understand <br />where a targeted development strategy most makes sense. We further recommend that these <br />initiatives be coordinated with the Mashpee EDIC and that the EDIC be invited as a formal <br />partner in the next steps. Further, we suggest the designation of Tom Mayo as the staff lead for <br />the Town in bringing these studies and initiatives from theory into reality and to work closely <br />with the two of us in scoping and implementing the work. <br />While all of the work described above is ongoing, we believe that the Commission has the tools <br />to signal openness to certain economic development activities within Mashpee upon request of <br />this Board to do so. We suggest a formal request be made to the Commission to relax Chapter H <br />threshold reviews as follows. Mandatory Development of Regional Impact (DRI) review <br />thresholds may be modified for certain uses in certain areas. Areas to consider in Mashpee could <br />be the Industrial and Service Trade Areas. In 2014, the Commission raised mandatory review <br />thresholds in four industrial areas in Bourne, Falmouth and Sandwich from 10,000 s,f. to 40,000 <br />s.£ for research and development and light manufacturing uses. Initial staff research into the <br />