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Last Updated: Nov 14, 2008 - 12:49:26 PM |
The new restaurant looks great from the outside, and you’ve been waiting for a chance to have your first experience there. Pulling open the door and passing the “open for business” sign, you enter the unfamiliar space and wonder if you have made the right choice. “Will I like it? Is the kitchen clean? Will wait-staff be courteous, quick, and know the menu?” All along, you’re thinking, “I hope it’s not too expensive; if the service is good and the food is decent, I could become a regular.”
Choosing a restaurant is serious business. Eating is a pleasure surpassed by only a few other activities. We’ve all had the experience in which we try the new eatery in town, and our high hopes are dashed when the hostess doesn’t notice us and it takes forever to get seated. After a table is finally secured, there is another wait. Eventually, the menu arrives and things begin to look better. “This might not be too bad after all,” you tell your dinner mate.
But then it’s time to order, and you discover everything is a la carte; just what this meal is going to cost gets a little fuzzy. The wine is too expensive for its vintage, and the starters are pushed on you by the waiter. When the food arrives, the portions are small, and it seems as if the waiter couldn’t care less if you ever return for another meal.
That’s not a problem, because after getting the check, returning is the farthest thing from your mind. As the restaurant door closes behind you, you think, “I’ll give ’em 30 days and they’ll be out of business.”
But it’s not 30 days. Somehow, the place hangs on for quite a while, and you wonder, “How in the world do they stay open?” And then one day the doors are locked and the little 11-by-8-inch sign on the door says “out of business.”
From outside, the place looked great, and giving it a try was a high priority, but its dragging service, complicated ordering, and waiting until it was costing more than it was worth made the experience unpalatable.
Last summer, Village Publishing contracted to buy a small property so we could invest instead of paying rent – a big step for us. The zoning was in place, so we began to sample the a la carte menu that is the site plan process in Chesterfield. Almost 60 days later, we had no idea how much it would cost to improve the lot to suit the county. We pulled out of the contract. We’re still renting.
I had heard the horror stories of how difficult it was for a small business to go through the process of getting property ready for commercial use. Since then, I have heard of businesses stretched to their financial limits trying to realize the dream of opening their own business.
Chesterfield County shouts “open for business,” but then subjects those who want to develop a commercial or industrial site to a bureaucracy that allows only the well-funded company with plenty of time and patience to enter the Chesterfield marketplace. Some businesspeople have told me recently that they stay away from this county when it comes to expanding their business.
Tales of “you have to build it one way today and differently tomorrow” abound, and some complain of waiting six and eight months to complete the site plan process. In the meantime, more and more requirements are added to their case.
Corporations look at Chesterfield just as we look at the new restaurant; it looks good from the outside: great schools, communities, and people, but when they hear about the difficulties in getting project off the ground, they end up in Henrico or some other county.
This county’s business-to-residential real estate ratio is skewed toward residential, with about 18 percent business and the rest residential. Henrico enjoys a 30 - 70 split with their business real estate revenue topping 30 percent. And we wonder why we have budget problems, can’t stay competitive with police, fire, and teacher salaries, and end up training our specialists only for them to end up in some other jurisdiction. And then battle every year over residential tax assessments.
Chesterfield offers very little in business incentives; a few enterprise zones are about it. Now here comes a new initiative: increasing planning department fees to develop commercial or industrial property. Although it was on the agenda at last week’s Board of Supervisors meeting, it was delayed because the supervisors hadn’t had time to look at it. And the terms are changing as we speak.
I was one of the first members of the Chesterfield Chamber of Commerce, and when it was formed, it had a lot to do with the state of commercial development woes. Eight years later, it hasn’t changed.
Without incentives and actually increasing the cost to do business in Chesterfield, we may never reach a commercial-to-residential ratio that will give relief to homeowners who make up the difference. With a healthy business/residential ratio, the tax burden is lightened on the homeowner, because business creates tax revenue for the county.
We need to continue forward in attracting good strong businesses to places like the Meadowville Technology Park in Enon, or the Watkins Center, or even the new Cloverleaf Mall project.
We complain about the prices on our residential tax menu and getting bloated on assessments, but there isn’t another choice unless the commercial development process is efficient and affordable. Only then will Chesterfield enjoy a pu-pu platter of services, safety, and the life quality we deserve without it being put on your check.
mfausz@villagepublishing.com | 751-0421
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