Survey Seeks Data To Lure Retailers

Olive Garden is here. Whaddaya want next?

That is one of the questions Harrisonburg and Rockingham County economic development officials want area residents to answer over the next 13 days to help provide data for a regional retail market analysis.

Community Land Use + Economics Group, an Arlington firm with experience in economic analysis, strategy and implementation, and business development, is compiling data local leaders hope can help them lure new retailers to the area and enhance existing businesses.

As part of that effort, city and county residents are being asked to complete a 19-question survey themselves, including internet use and shopping habits. Those completing the survey, available at surveymonkey.com/r/CVCRW6Y, are eligible to win tickets to Massanutten Water Park or $50 in downtown dollars.

The survey is being conducted to find out what local retailers are and aren't providing that residents want.

"What we really want to know is, ‘Are you going elsewhere right now for retail services? Who are we losing to other markets? Why are they filling a need Harrisonburg is not filling?'" said Peirce Macgill, Harrisonburg's assistant director of economic development. "We want to find out what businesses residents are going elsewhere for, because they should be a target for the commercial brokerage community."

Michele Bridges, Rockingham County's economic development and tourism manager, said the information gathered can be used to let certain businesses know they have a market here or encourage existing retailers to carry specific items people buy elsewhere.

"It's really just to strengthen our retail experience here in the Harrisonburg-Rockingham County area," she said.

The analysis is a public-private effort that leveraged a state grant.

The Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development awarded the city a $15,000 Building Entrepreneurial Economies planning grant for the study. The city, county, James Madison University and Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance combined to provide a $7,000 match, and the Shenandoah Valley Small Business Development Center has provided technical support.

In addition to finding out what local residents are buying elsewhere, Bridges said Rockingham is focused on information that can be used in the development of three major shopping areas: Stone Port Retail Plaza, the commercial space at Preston Lake, and the retail frontage at Rockingham Park at The Crossroads.

Those three commercial developments in the county's urban growth area represent significant, immediate opportunities to land retailers and grow Rockingham's tax base.

The Harrisonburg market's demographics are skewed, Macgill noted, by the high concentration of college students.

The city's median income, a key data point many retailers use in determining where to set up shop, is lower than the state average. That's deceiving, though, because many college students have cash to spend, so the market's strength is hidden somewhat by the top-line number.

"It's a matter of how can we better tell the Harrisonburg story beyond household income and what the traffic counts are," he said. "A lot of times, we're not on radar [of some retailers] to get a serious look."

Capturing information on what local residents are buying out-of-town, Macgill and Bridges noted, can be shared with city and county retailers that might be able to add the items to their shops. If area business already have the items, they can be alerted that they're losing part of the market.

The survey is the final stage of the analysis data-gathering process.

Already, Macgill said, about 800 JMU students have completed a similar survey. The consultant also spent two days here last month meeting with stakeholders and checking out the community.

The CLUE Group officials, Macgill said, left Harrisonburg with a potential marketing and development angle for Duke's Plaza.

"They were pleasantly surprised by the number of what appears to be immigrant-owned businesses in Duke's Plaza," he said. "They were intrigued at how we could take advantage of that, the immigrant niche businesses."

The final report from CLUE Group is due in late July. Macgill said an implementation grant has been applied for that would allow efforts to begin immediately to leverage the study's information into growth opportunities for local businesses.

• Built an Annex (+800 students, $48M)
• Build an Addition (+800 students, $45M)
• Build a School (+1300 students, $88M - $100M)
  

• "Bluestone is meant to alleviate overcrowding within the division, especially at Skyline and Thomas Harrison middle schools."
   
  
• "Once the school opens in fall 2017, Kizner said that fifth-graders will no longer attend the middle schools and will instead continue attending their respective elementary schools."
   
  
• "The $25.9 million facility will sit on 10.8 acres across the street from Harrisonburg High School and adjacent to Heritage Oaks Golf Course. It will be 112,000-square-feet and consist of three floors."
  

• Harrisonburg High School is filled beyond capacity.
• The school-aged population in the City of Harrisonburg is continuing to grow.
• The high school needs to be expanded or a new high school built.
• Any such expansion or new build will be very expensive.
• This large expense is likely to be paid for primarily via an increase in real estate taxes.
  

• The owner of a $150K property paying $22 more per month.
• The owner of a $250K property paying $36 more per month.
• The owner of a $350K property paying $51 more per month.
• The owner of a $500K property paying $73 more per month.

So -- yes -- this would be a drastic increase (20.5%) one-year increase in the real estate tax rate.  But when broken down to the actual increased cost per month, it does not seem quite as overwhelming.

Further reading from the Daily News Record:

• 5/18: Second High School Option Gets Pushback
  
• 5/17: Board Gets Estimate On New School
• 5/15: School Board To Get New Building Cost

• The proposed mixed use building would have (22) one-bedroom apartments and commercial space - potentially a fast food restaurant.
   
  
• The properties would need to be rezoned from R-1 (Single Family Residential) and R-3 (Medium Density Residential) to R-5C (High Density Residential District Conditional) in order for this project to be constructed.
   
• The developer also needs to be approved for a special use permit for an apartment building with more than 12 units, and a special use permit to allow for the commercial use.
   
• If approved, the developer would raze (tear down) four existing buildings in order to build the mixed-use building.
   
  
• City staff does not think that low density residential uses facing South Main Street (a five-lane roadway with a 35 mph speed limit) are likely or practical.
   
• City staff is recommending approval of the requests for amending the Comprehensive Plan, rezoning the properties and issuing the special use permits.
  

The bottom line here seems to be that the property (properties) in question have high traffic count road frontage, yet also adjoin a low density residential neighborhood in the back.  Should the use of these properties continue to be low/medium density residential use as currently approved?  Or should the City allow the property owner to rezone them to allow for a much denser use of the land?

You can read the entire packet of information to be reviewed and considered by the Planning Commission here.

• It would appear that this $0.74 real estate tax rate may be the highest real estate tax ever levied on property owners in Rockingham County.  The previous high was $0.71, which was in place between 2000 and 2005.
  
  
• It seems that this will be the third consecutive year of increased taxes -- which will have jumped from $0.64 (2014) to $0.68 (2015) to $0.70 (2016) to $0.74 (2017). This will mark a 15.6% increase in the real estate tax rate over a three year period.
   
• The median sales price of homes in Rockingham County in 2016 was $203K.  If all homes were assessed at their market values, this $0.04 increase between 2016 and 2017 would equate to an annual increase of $81.20 in real estate tax on a median priced home.  This would be an increase of $6.76/month -- just a bit less than a Starbucks Venti, Quad-Shot Caramel Macchiato.
   
• Rockingham County held a public hearing this week and nobody (that's right, count them, zero people) made any comments about whether they thought it was OK for these tax rates to increase.
  

County Eyes More Taxes, Fees
Daily News Record, April 5, 2017

No Comments At Budget Hearing
Daily News Record, April 13, 2017

Council Kills Special-Use Permit Request
By Tony Brown, Daily News-Record
March 16, 2017

HARRISONBURG - Ted Byrd played sheriff at Tuesday night's regular City Council meeting.

He deputized the other four council members and led a unanimous posse to gun down a petition for a special-use permit for an old house on Old South High Street downtown.

He said the property owner was trying to get out of breaking the law.

"This was an illegal use from the getgo," the lone Republican on council said. "Sometimes, you gotta draw the line. This is begging for forgiveness instead of asking for permission. We're either a body of laws, or not."

Byrd was so persuasive that he converted Democrat Richard Baugh, who did a complete 180 on the issue.

As the elected council's representative on the appointed Planning Commission, Baugh was part of a unanimous decision by the commission to recommend council approve the petition.

The city planning and zoning staff also is on record recommending the change.

• The Board of Supervisors tabled a request Wednesday from Surber Development and Consulting LLC to rezone a 5.3-acre parcel on Reservoir Street from medium residential to general residential for phase two of Robinson Park apartments.
   
• The board wants more time to address concerns from fire and rescue and the sheriff's office, as well as potential public transportation issues.
   
• Surber Development plans to purchase the property once it has been rezoned.  The parcel at 2770 Reservoir St. is owned by the estate of Mary Madalene Lambert, who died in March. It is valued at $250,600, according to online real estate records. 
  

• The division must change its attendance boundaries to accommodate its new $25.9 million school, Bluestone Elementary School, which will open on Garbers Church Road next fall for up to 750 students.
   
• With the opening of Bluestone, fifth-graders will remain at their elementary schools instead of advancing to the middle schools.
   
• Most of Bluestone's future students now attend Keister Elementary. Students from Waterman and Spotswood will take the place of former Keister students.
  

Read the full DNR article here.

• The hotel will contained 230 rooms.
   
  
• The conference center will offer 21,000 - 2,000 square feet of meeting space.
   
  
• The developer is a JMU graduate, Paul Gladd with dpM Partners of Gaithersburg, MD.
   
• The hotel will feature 180 traditional rooms, 50 extended-stay rooms, a farm-to-table restaurant, a coffee bar and wine bar.
   
• The developer is paying $35M to build the hotel, while the JMU Foundation is loaning $11M to the Harrisonburg Industrial Development Authority to cover the cost of the conference center construction.  The JMU Foundation will be repaid with tax revenues generated by the facility.
  

• the community would be a mix of detached homes, duplexes and quads
• amenities would likely include a clubhouse with fitness center and study facilities, outdoor swimming pool, outdoor gaming courts and extensive walking and biking trails
• this community would have no more than 178 residential units and no more than 715 beds (bedrooms)

City officials began reviewing the regulations on backyard hens after council members were approached about the matter last fall. Tuesday's vote eliminated a minimum 2-acre lot-size requirement enacted in 2009.

The requirement effectively maintained a ban on backyard fowl, as most lots in the city are smaller than 2 acres.

The new rules, which must be approved again before they take effect, will allow residents of single-family homes to keep chickens. No one living in an apartment, townhouse or manufactured home park will be allowed to keep birds.

Chicken owners are limited to four hens in an enclosed pen, which must sit in the backyard and be at least five feet from property lines and at least 20 feet from any stormwater management installation.

• Stoneport - a mixed use development featuring Bojangles, Wendy's and Wal-Mart
   
  
• a proposed 37 acre student housing community on Reservoir Street
   
• The proposed rezoning of 238 acres by Sentara RMH per their new proposed master plan.
   
• An affordable housing complex being developed off Reservoir Street across from Fieldale Place.

After the workshop (11:30 AM) the Board of Supervisors will hold their regular meeting at 3:00 PM today.

From today's Daily News Record article....

County Administrator Joe Paxton said supervisors are concerned because the growth of JMU and the need for housing are uncertain.

Supervisors want to decide what type of development should go in the area to best spur growth, Paxton said.

"The type of housing that you allow to develop in that area will drive the type of commercial that you get," Paxton said. "So, there needs to be some intentional thought ... in deciding what type of residential development will go in that area."

Deputy County Administrator Stephen King said the workshop will "give an overall look of what is there, what we know is coming, what we've been told is coming," and allow the board to start developing a plan for the area.

Certain types of housing can attract certain people to an area, Paxton said, and the demographics will determine which businesses want to move to the area.

"The income levels are critical to attract different types of commercial development," Paxton said. "If you don't have some kind of plan, then you will just get what happens."