The new Economic Development Corporation told council what they plan to do. The plans are promising; the targets are ambitious and they are not asking for more money.

By Pepper Parr

December 17, 2014

BURLINGTON, ON.

The Strategic Plan was introduced to a Council Stranding Committee.

There is a revised policy or service standard.

The updated Strategic Plan incorporates the principles of the BEDC which they believe will deliver the outcomes the City desires or, in some cases, will redefine achievable results envisioned by the economic Development Corporation.

The updated Strategy includes clear and specific key performance indicators (KPI’s) for all areas as well as defined tactics to achieve these results.

Zoned commercial, spitting distance to the QEW, minutes from downtown – owner wants to rezone and make it residential.

The BEDC has had a difficult four years. Under the direction of the former Executive Director, it was never able to get beyond commissioning report after report. Significant Burlington companies chose to leave the city – at least one was taken from us right under our noses.

The Board decided that it had had enough and dismissed the Executive Director in 2013 – on All Hallow’s Eve – and began taking a look at what was needed. A high powered group of executives was brought in as advisors and with all kinds of input from former city manager Jeff Fielding they looked as if there wasn’t a business they didn’t want to get into.

When Fielding bought a one way ticket to Calgary some of the high flying ideas were given a reality check and a new board was installed; they appointed Frank McKeown, formerly Mayor Goldring’s chief of staff, as the Executive Director.

It is amazing what sensible, proven executives will think of when they feel they have their hands on the public purse and not all that much in the way of genuine oversight. A one point they were going to create close to half a dozen corporations to get into property acquisition and development. Some sanity prevailed.

Through the plan development process, nor did it conclude that BEDC should compete as land developers with the private sector. The decisions were based on the following:

The City has very little surplus land. Land Development models in other cities are usually based on significant surplus land or considerable land available at very low cost. The Board and City will continue to evaluate the opportunity in this area.

The scale of potential property available does not justify immediate investment in corporate restructure. Other alternatives exist to achieve the desired results with lower risk.

A Strategic Plan was developed to address the key economic community needs which were defined as:

a) Investment and assessment growth; b) Growing local employment opportunity and c) Accessible Industrial Commercial Institutional (ICI).

The BEDC has adopted key strategies to pull this off:

Develop an Economic Vision for Burlington that will fit into the City’s Strategic Plan. The plan will have very specific goals and tactics that are well researched and can be executed.

Develop and maintain critical economic data, reports and policy; this will require an upgrade in capacity but will form a long-term basis for better insight and decision-making.

It is vital that Burlington increase the investment at the Industrial, Commercial Institutional level – relying on the residential portion of the tax base is a recipe for a financial disaster. To make this happen McKeown will be bringing a tighter focus and process to market attraction.

He will develop new partnerships and strategies to work with land owners, developers and the commercial real estate sector. This includes the development, in coordination with land owners and developers, of a 5 year investment profile around potential development and a proactive approach to local development opportunities.

The BEDC is being restructured around services. We must be able, said McKeown to answer the question – How can BEDC help grow our business?

Services being evaluated include access to senior government funding, accessibility to McMaster research for Small Medium Enterprises (SME’s), export growth support, support for start-ups, and key peer networking opportunities. These will be largely partner driven.

A surplus land marketing pilot with the City will be given a go. BEDC will begin marketing identified surplus lands under a pilot model. The City and BEDC will establish principles around land development opportunities that will allow BEDC to develop land development/marketing competencies in a low risk focused way. Surplus lands will remain under City ownership in this process until the transaction is completed.

The property IKEA  chosen for their new location was quite deep but problems with the Ministry of Transportation and difficulties with the Conservation Authority killed the plans.  Will the BEDC be able to overcome this kind of problem?

There is a reason for the BEDC being located outside city hall – they want to operate at the Speed of Business. Culturally, BEDC will re-tool its processes and activities to respond at the Speed of Business to business and opportunities. McKeown always had a problem with the molasses that seemed to be attached to every document that circulates through the building.

The Burlington Chamber of Commerce will take over the networking events the BEDC used to hold. They were always very well attended but the new BEDC doesn’t see that as a part of their core business. They will work with the Chamber on the events but not be in bed with them – at least not at the networking level.

The BEDC’s 2015 Expectations: 1 Surplus Land Marketing/Sale Pilot, 2 Annual Economic Report established and published, 3 Targeted Market Attraction Established, 4 Stakeholder Process established with land owners and developers – QEW Corridor, 5 Five Year Development Profile, 6 Economic Vision and targeted activity in defined re-development areas. Lakeside Plaza was given as an example.

That is one impressive list. If McKeown wrote it – then it is doable. Memo to the BEDC board – think bonus for the lad.

The proof is in the pudding isn’t it? Many of the areas of focus for BEDC are new or currently unmeasured. The organization has identified how we will measure the organization and will begin immediately to track, measure, and report on these identified measurements. Over a short period of time we will have benchmarks established and performance results published. McKeown didn’t say how often.

The BEDC needs help telling its story. The one thing it has never had is a commitment to be open with the information they collect. Some of it is sensitive – but certainly not all of it. They have tended to take a proprietary approach – not unusual in the business world.

A dose of retail thinking would serve the BEDC well – and a little less clubbiness wouldn’t hurt. There is a tendency to think they have all the answers – they don’t.

For once we have an agency that isn’t pushing its snout into the public trough and asking for more money. The BEDC proposes to operate in 2015 at the existing base budget level. As we evaluate the pilot land marketing activities we will have a revenue measurement which we will use for future evaluation. In addition, the development of the Economic Vision will include an evaluation of other revenue opportunities including strategic development opportunities.

When McKeown got into involving the public in economic development his report said: “Earlier discussions regarding BEDC reorganization identified some public engagement requirements. BEDC is not reorganizing the corporation at a level to trigger this requirement. BEDC will be actively engaging stakeholders and the public during their development of the Economic Vision.

Not exactly an invitation for the public to voice an informed opinion is it?

The Strategic plan says is has a new Board is in place and fully engaged. BEDC has quickly established an operating plan to address the economic needs of the community and will continue to measure performance and report to Committee on its economic achievements.

Current BEDC Executive director Frank McKeown tended to have to battle with ward 5 council member Paul Sharman who brought experience as a consultant to the table. Not much in the way of proven operational experience which McKeown does have.

The Burlington Economic Development Corporation 2014 – 2015 Board of Directors
Gary Graham, Chairman, Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP – Partner; Rick Goldring , Mayor; Paul Sharman, Burlington Council member; Jack Dennison, Burlington Council member; Ruta Stauskas, Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd. – Vice President, Human Resources;  Bonnie Prior Appraisal Institute of Canada – Ontario – Executive Director; Randall Smallbone, Portland Investment Counsel – Dealing Representative; J. Michael Hanna, Kylin Developments Inc. – President; Gordon Kack, MHPM Project Managers Inc. – Vice President – Operations; Dr. David Conrath, Conrath Communications Ltd. – President;  Scott Stewart, City of Burlington – General Manager, Development and Infrastructure.

This time around there is a board that is in place to get a job done; no longer are there a bunch of people who sat at the BEDC board table to protect the interest of the organization they represented. A welcome change.

The ball is now in McKeown’s hands – that assumes the Board he reports to acts as a Board and not a group of people with personal agendas. McKeown has a proven track record – he can pull this off if he is given the room and the resources. He is financially prudent and knows what risk is and how to measure it.

The biggest unknown for McKeown is what his former boss is likely to do. City Council has to create a vision that is real and compelling. They need to provide the sizzle – Frank McKeown will sell the steak.