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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Goals:

• Encourage continued by orderly growth in North Liberty.

• Maintain and improve the quality and value of North Liberty’s industrial and commercial development.

• Existing and established businesses within the City are to be recognized and their needs and interests are to be part of a comprehensive economic development effort.

• Preserve and promote local employment opportunities within the City of North Liberty.

• Maintain and improve the quality and value of North Liberty’s housing stock.

• Increase North Liberty’s per capita tax capacity by diversifying the tax base.

• Attract private sector development through an aggressive program of promotion for commercial and industrial areas in North Liberty.

• Capitalize on existing City and area assets and amenities as a means of enhancing the community’s economic viability.

• Support economic development programs and projects which maintain and improve North Liberty’s environmental quality.

• Utilize public assistance programs, such as tax increment financing, for developments that meet the City’s long range planning objectives and provide an equitable benefit to City investment.


Policies:

General Policies

1. Maintain an open, competitive market where all elements of each sector have a fair and equitable opportunity for participation.

2. Plan and establish a development pattern which provides suitable efficient and harmonious placement and distribution of land use and transportation activities and which prevent physical blight and decay.

3. Maintain a stable economy through the establishment of a diversified economic base.

4. Achieve a balanced supply and demand through the promotion of those economic functions for which there exists sufficient productive resources and available consumer markets.

5. Continue to maintain and expand the City’s employment base in order to provide both living and working opportunities for North Liberty residents.

6. The City should work closely with business and higher education organizations on programs to promote job retention and creation in the City.

7. The City should encourage higher education opportunities for North Liberty residents.

8. Promote the establishment of industries and businesses from varied field and specialties in order to take full advantage of North Liberty’s diverse labor force and to provide a broad based business environment.

9. Ensure that all new housing within the City adheres to the highest possible standards of planning, design, and construction.

10. Promote residential development which provides higher valued homes in order to increase housing diversity.

11. Encourage and promote residential projects which meet special needs in the community such as handicapped or elderly housing.

12. Promote economic development projects which assist in the redevelopment and/or restoration of substandard and deteriorating property within the City.

13. Promote private and public efforts aimed at preserving and restoring properties with historic and cultural significance in the community.

Tax Base Policies

1. Continue to maintain and expand the City’s retail, service and industrial tax base to assist in paying for needed services and in reducing tax impact on residential properties.

2. Aggressively promote and attract new development which will contribute positively to the City’s financial capabilities.

3. Provide for a variety of housing types, including increases in numbers of higher valued homes, in order to increase tax base.

4. Establish industrial and commercial performance standards to ensure high quality, high valued development.

5. Preserve property values through code enforcement in order to promote upkeep and maintenance of commercial and industrial areas.

6. Monitor existing business operations in the City and where possible and appropriate, provide them with assistance for maintenance and expansion of their operations.

Industrial/Commercial Promotion Policies

1. Encourage property owners of vacant land to actively pursue development that is consistent with the long range planning objectives of the City.

2. The City should encourage leadership by the business community for economic development.

3. Release news stories to local newspapers and applicable real estate periodicals concerning North Liberty planning and development objectives.

4. Attend inter-community, regional and state-wide economic development expositions to disseminate information about North Liberty development opportunities and to solicit development interest.

5. Maintain a contact person or committee for prospective developers to contact for development information about North Liberty.

6. Continue a City sponsored body or group which actively makes contacts with new development interests and follows up and assists where possible in attracting them to the community.

7. Develop an accessible data base of North Liberty development information for dissemination to perspective developers in conjunction with Priority One and Iowa City Area Development Group.

8. Work with business interests presently existing in the City on plans and programs for expansion and enhancement.

9. Identify and promote economic development which makes full use of recreational market opportunities which result from the area’s natural amenities.

10. Identify and promote economic development which takes full advantage of market opportunities afforded by the major transportation corridors such as Interstate 380/Saints Highway and Highway 965.

11. The City should work to retain and attract businesses which are compatible with a clean environment.

12. The City guidelines for public investment should be supportive of environmental quality as well as economic development.

13. Utilize tax increment financing as well as any and all public and private programs which are available to assist new and existing businesses in the community.

14. Encourage uses of public assistance for development of sites characterized by physical limitations (i.e., poor soils, steep slopes, etc.).

 

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