As I look at what Oxford faces, affordable housing, facility and capacity issues at our schools, and the ongoing care of our town assets including our roads and buildings, the issue that effects and can impact all of these is Economic Development. There are forces that are making it difficult to reinvigorate economic development such as the overall economy however there are many things that are fully within our control.
The unanswered question of affordable housing is possibly the largest barrier to commercial development in town. Those who might build in Oxford are waiting to see what direction we will take before committing to any large scale projects. I learned this concept the hard way in the late 1980's when the industry my firm operates in was decimated by the Luxury Tax. It was not necessarily the luxury tax (although that did not help) itself that cost so many middle class jobs, factory closures, and entire segments of the business to dry up but the ongoing uncertainty about the tax's repeal. This only caused the customer to wait in hopes of avoiding the tax and business came to a screeching halt. This is where we find ourselves in Oxford regarding commercial development. While we place moratoriums, etc. developers are waiting-not developing commercially while surrounding towns are benefitting.
I oppose the Incentive Housing Proposal that is working it's way through Planning and Zoning now. It consumes commercially zoned land that is a finite resource for us to residential use. I continue to support meaningful regulations that are written by Oxford people for Oxfords needs independently. It is clear to me that we must pick a direction and hold to it if we hope to bring commercial projects in to increase the grand list without increasing the burden on town services too greatly.
Turning to Industrial development, I still believe that we need an Economic Development Coordinator, not a firm to represent us. This position is effectively the salesman of Oxford and needs to have a consistent face to any potential business that may consider moving to our community. This person must always remember that they are there to protect Oxford's interests, not the developers, and always let that guide their efforts.
There needs to be a long range plan to provide some consistency to what we permit in town. I will work with the land use boards, the economic development commission, and a re-energized Long Range Planning Committee to bring some much needed effort and uniformity to economic development.
