Wilmington Wants To Address Slow Pace Of Economic Development

WILMINGTON, MA -- The Sonic Drive-In Website still lists the chain's Wilmington location as "temporarily closed." But nine months after the drive-in burger joint closed, there's a "for lease sign" covering the old sign and no indication that the closing is anything but permanent.

In early August, a Chili's with one of the few bars in town closed after seven years on in the Wilmington Crossing shopping plaza on Main Street. The plaza still boasts a busy Starbucks, but remains anchored by not one, but two, dollar stores. Even as Wilmington continues to build housing at a steady clip, the number of commercial real estate vacancies holds steady.

Now the chairman of Wilmington's board of selectmen wants to do something about that. During a meeting earlier this month, Mike Champoux said the town needs to form an economic development committee to not only fill those empty spaces but attract new business to Wilmington.

"Let’s fill Sonic. Let’s fill Chili’s," Champoux said. He noted other communities have similar boards that proactively try to woo businesses, but Wilmington hasn't developed a comprehensive vision. He noted the town's location offers four exits along Interstate 93 and close proximity to Boston. The overall tone was clear: Wilmington needs to be doing a better job of wooing business.

The benefits of business are obvious: businesses pay higher property taxes, which allow towns to lower residential taxes. Woburn, for example, has been aggressive in attracting commercial development. Earlier this week the city announced its residential property tax rate of $9.89 per $1,000 of assessed value for Fiscal 2018. In Wilmington, the residential property tax, which is not offset by robust commercial property taxpayers, will be $14.41 per $1,000 of assessed value in Fiscal 2018.

Town Manager Jeffrey Hull was supportive of Champoux's idea, but also noted the town is in a competitive market with other towns seeking to woo the next big local employer and commercial taxpayer. He also said the town needs to identify locations in town prime for commercial development, as well as identify parts of town residents want to remain residential.

Selectmen Edward Loud and Gregory Bendel were supportive of the idea as well. Selectman Michael McCoy said he wants "the right kind" of economic development. "There’s a big difference between Main Street in Wilmington and Main Street in Tewksbury," he said, noting that there had been a huge increase in the number of condos being built in Tewksbury in recent years.

More on this story: Wilmington Sonic Closes Its Doors (March 10, 2017)

Subscribe to Wilmington Patch for more local news and real-time alerts.

Photos by Dave Copeland.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).