It's Your Business: Community can help Bloomington with sites for business success

The new year allows us to consider the future and organize our personal spaces. But how do we ensure community spaces support our future success?

This article is part of the Bloomington Economic Development Corp.’s series on how economic development impacts you. Creating a vibrant local economy requires deliberate steps to create opportunities and connect our neighbors to them. Here, we consider space and employment.

What cities do you think of as vibrant places to live, work and play? Consider the physical spaces, which shape all aspects of our lives. Residents need land and buildings for housing, community amenities and places to work. Employers need land and buildings for employment and wage growth, as well as proximity to the workforce.

Site readiness is among the first factors employers consider before growing in any location. Sites with land, buildings and infrastructure can translate into community benefits like higher-paying local jobs, tax revenue and community upgrades for keeping pace with technological advancements. The pandemic and global industry shifts have demonstrated that Monroe County must continue to diversify our base of future-focused jobs to remain resilient. To propel Monroe County as a regional epicenter for innovation and future-focused jobs, employers need places to establish themselves.

The good news is that national and state investments are spurring local opportunities, as outlined in the BEDC’s earlier columns. We have targets for fostering economic vitality and economic development strategies for achieving these aims.

BEDC projects in 2023 also demonstrated great ways for breathing new life into older sites. At the former GE site, NHanced Semiconductors is planning a $150 million investment and hundreds of new jobs. At the former Otis Elevator plant, Phoenix announced a $15 million investment and more new jobs. Likewise, Monroe County has some great sites for future employment, including the Monroe County Airport, westside employment zones, Trades District and the westside of Ellettsville, to name a few. The BEDC catalogs space requirements of employers, advocates for zoning and infrastructure to ensure sites are ready for employment growth, and promotes locations to prospects in our target industries.

When it comes to ensuring we have sites to shape our future, almost everyone can play a role.

How you can help shape our future

Community leaders and citizens — what is our shared vision for the future and how do we utilize space to make that happen? Envision Ellettsville is one great example of how Ellettsville is shaping a place where residents and businesses thrive.

Government representatives — aligned with that vision, you can ensure we have sites prepared to meet workforce housing and employment needs, alongside community amenities like parks and trails. Proper zoning and infrastructure, like sewer and water, are critical components to ensure these sites can benefit the community.

Property owners — if you have buildings or land that could be used for employment or housing, you can work with Realtors and local government to ensure it is appropriately zoned. Get involved with efforts like the Monroe County Development Ordinance (CDO) and the zoning processes that follow Envision Ellettsville, to ensure these sites are ready for future use.

Businesses — do you have clients or partners that would be a great fit for employment growth here, in target industries like tech, biosciences, advanced manufacturing, defense, green jobs, or creative industries? The BEDC can help them find a site.

So, the next time you see an under-utilized building or vacant parcel, ask yourself — how do we use land and buildings to shape our future?

Jennifer Pearl is president of Bloomington Economic Development Corp.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: BEDC president: Bloomington can help with sites for business success