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PREAMBLE……………………………………………………………….. PAGE 2
GLOSSARY………………………………………………………………. PAGE 15
ECO2 INITIATIVE
April 9, 2002
PREAMBLE
Brought together by the Chamber of Commerce in the spring of 2000, ECO2 is a diverse group of
Douglas County citizens representing economic development, open space advocacy and local
government concerns. After extensive study, ECO2 has come to the following conclusions:
· Open space enhances quality of life and contributes to a sense of place, history, and community for
Douglas County and the cities of Baldwin City, Eudora, Lawrence, and Lecompton.
· An environment that offers outdoor recreation and a sense of space and place is an important
location factor to more and more businesses.
· Access to suitable land, infrastructure and facilities is a leading factor in the ability of Douglas
County communities to attract new basic employers and facilitate basic business expansion and
startups.
· Industrial/business job creation is not currently keeping pace with the population growth
· The increasing Douglas County population requires accelerated job creation and business investment
to guarantee the tax base necessary to maintain the level of services and opportunities that exist
today for every citizen in the county.
· If we fail to provide a strong industrial/business tax base to absorb a significant amount of the
financial burden, Douglas County citizens can expect even higher and higher taxes to support the
level of services we now enjoy.
· Incentives are crucial to attracting, assisting, and retaining basic employers due to high local and
state property taxes, high land costs, high costs connected with building infrastructure, and
increasing costs of development and operation to maintain compliance with codes and
environmental regulations.
* The ECO2 initiative is intended to enhance and not replace any existing (or current) open space or
industrial/business development programs.
Recognizing that economic health and quality of life go hand in hand, the mission of ECO2 is to
secure an equal amount of funding for the purpose of preservation, access, and management of open
space and for land, facilities and other supports necessary to expand job opportunities in Douglas
County.
ECO2: BACKGROUND
ECO2 was convened by the Chamber of Commerce in May 2000 to develop consensus on future
economic development and open space land needs in Douglas County. The media and public have
been welcome to attend and observe all general meetings since December of 2000. The information-
gathering process has resulted in two significant products beyond this initiative: a Workforce/Skill
Assessment Survey, and extensive countywide GIS mapping. Most importantly, however, has been the
commitment of members of ECO2 to the process and the dialogue that has resulted.
Consistent with the ECO2 mission statement, the following proposal has been prepared by members of
ECO2. It consists of four parts:
For the purpose of the ECO2 project, Industrial and Business Parks shall be defined as land,
infrastructure and facilities, to attract jobs in:
· Life Sciences
· Information Technology
· Aviation/Aerospace
· Production/Distribution/Assembly
The Industrial/Business Park definition shall not include residential or retail development.
Mechanisms and use of funds for achieving the program goals may include:
· Procuring land or land options for future industrial and business park development
· Creating public/private partnerships to develop business parks
· Providing funds for construction of speculative buildings
· Financing long-term holding costs or relocation costs
· Marketing efforts
A comprehensive, countywide Industrial/Business Park Program that is consistent with the vision of
ECO2 and which will benefit the citizens of Baldwin City, Eudora, Lawrence, Lecompton and the
unincorporated areas of Douglas County will be developed and adopted by the ECO2 Board, after public
review and input.
· Using city and county GIS maps and individual city and county land use plans to identify and
locate appropriate sites for business/industrial park use for each of the participating cities.
· Locating business/industrial parks by transportation routes, rail access and be connected to public
services.
· Encouraging private development wherever possible.
· Forming public-private partnerships when necessary to provide resources for infrastructure,
speculative buildings, low interest rate loans, acquisition of property, and marketing.
· Encouraging new industrial/business developments to locate their projects in such a way as to
enhance, not compromise, the environmental assets of the County.
The ECO2 Open Space Program recognizes that open space enhances quality of life and contributes to a
sense of place, history, and community, and the health and economic well being of all Douglas County
residents, including those who reside in the cities of Baldwin City, Eudora, Lawrence, and Lecompton.
Open space is that part of the countryside, which has not been developed and which is desirable for
preservation in its natural state for ecological, historical, or recreational purposes, or in its cultivated
state to preserve agricultural, forest, or urban greenbelt areas.
· Land adjacent to or integrated with trails, schools, residential areas, business parks, or areas of
designated open space
· Land containing rare or endangered plant and animal species
A comprehensive, countywide Open Space Plan that is consistent with the vision of ECO2 and which
will benefit the citizens of Baldwin City, Eudora, Lawrence, Lecompton and the unincorporated areas of
Douglas County will be developed and adopted by the Board, after public review and input.
The Open Space Plan will be developed in conjunction with land-use plans and regulations, Urban
Growth Areas and individual city park plans. Scoring and ranking criteria used to prioritize potential
land and easement purchases will be developed. Potential projects must rank high in the priority system
in order to be considered for inclusion.
ECO2 BOARD: To ensure consensus, the Board shall consist of eight (8) members who will ultimately
be responsible for implementing the ECO2 goals of Industrial/Business Park Development and Open
Space Preservation. Four of the Board positions represent economic development and four positions
represent open space preservation. Three Board members will be drawn from economic development
advocacy organizations, three Board members will be drawn from open space advocacy organizations
and two Board members will be drawn from farm advocacy organizations. An affirmative vote of no
less than six (6) of the eight (8) Board members will be required to approve project funding or take other
Board related actions. ECO2 Board positions will be voluntary only, not paid.
Initial Board members would be appointed for 2,3,4, and 5 years terms. Thereafter, each term will be
for four years. No individual may serve more than two terms on the Board. After three years and due
public input, if all participants of the Interlocal Agreement(s) determine the goals are not being met, the
ECO2 Board will be disbanded and the sales tax rescinded.
NOMINATING PROCESS:
Yet to be determined
DIVISION OF RESOURCES: All public funding received by the ECO2 Board will be evenly divided
for the purposes of Industrial/Business Park development and Open Space Preservation. To allow some
year-to-year flexibility in pursuits, allocations must achieve parity between Industrial/Business Park
development and Open Space preservation by the tenth (10) year of the project.
The ECO2 Board and Committees are encouraged to seek grants, donation and other sources of ancillary
funding. Proceeds from the sale of assets and ancillary funds acquired in addition to public funds are to
be reinvested in the program that generated the asset. If grant money is received as a result of a joint
Industrial/Business Park and Open Space venture, the money will apply to the combined effort in the
manner set out in the grant.
To finance this initiative, ECO2 proposes a quarter-cent sales tax, which would sunset in ten years.
If all four cities within Douglas County opted to participate in this countywide sales tax, an estimated
total of $22.6 million would be generated over ten years, at an annual average of $2.26 million.
For years in which a quarter-cent sales tax revenues exceed $2 million, ECO2 proposes that those
revenues be distributed as follows:
For years in which a quarter-cent sales tax revenues fails to reach $2 million, ECO2 proposes that those
revenues be distributed as follows:
After three years and due public input, if all participants of the Interlocal Agreement(s) determine the
goals are not being met, the ECO2 Board will be disbanded and the sales tax rescinded.
Basic employer
Basic jobs
Conservation easement
Primary jobs
Substantially productive soils
Exceptional agriculture land
Easement