ED-Central
In This Issue
- Building Green
- Working Green
The City of Canton has a long and storied history of successfully drawing visitors to its town through the First Monday Trade Days that they host each month. The success of First Mondays generates sales tax revenues that have allowed the city to provide a unique quality of life for its citizens. In an effort to continue the growth of their tourism business, the city, in conjunction with the Canton Economic Development Corporation (CEDC) researched and settled upon the idea of constructing an indoor equestrian arena in an effort to tap into the burgeoning recreational horse industry and its positive economic impact on host communities. On January 4, 2008, the City of Canton contracted with the Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) – Technology and Economic Development Division to perform an Economic Impact Study for the proposed equestrian arena.
Building Green
Create a facility your community will be proud of by committing to building green. Many public and private entities are starting to jump on the environmentally friendly bandwagon with good reason. Although some believe building green is an expensive endeavor that their communities may not be able to afford, there are a number of ways to go green without breaking the bank and in some cases it may be more fiscally responsible. You should also take into account that any upfront costs will soon turn into savings that make your efforts worthwhile.
Here are a few ways to go green when building your new facility:
- Renovate an existing building or utilize an infield building site
- Use recycled or relocated materials
- Install low-flow plumbing fixtures
- Install energy efficient HVAC & lighting systems
- Install Energy Star rated products
- Use LED light-bulbs
- Use windows or skylights for natural light
- Make surfaces near windows or skylights light-colored to reflect natural light further into rooms
- For landscaping, use native or drought tolerant species
Working Green
During our workdays there are a number of ways to go green that are low cost or no cost. Get your employees educated and involved in the process. Many of them may already have ideas on how to make their workplace environmentally friendly. These are a few ideas to get you started:
- Set your printers to double-sided printing
- Use post-consumer recycled products (for example, copier paper, paper towels, toilet paper)
- Set computers to sleep or hibernate when not in use. Do not use screen-savers.
- Recycle when possible
- Sweep or use blowers to clear off paved areas
- Contact your energy company to find out if there are programs available in your area to have part of your energy come from alternative sources (for example, wind turbines)
- Contact your energy company to have them perform an energy audit. The audit is often a free or low-cost way to see where you can cut back on energy consumption
The City of Canton has a long and storied history of successfully drawing visitors to its town through the First Monday Trade Days that they host each month. The success of First Mondays generates sales tax revenues that have allowed the city to provide a unique quality of life for its citizens. In an effort to continue the growth of their tourism business, the city, in conjunction with the Canton Economic Development Corporation (CEDC) researched and settled upon the idea of constructing an indoor equestrian arena in an effort to tap into the burgeoning recreational horse industry and its positive economic impact on host communities.
The City of Canton had previously performed internal research concerning the project, including discussion with a selected design firm. Also, prior to contracting TEEX, a potential project site had been selected. The proposed facility dimensions of a 2,000 seat indoor arena with 320 available stalls were provided. TEEX designed a study with the following objectives:
- Identify the industry utilization standards for similar facilities in similar Texas markets, thus identifying the “expected demand” for the new facility
- Create five year usage projections for three and five years based on the local and regional demand for the facility
- Develop the expected economic impact the facility will have on the Canton economy
The study revealed that the equestrian industry, specifically the cutting, reigning, showing and breeding sectors, are gaining in popularity around the country. Currently there is a push in Texas communities to build facilities capable of attracting and hosting equestrian events. Tapping into this industry provides a unique opportunity to create a substantial financial impact on the host community.
Equestrian based facilities are uniquely qualified to allow for the greatest economic impact of any of the publicly owned event facilities. This is due primarily to the time spent in town by participants, which can run up to seven days and the corresponding demographics of the target audience. The average equestrian event pulls new visitors into a town for 3 days. They will typically arrive on Thursday evening, compete Friday, Saturday and Sunday, then depart on Sunday night. During their stay they will spend money in hotels, restaurants, retail shops and fuel stations.
TEEX researched and identified the appropriate model for forecasting the economic impact and performed an analysis of available data supplemented by primary research and interviews with facility operators throughout the Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana region. Based on the research and analysis, Canton can be expected to see between 82,000 and 139,000 people utilize the proposed facility annually if run professionally and marketed aggressively. Based on these findings, two projections were made. If the arena garners 82,047 attendees, it can be expected to generate an economic impact in excess of $20 million per year. If however, the proposed facility brings in 138,520 people, the local impact can be expected to exceed $34 million annually (both scenarios assumed a mature facility with at least three years of operating experience).
Following the study, the City of Canton voted to allocate $6 million toward the construction of the new multi-purpose equestrian arena and expo center. The design and construction firm has been contracted. A ground breaking is expected to take place in the second quarter of 2008 and the facility is scheduled to begin operations in early 2009.
About the author. Chad Burke is a former Project Manager for TEEX Economic Development. For more information regarding TEEX services to Texas communities, contact TEEX Economic Development Program Manager Joan Quintana at joan.quintana@teexmail.tamu.edu.
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On TARGET |
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 TARGET
(Technical Assistance for Regional Growth in Economic Development)
taps into a wealth of resources found within TEEX and The Texas
A&M University System to help your community reach its economic
development potential. To find out more about TARGET click here. |
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