Economic Development Conversation
Monday December 9, 2024, 7-8:30 PM Town Hall
Remote via Zoom https://zoom.us/join
ID: 846 2667 0005 Passcode: 472082
Hingham’s Economic Development Strategic Plan will define Hingham’s competitive position, identify realistic development opportunities, and create implementation plans to drive new vitality into our commercial districts – downtown Hingham, Hingham Shipyard, and South Hingham. We welcome your input on your vision – or concerns – for each commercial district.
Hingham’s Economic Development Strategic Plan (EDSP) will encourage low-impact, high-value economic development in its major commercial districts – South Hingham, the Hingham Shipyard / Route 3A Corridor, and Hingham Square. EDSP results will help focus the town’s efforts to attract new investment, well-paying jobs, and long-term tax revenue – and protect Hingham’s high quality of life.
The town completed major work imparting a foundation for economic development amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Hingham’s Master Plan , completed in 2021, envisions responsible development in its commercial districts that will bring economic growth and a more diversified tax base to Hingham in the future. The Plan sets broad goals and policies that an economic development strategy must balance, including:
Goal 1 – Honor town character, with policies including prioritizing town historic buildings/resources, as well as open space/natural resources areas.
Goal 5 – Support a vibrant & resilient local economy, with policies including supporting local businesses, attracting new enterprises, attracting non-residential & mixed-use development, and guiding development to desired locations.
Hingham’s Sustainable Budget Task Force issued its Final Report in January 2022. The Town Administrator established a six-member Sustainable Budget Task Force to develop options to facilitate a sustainable five-year Financial Forecast for FY23 through FY27 for the town. “Sustainable” is determined as a financial forecast that uses realistic assumptions for revenue and expenditure growth that allow the Town to 1) provide services that meet residents’ expectations, and 2) meet ongoing expenditure obligations through regularly occurring revenues. The Task Force identified economic development as offering Hingham’s strongest opportunities for generating new revenue. The Task Force also identified economic development as being a long-term enterprise. The EDSP will provide Hingham a path to new revenue opportunities that leverage the town’s strengths, protects its assets, and accounts for evolving business location strategies that were accelerated by the pandemic.
The EDSP process will include stakeholder interviews, economic research, several community outreach sessions, and a survey. Along the way, Hingham will define its competitive position and identify relevant post-pandemic business growth opportunities. The work will result in implementation plans to focus economic development efforts in the Hingham Square, Shipyard/Route 3A corridor, and South Hingham commercial districts.
Camoin Associates, an economic development consultancy, will provide technical assistance to town staff. That work will include providing economic research, ensuring all stakeholders are heard, and building implementation plans that identify zoning changes and infrastructure improvements Hingham should make to support the town’s overall tax base.
The project will also include collaboration with the Town of Rockland around shared development interest in the Route 3 / Route 228 area.
The EDSP process will unfold over the coming months, with final deliverables available in early 2025. The town will use key deliverables – its competitive position, realistic post-pandemic opportunities, and commercial district implementation plans - to prioritize follow on efforts. These may include, for each commercial district:
Updating zoning
Targeted infrastructure improvements
Marketing Hingham assets
Targeted business development efforts
Please direct any questions to Art Robert, Assistant Town Administrator / Operations, at roberta@hingham-ma.gov.
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