City Puts Up Funds for NEDC Retail Study

Cities and towns across the county are realizing what the McDonald’s, Targets and Wal-Marts of today have been teaching all along –communities can’t insulate themselves from retail trends.

As Moore and other communities surrounding Norman swell with new business Norman city officials said they are taking the first step toward transforming the city into more powerful player in the retail development game.

“We decided we needed to be proactive in recruiting business,” said councilmember Richard Stawicki, Ward 2. “That could help get us back to the point where we’re drawing more retail dollars that we do from just our citizens.”

On Tuesday the city council agreed with Stawicki.

They unanimously approved giving the Norman Economic Development Coalition $45,000 to help fund a study that could help with “efforts to bring more retail businesses to Norman.”

That would help raise more sales tax money so “we can run the city,” Stawicki said.

He said about 20 percent of retail sales in Norman comes from those who live outside of Norman. “We want to try to keep that going,” Stawicki said. “We can’t function as a city if we drop much lower that that.”

Anthony Francisco, city finance director, said the $45,000 would provide NEDC with about half of the funding needed to contract with a consultant to study three specifics sites in Norman and the businesses they best would serve.

“We looked at different methods of trying to do that and we decided the most cost-effective method was to utilize one of these consultants through the NEDC so the NEDC could also get matching funds from owners of the properties we looked at for the use of these studies,” Stawicki said.

During a Nov. 9 conference representatives with The Buxton Company talked with council members about the Community ID Program to provide retail recruitment services.

“They don’t just say, ‘You need a supermarket,” Stawicki said. “They’ll tell you which supermarket you need. They’ll tell you specifically what kind of store and specific locations that meet what we used to call the demographics the company refers to as the geographics of the area.”

The council agreed the $45,000- on top of the $300,000 the city, the University of Oklahoma and the Norman Chamber of Commerce give the NEDC each year –should go through the NEDC to fund a contract with The Buxton Company or a comparable firm.

“Moore as been very aggressive in their retail recruitment,” Stawicki said. He said Moore has two full-time staff members to develop the business sector. “They’ve been draining some of Norman’s sales tax money,” Stawicki said.

Retired Norman resident and activist Sylvia Martin had another idea.

“Why don’t you talk to the (OU) business school and get the opinion of the people of Norman, not what somebody outside thinks should come to Norman?” she said.

“A department store has to be local and filled with what the shopper wants. It’s the shoppers that should decide what comes into Norman.”