Business View Civil and Municipal | February 2021

80 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL FEBRUARY 2021 recreational fisherman to make needed upgrades and maintain safety equipment. The loans are up to $300,000 and are based on job retention/ job creation. The terms are 7 years with a 2% interest. This program has grown in popularity as the industry shifts with the increased demand in fresh seafood. It supports an integral part of our local economy and helps maintain year- round jobs. Fleets are being expanded based on the availability of small interest loans to vessel owners.” The county has begun three initiatives to help drive new business and make Cape May County a place that businesses and people want to stay year-round. The first involves improvements at the Cape May County Airport, including an innovation centre called The Hangars. “We have spent a number of years developing a master plan for the organization of the site,” says Gimeno. “It was really kind of a hodgepodge of different uses all mixed together that didn’t quite make sense from a land-use perspective and certainly not from a welcoming-visitor type perspective.” The master plan project organized different uses and consolidated them into districts to better organize the site as a whole. Gimeno notes, “As an example, we have a historic district where there is a naval air station, and a commercial district with commercial retail and service-oriented businesses, and then there are areas reserved for future development, and also government services, and there’s also the airside for the functioning airport.” They have also turned their focus toward bringing new business to the airport. “We had a concerted effort, which related to UAS (unmanned aerial systems/drones) and that evolved into a more comprehensive program to elicit and develop interest from the technology industry in the airport, and specifically, the building that was formerly known as Tech Village that we now refer to as the Hangars,” Gimeno adds. The Hangars is a new 20,000 square-foot building that is the hub for the county’s