Business View Magazine | February 2019

land County-West Holmes Career Center to offer leadership training, new employee training, youth education, workforce retention, and more. In 2017, Grow Ashland spearheaded a Commu- nity Entertainment District in the area known as the ”250 Corridor” that extends east from down- town to I-71, and also established a Downtown Revitalization District because Ashland had no available liquor licences left from its quota. At the time, a new license to serve alcohol would cost between $50,000 to $100,000. “That’s un- heard of,” says Goon. “We don’t want to put any- body in a position to fail, especially franchises or mom and pop operations that want to open restaurants and serve alcohol. So, we were able to secure 15 additional liquor licenses per dis- trict. That gives us 30 in total. The key is that 75 percent of sales have to be food and 25 percent liquor. So, you’re not bringing in a bunch of bars, and that has helped us attract new restaurants. With that, and the downtown revitalization, things are looking up and people are buying buildings.” Ashland offers incentives in what is known as a Community Reinvestment Area (CRA), where an owner is eligible for 50 percent off taxes on an improved property for 10 years. There is also an Enterprise Zone for manufacturing and distribu- tion businesses. It doesn’t abate property taxes already being paid, but it can be applied to ad- ditional improvements that have been done. Grow Ashland also helped Ashland County set up a land bank, which focuses on repurposing de- linquent, abandoned properties.What does this have to do with economic development? Goon explains, “Companies relocating here are bring- ing executives who will want to live in a nice North Central Workforce Alliance 146