By Emily Ford
eford@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — At a strategy session Thursday, the City Council talked about hiring a retail recruiter to lure business and new jobs to areas of the city beyond the downtown.
Downtown Salisbury Inc. brings businesses to the heart of the city, and RowanWorks Economic Development recruits industry to Rowan County.
But Salisbury suffers a “doughnut effect” where the city’s core is strong but areas between the downtown and city limits do not have an economic developer, city leaders said.
“We need to let people know throughout the state that we’ll do whatever necessary to get you into one of our buildings,” Mayor Paul Woodson said during the city’s 27th annual strategic planning retreat, dubbed “Evaluating Opportunities.”
Changes in state law make it impossible for cities to involuntarily annex neighborhoods. Cities, including Salisbury, used to rely on annexation to increase their tax base.
“We need a discussion about how we do economic development and tax base increase in the new reality where our boundaries are fixed,” Councilman Brian Miller said.
Considering the success of Downtown Salisbury Inc., Miller said the City Council should consider putting more resources into the organization and expanding its target area.
If the city were a corporation or a private company and had one division or product line that was doing really well, “we would feed it,” he said.
“DSI is that product line,” said Miller, who has served on the downtown board of directors. “Can we increase their mission? Can we give them additional scope to use their skills to increase the tax base elsewhere?”
Downtown property is more valuable per acre than land anywhere else in Rowan County, said Randy Hemann, executive director for Downtown Salisbury Inc. Here’s a breakdown he provided of land values:
• Suburban home, $122,000 per acre
• Lake-front home, $404,000 per acre
• Big-box-store strip mall, $580,000 per acre
• Historic home, $1,008,000 per acre
• Downtown, $1,022,000 per acre
Salisbury does not have a comprehensive economic development program, unlike cities such as Rock Hill and Greenville, Hemann said. Technically, Downtown Salisbury must work only within the special tax district which generates the organization’s funding, he said.
Salisbury needs a database of land and buildings for sale throughout the city, not just the downtown, he said. Both Hemann and Woodson said they fear entrepreneurs interested in starting a business outside the downtown don’t receive the support they need in Salisbury and go elsewhere.
“Until you have a person responsible for that, it will continue to get lost in the shuffle,” Hemann said.
Salisbury needs to look at economic development as the best way to help all city residents, Miller said. While government can’t create jobs, the city can create an environment that attracts businesses by streamlining the development process, he said.
Salisbury needs a business-friendly attitude and to “implement that within every structure of our city,” Miller said.
While the city must hold companies to standards, it needs to be easier to do business in Salisbury, he said.
Councilman William “Pete” Kennedy said the city needs to market its water availability and Fibrant, the city-owned broadband network that sells Internet, cable TV and phone services. These utilities can attract businesses and create jobs, Kennedy said.
Miller suggested the city spend the next year building an economic development strategy in partnership with Downtown Salisbury, the city’s tourism authority and RowanWorks.
“It’s vital, to keep us competitive, that we do something,” council member Maggie Blackwell said.
Robert Van Geons, executive director for RowanWorks, said after the meeting he’s open to any suggestions and will try to meet the city’s need for retail recruitment.
Miller said after the meeting that no one has suggested pulling the city’s allocation to RowanWorks and redirecting the money elsewhere. The city contributed about $60,000 to the group this year.
The council has talked for years about hiring a retail recruiter, but the position was always cut from the budget, Mayor Pro Tem Susan Kluttz said.
“It needs to be moved up on the priority list,” Kluttz said.
She suggested using Downtown Salisbury as a model for economic development throughout the city and revisiting a business incubator study done several years ago.
The City Council should reach out to private investors as well, she said.
Blackwell agreed and said the city must partner with businesses, not police them.
“If you don’t do it with people, they feel like you’re doing it to them,” she said.
The retreat continues today from 9:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Rowan Museum, 202 N. Main St.
Contact reporter Emily Ford at 704-797-4264.

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What: Salisbury City Council 27th annual strategic planning retreat
When: Continues at 9:15 a.m. today
Where: Rowan Museum, 202 N. Main St.
Why: Set goals and objectives for the coming year and beyond
Theme: “Evaluating Opportunities,” featuring dozens of helium balloons and posters with a Helen Keller quote: “Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much.”
The retreat began with a video featuring former council members Bill Burgin and Pam Hilton Coffield and former Mayor Sonny Allen.