North Country Council Services

Coos County Sudden and Severe Impact Grant II (2008-2010)

Three separate applications were funded under this second Coos County Sudden and Severe Impact grant initiative.

Application 1: Economic Adjustment and Planning

This application is for 6 separate projects, with a total budget of $1,073,200. EDA will fund $643,920 and the remaining $429,280 will come from a variety of matching funds, including the Tillotson Fund of the NH Charitable Foundation, the NH Business Finance Authority, the NH Community Development Finance Authority, NH DRED, and local funds. North Country Council is the grantee.

Project 1: The State of NH Business Resource Center (NHBRC)

NHBRC will provide the following economic development initiatives and activities to address both the long-term and short-term consequences of the job losses in Coos County:

a) US Business Lead Generation

NHBRC has contracted with a consultant to identify small but growing companies in NY, NJ, CT and MA that may have an interest in expanding into Coos County (Project Cost $36,000).

b) Lead Generation Follow-up

NHBRC staff will follow-up with individualized responses and a strategy to pursue specific businesses with interest in Coos County (Project Cost $26,000).

c) National Industry Sectors

NHBRC contracted with a national economic development consultant to evaluate the business strengths of Coos County.These strengths will be matched with the needs of national and international industry sectors which are predicted to grow during the next 5-10 years. This will lead to the development of a list of top target industries to be recruited for Coos County. The consultant also developed a Best Practices strategy to be used to recruit companies in the identified industries (Project Cost $32,400). Download the final report by clicking here (1.2 MB PDF).

d) Recruitment targeted to Quebec, Canada.

NHBRC contracted with a US-based consultant, to identify business prospects meeting the following criteria:

(Project Cost $25,400)

e) and f) TBD
g) Coos County Marketing Plan

This plan is building awareness of the opportunities available in Coos County for business expansion or relocation, focusing on the Canadian and Massachusetts markets. Components include:

(Project Cost $104,800)

Project 2: NCC Economic Adjustment Planning

North Country Council is providing economic adjustment planning and resource development assistance to Coos County municipalities impacted by the severe loss of jobs. In order to ensure that these communities are both supportive of and adequately equipped to take full advantage of appropriate economic development opportunities, planning assistance will be provided to enable municipalities to prepare master plans and capital improvement programs, and to address issues such as zoning and transportation planning essential to attract new business and industry to their communities. Resource development assistance will focus on the next step of the Coos 5 Year Economic Action Plan (EAP). This will include the “what, who, when” plus the financial support requirements for implementing specific projects identified in the Coos EAP. This will be followed with the preparation of actual grant requests to identified funders for specific projects. (Project Cost $200,000)

Project 3: WREN Business and Entrepreneurial Technical Assistance

The Women’s Rural Entrepreneurial Network (WREN) has provided training to a double class of enrollees. WREN is conducting a second round of training, plus provide group business coaching for graduates of both the first and second round graduates. (Project Cost $22,500)

Project 4: NCC/ELMIB Business & Worker Survey

North Country Council worked with the NH Dept of Employment Security/Employment and Labor Market Information Bureau (ELMIB) to update a 2000 North Country Business and Worker Opinion Survey as a marketing tool to attract new business to Coos County by demonstrating the availability and strengths of the existing workforce.(Project Cost $32,800)

Click here to download the Coos County Business & Worker Opinion Survey - September 2009 (5.8 MB PDF)

Project 5: Coos County Branding Project

Capitalizing on the widespread support of the business community in Coos County, Northern Community Investment Corporation (NCIC) hired a consultant to complete a county-wide branding, product development and marketing action plan. This consultant, Destination Development, has already provided the initial phase of this activity, namely an assessment of Coos County, which resulted in the agreement of many of the area chambers of commerce to participate in a regional marketing effort. NCIC will establish a matching grant program for business investment to implement the branding and product development. (Project Cost $379,700)

Project 6: Redevelopment Plan for Wausau & Groveton Paperboard Complex

This project will require several studies, including: a marketing study to determine the best reuse of the complex, an architectural/engineering study for the identified reuse, and a business plan for the identified use. Preston Gilbert, from the SUNY Center for Brownfields Study, has been hired to oversee the various activities and to negotiate with all the entities which will be participating in this redevelopment effort. He will also identify and apply for funding to purchase the complex and implement the redevelopment. A portion of these funds has also been used to expedite environmental assessments of the wastewater treatment plant and lagoons. (Project Cost $200,000)

 

In addition to these studies, North Country Council has been working with Nobis Engineering and the NHDES to assess potential environmental concerns that might affect the health and safety of the community and/or the redevelopment of the mill complex. Several studies have been completed, including Phase II Asessments of the wastewater treatment plant (Volume 1 (9 MB PDF) and Volume 2 (30 MB PDF)) , Phase II Assessment of the lagoon system (5 MB PDF), and Subsurface Investigations for Petroleum Areas (4 MB PDF). The Phase I (87 MB PDF) and Phase II Assessment (30 MB PDF) for the mill complex can be reviewed here as well. In layman's terms, the mill complex is relatively clean, and any mitigation activities necessitated by the reuse of the facility would be familiar to any experienced redeveloper of industrial facilities. The lagoons and wastewater treatment plant, as well as several smaller parcels throughout the community, have no identified environmental concerns. It should be noted that there has been, and will continue to be, groundwater monitoring in accordance with the NHDES groundwater monitoring permit that has been in effect for a number of years. All assessment reports can be found on the NHDES "One Stop" website.

Application 2: Whitefield Industrial Park Bridge Replacement and Road Paving

This project replaced a failed bridge and extended the paving on the road into the Whitefield Industrial Park. The total project cost is $998,000, and NH DOT provided approximately $400,000 in matching funds. The Town of Whitefield is the grantee for this project and NCC is the administrator.

Application 3: NCIC Telecommunications

Northern Community Investment Corp. (NCIC) is the grantee for this project. The two components are as follows:

Groveton LINC

As with the rest of the North Country, Groveton’s future is dependent on its competitiveness in the worldwide economy, and for that reason it is necessary to expedite Groveton’s access to Wireless LINC, a regional solution intended to provide broadband deployment through a public-private effort. Construction of the Groveton infrastructure will provide point to multipoint service for the end user connections through LINC. (Project Cost $221,000)

Groveton Cell Tower

Groveton is 13 miles north of the existing cellular network. The town’s municipal reservoir property has a site that is ideal for the addition of a cell tower, as it provides the best coverage area and it will be simple to access and construct the tower. Costs are cost engineering, site preparation and construction of the tower. (Project Cost $220,000)