Real Regional Economic Development is Alive and Kicking in Hampton Roads

 EVRIFA. It hardly rolls off the tongue, but the Eastern Virginia Regional Industrial Facility Authority (EVRIFA) has the potential to reshape how we collectively grow and share in the benefits of economic development.

As the former economic development director of York County for almost 29 years, I have had a front row seat for this evolution. There has long been a 432-acre site, owned by the federal then the state government, that has sat empty. There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with that, but the parcel, off I-64 near Cheatham Annex and Water Country USA, could generate jobs and tax revenue, and in this case, also renewable energy.

But securing enough money to acquire the property, study the options and pay for municipal infrastructure was too much for York to do alone. It required more investors. Enter EVRIFA, a state enabled entity of localities willing to put up some dollars in exchange for a share of the taxes and revenues generated when the land sells. For the York site, we did explore a golf course and a drone testing facility before receiving solid interest from CI Renewables for a 250-acre, 20-megawatt solar farm, with roughly 70 developable acres left over for other commercial interests. Would our Hampton Roads neighbors see value for themselves by joining in the funding and the eventual payoff? (By the way, the up-front cost for those last 70 acres after leasing the 250 to CI would be roughly $70,000, quite a deal when you consider the sale price for it could be nearly $3.5 million).

Eleven localities, including Isle of Wight, Hampton, Newport News, James City, Chesapeake, Franklin, Gloucester, York, Williamsburg, Poquoson, and most recently, Virginia Beach, have joined EVRIFA, with an elected and appointed representative from each on the board. We only needed two members to go in on the York County site, and guess what, a half dozen did. Five are from the Peninsula, Isle of Wight being the lone “south of the James” member on this one. With a $150,000 Go Virginia grant to help form the EVRIFA and seed the property initiative, those six bought into the development at a jointly negotiated rate. They will reap a proportionate share of all taxes generated from the property along with any transactional revenue.

Having retired from government service (after nearly 43 years), I am no longer administering this for York County, but the Hampton Roads Alliance has me on their payroll on a part time basis to manage EVRIFA. It’s exciting because this structure scales up so easily and can support a variety of regional initiatives. A lightly populated locality, for instance, could have a huge shovel ready site needing a friend with less land available but an interest in ROI. Norfolk, meet New Kent, or something like that.

I hope all our Hampton Roads counties and cities will join the EVRIFA, the first one in the eastern part of our state. I encourage them to bring land and ideas to the table, and let’s figure out how the unique powers of this organization can further unite us as business partners. Because so many of us work elsewhere from where we live, why not view economic development as a regional activity too? Right now, we are on the ground floor of this wonderful model, but the sky’s the limit. Just say it, EVRIFA.