Camden County Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy

Summary

The Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) for Camden County, developed under the leadership of the Camden County Improvement Authority (CCIA), is a planning and project implementation process designed to create jobs, foster a more stable and diversified economy across the County, improve living conditions in the communities, and provide a mechanism for guiding and coordinating economic development efforts in the County. This CEDS document updates Camden County's Overall Economic Development Program (OEDP) by:


I. Describing the problems, needs and resources of the County.
II. Identifying the goals and objectives of the development program.
III. Presenting the strategies and action plans devised to achieve those goals. IV. Outlining the standards for the evaluation of the program.

Fundamental to the preparation of an overall economic development strategy for Camden County is an understanding of the County's regional characteristics. The geography, history, land-use patterns and other qualities of the county's thirty-seven municipalities suggest that the County can be organized into the following four sub-regions for the purpose of developing a comprehensive economic development plan:

1. Delaware River Waterfront Sub-region
2. Inner Ring Sub-region
3. Growth Sub-region
4. Restricted Growth Sub-region.

As a key strategy of the CEDS and based on the analysis of Camden County's primary economic development strengths, the County's marketing and product development efforts over the next five years should focus on the following four target industries and clusters:

1.Value-Added Logistics and Distribution
2. Data Information and Telecommunications Operations
3. Healthcare, Support and Products
4. Travel, Tourism and Recreation.

Given the absence of any type of economic marketing program in the County, the CEDS recommends an aggressive industry marketing plan and proposed budget. This rather expensive endeavor requires funding managed through public and private partnerships.

The Action Agenda


Consistent with the established goals and objectives and building upon existing plans and studies such as the City of Camden's CEDS document, this CEDS document identifies the essential foundation on which Camden County's improved economic development delivery system and the resulting performance should be based and measured. The following major projects and initiatives comprise the CEDS' fundamental core:

1. Create an economic development image and brand name
2. Position Camden County as New Jersey's Cyber County
3. Create and operate Team Camden County
4. Expand locational opportunities.

Although the action agenda identifies many specific projects and initiatives, three specific areas have been identified as having significant, larger-scale development potential as a business environment:

• The 500-acre site in Lakeland, located on Woodbury-Turnersville Road (Route 705), approximately 5 miles south of the New Jersey Turnpike, best suited for a good quality, mixed-use business park.
• A 150± acre site in Lawnside, nearly adjacent to the New Jersey Turnpike and with access to the PATCO rail line, appears to have excellent potential for e-commerce and telecommunications uses, as well as distribution uses, given its interstate highway access.
• A small (40± acre), U.S. Military Reservation property (a former Nike Missile Base), located on Cross Keys Road (Route 689) may have the potential for redevelopment for business park.
  
  

Finally, the activities of nearby jurisdictions serve as an excellent benchmark to evaluate Camden County's approaches to economic development. Burlington and Gloucester Counties' efforts highlight the importance of the regional planning process and completion of the Economic Development Strategies in obtaining significant investments of federal funds for development projects. CAN DO in Hazleton, PA is an example of a development organization with a very limited geographic reach, the "Greater Hazleton" area, nonetheless a 14-person staff including marketing and business and economic development staff. The geographic proximity of the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) and its active recruitment of firms from both Camden County and other neighboring jurisdictions is the impetus for its inclusion in this analysis.

(Please Note: Due to the length of this report each section is broken down into manageable files. Each file can be downloaded and viewed in your word processing program)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1a. Executive Summary
1b. Overall Projects
1c. Site-Specific Projects

2. ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT

3. DEMOGRAPHIC AND RESOURCE EVALUATION
3a. A-F
3b. G-L
3c. Map - Delaware Valley Region
3d. Map - Camden County
3e. Chart - Camden County % of Employmeny vs. % of Payroll
3f. Chart - % of Employment - Camden vs. US

4. ASSESSMENT OF AREA STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES

5. EXTERNAL FORCES AND TRENDS

6. PARTNERS AND RESOURCES FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

7. VISION STATEMENT

8. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

9. TARGETED MARKETS

10. PRIORITIES AND PERFORMANCE MEASURES

11. MARKETING PLAN

12. ACTION AGENDA
12a. Action Agenda
12b. Overall Projects
12c. Site-Specific Projects
12d. Best Practices from Neighboring Jurisdictions

13. CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

APPENDIX A

APPENDIX B

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