Town EDA Briefed on Comp Plan Update and Tourism Impacts on Future Town Economic Development

At noon on Monday, October 6, the Front Royal Economic Development Authority (FREDA) held its second meeting since a lapse due to unresolved operational issues discovered just under a year ago. Those issues revolved around a federal tax ID that would allow it to conduct business once the town’s elected officials approved and secured an operational budget for their recently created (2022) unilateral EDA.

Monday’s meeting included two Town staff overview presentations of items directly related to the EDA’s function of helping to oversee and guide future business recruitment, expansion, and development within the town limits. Those presentations were, first, by Planning Director Lauren Kopeshki on the recent Comprehensive Plan update and second, by Community Development and Tourism Director Lizi Lewis on Tourism’s impact on the economy of the town.

Planning Director Kopishke noted that the somewhat overdue Comp Plan update was begun in the fall of 2022 and completed this past August 2023. Despite state codes mandating municipal Comp Plan reviews and updates every five years, town planning staff tells us the last actual Town of Front Royal Comprehensive Plan update was in 1998.

Town Planning Director Lauren Kopishke, to right of presentation screen, summarizes the process and reasons for Comprehensive Plan updates to accommodate changing municipal times and perspectives. Royal Examiner Photos Roger Bianchini

There are 15 Planning Areas in the town limits and planning department staff is developing land-use strategies and re-writing Zoning Ordinance guidelines to accommodate Mixed-Use development where appropriate, Kopishke told the FREDA board.

Her turn up, Lewis pulled out some numbers that seemed impressive related to local tourism. Those included 17,185 customers at the Town Visitors Center from March 1 thru October 31 of this year and 174,342 tourist vehicles coming to this community on an annual average.

Both presentations led to some lively discussion among the FREDA board on exactly what could be ascertained by the tourism numbers and the reworked Comprehensive Plan guidelines and how the Town EDA might fit into the equation of future and maintained economic development when everything is in place, especially on the budgetary and asset side, to facilitate the Town EDA’s involvement.

Lizi Lewis, standing to right, briefs the FREDA board on tourism numbers and those numbers revenue implications for the town government and sectors of the town’s business community.

Related somewhat to that was a possible re-branding of FREDA in the not-too-distant future. Names including Commercial Advisory Board, Economic Advisory Board, and Business Development Board were suggestions from one member, who noted those might distance the Town entity from any remaining stigma from the “EDA” or “Economic Development Authority” financial scandal recently revisited in local headlines during the federal criminal trial of former FR-WC EDA Executive Director Jennifer McDonald. Tying that re-branding to direction from the Front Royal Town Council on its new economic development entity’s future objectives and role, might be an advisable path FREDA Chairman Rick Novak suggested.

In other business, the FREDA board approved the minutes of its October 2nd meeting and noted its next meeting is scheduled for December 4, 2023, like Monday’s convening at noon. The meeting was adjourned at 12:47 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. A video of the FREDA meeting is expected to be posted on the Town website at some point today, November 7. Royal Examiner will link that video to this story when it is available.