Overland, businesses join forces to market city
Suburban Journals
January 22, 2011
By Scott Bandle
Marketing Ideas
- Engage marketing firm to do a study on the city's development potential.
- Establish Overland as a "green" city.
- Establish a joint development commission with Woodson Road municipalities, including Woodson Terrace, St. John, Edmundson, Olivette and University City.
- Establish an Overland MetroLink station.
- Create an economic development sales tax for Overland
Overland and its business community are uniting forces to aggressively market the city to development groups.
City officials and the Overland Business Association (OBA) recently met with St. Louis County Economic Council representatives. During the workshop, they discussed ways for the city to bring in more business.
"This is something we need to do," Mayor Mike Schneider said. "It's time for us to do something positive and reach out to developers. We have to work as a group. I've been out on my own selling the city, but we need this unified effort."
Now is the time to start marketing the city, said Mitch Wilson, a member of the Overland Business Association Development Committee.
"We want to do this now while the economy is still recovering," Wilson said. "When it fully recovers, we'll have everything in place to market the city."
As a result of the workshop, the Overland Economic Development Commission was created to develop an economic plan. The commission will look at zoning laws, how to market the city, and, specifically, what parts of the city are the best for development.
"The focus is to identify the best businesses that can go into different areas," City Administrator Jason McConachie said. "We need to make good choices about what will work in certain areas."
Schneider appointed Overland businessmen and residents Mark Giroux and David Sippie to head up the commission. They are looking for commission members.
"We want people with a positive attitude," the mayor said. "We believe that Overland has a lot to offer."
The city is looking for mixed-use development. Because of heavy traffic, the intersection at Page Avenue and Woodson Road is considered a good area for development, McConachie said.
At the workshop, the business association Development Committee offered some suggestions of its own. They include greater cooperation with municipalities along Woodson Road.
The OBA also suggested a sales tax to go to municipal development.
It would be small, perhaps one-fourth cent per $1, Wilson said.
"You've got to spend some money when you market a city," he said.
Overland also can emphasize its drive to be a "green" city that's friendly to the environment, Wilson said.
"All of the new buildings in the Ritenour School District are green," he said. "We're trying to do that with buildings in the city, too. This is something we can do without spending a lot of money."
No timetables have been set for marketing the city, but it will happen soon, McConachie said.
"This is what we need to do," he said. "We've all got to focus on this."
