Fact Sheet: Transportation Agency Opportunities to Enhance Site Selection Processes

Through policy choices, planning decisions, and communications strategies, transportation agencies can expand their role in facilitating new business attraction/expansion and better align site selection decisions with community goals and priorities. The following describes a selection of these options and opportunities.

Policy-level Approaches and Actions	Facilitate more effective economic development by pursuing continuous active coordination between transportation planning agencies (e.g., MPOs), land use planning agencies, and economic development organizations (EDOs). Work with EDOs to achieve a greater understanding of local site selection dynamics. Seek options and opportunities for supporting workforce access and mobility through collaborative approaches that engage MPOs, transit providers, EDOs, and other key entities involved in site selection initiatives. Partner with land use planning and zoning agencies to review and consider amending local ordinances, regulations, and zoning to align with the needs of industries/firms the region or community seeks to attract.
Planning-level Approaches and Actions	Partner with EDOs and land use planning agencies to proactively prepare for private firm location decisions by assessing the viability of specific sites and making them attractive to desirable industries. Actively engage site selectors and site selection experts in the planning process. Use planning tools and methods to assess the ability of the transportation system to support "speed-to-market" concerns of firms that may seek to locate in a particular area or site and consider options for addressing deficiencies. Consolidate transportation data with data from other relevant sources (e.g., from land use planning agencies) into a "one-stop" source.
Communication and Collaboration Strategies and Actions	Partner with EDOs to educate community members about general and locally-specific site selection considerations and processes. Communicate with economic development partners at the State and local levels to better understand "how things work, what clients want, how projects unfold, and what drives location decisions". Communicate with existing businesses to understand how their businesses operate and the strengths and liabilities they encounter in a particular location/community. Speak with commercial real estate brokers and site selection professionals in the local community/region. Invite site selection experts to speak about the process to professional staff and policy-makers.