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Home > Leadership > Mayor > Archive Press Releases > 2008 Archives > July 2008 > Mayor Brown Strengthens City’s Economic Development Functions

Mayor Brown Strengthens City’s Economic Development Functions

Source/Contact
Office of the Mayor
Peter K. Cutler
Director of Communications
716-851-4841

Effort Designed to Build on Success; Further Integrate and Streamline Key Development Activities

Mayor Byron W. Brown today announced a strengthening of the City of Buffalo’s economic development functions.

Mayor Brown stated, “The city’s economic development functions will focus on six key areas: implementing development plans quickly, establishing clear and predictable timetables for business project approvals, accelerating the city’s demolition and redevelopment program, strengthening residential neighborhoods & commercial districts, improving preservation efforts and creating and connecting more jobs to Buffalo residents.”

The Mayor added, “I recruited Brian Reilly from Cleveland to bring fresh ideas and a proven track record to accelerate our development efforts.  Today, I am announcing Brian’s appointment as Commissioner of the Department of Economic Development, Permit and Inspection Services.”

By further strengthening our processes, the city will more aggressively follow what experts in the field of housing recommend – a concentrated approach in redeveloping neighborhoods.

Moving forward, the new structure will strengthen, streamline, and integrate city development functions according to the following outline:

  • The Neighborhood Development section will include both housing efforts and neighborhood retail – previously separate entities.
  • The Business Assistance section will ensure businesses get the focused attention they deserve. It will include industrial and commercial projects in neighborhoods with a new focus on downtown.  It will be led by two executives: Catherine Palko, recruited from Cleveland, has experience in redeveloping brownfields and existing commercial and industrial buildings with sustainable and green components.  She will be a welcome addition to our approach in Buffalo. 

The second executive, Kenya Hobbs will use his experiences in Philadelphia & Wilmington to link our business development efforts with our antipoverty initiatives and connect job opportunities with City of Buffalo residents.

  • The Planning section will now be integrated with our development activities.  It will produce a city-wide preservation plan, process requests for zoning changes and variances, implement existing plans, and update the City’s existing 50-year zoning code to facilitate redevelopment. To further my priority for efficiency within City Hall, the Planning section will create predictable timetables for city approvals. 
  • The Permits and Inspections staff will work with Business Assistance and Neighborhood project staff as part of a unified effort to use all tools at our disposal to improve the quality of life and economic development in Buffalo.  A vacant properties and demolition strategy will be undertaken to focus resources and link demolitions more closely with market based redevelopment strategies.

“Ultimately, our goal is to establish predictable schedules for city permit approvals.  We we are adopting a new standard.” said Brian Reilly. “Business needs certainty.   We need to help businesses quickly navigate the permitting process. This means business will have a clear path forward and have dedicated city staff tracking progress to meet the project’s deadlines.”  

At Mayor Brown’s direction, Reilly intends to explore pre-permitting opportunities such as:     

Pre-credential development companies to reduce the time and paperwork associated with their submissions for projects.
Pre-approve uses, in accordance with zoning codes, for individually selected development sites to reduce approval timeframes.
Pre-permit selected City owned shovel ready parcels, to allow predetermined uses in accordance with zoning and planning board approvals.

According to Reilly, the city is also collaborating with Erie and Niagara Counties and our partnering municipalities to develop “smart permits” an on-line building permit process to expand our capacity to improve efficiencies, share data, and speed up approvals.

“I am confident we are on the right track and I believe the reorganization of the department comes at the right time to maximize on new development opportunities that will come be fore the city,” said Mayor Brown.