EMSI to partner on study of NYC Watershed Land Acquisition Program
Economic Modeling Specialists Inc. (EMSI) will provide crucial data, modeling, and analysis to an economic impact study of New York City’s Watershed Land Acquisition Program. The study was initiated by the Delaware County Department of Economic Development, which fears that additional acquisitions made by the program will hamper development in the region.
Read on for the full press release.
Delhi, NY June 25, 2008 – The Downeast Development Consulting Group of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia has been chosen to undertake an Economic Impact Study of New York City’s Watershed Land Acquisition Program for the Delaware County Department of Economic Development.
The Study involves developing an “Economic Impact Model” for Delaware County of the affect of NYC’s land acquisition plans on the County’s economy. The Catskill-Delaware Watershed system provides 1.3 billion gallons of water per day to New York City consumers and occupies over 50% of the County’s land base.
Local officials fear further land acquisition will suffocate the local economy, locking up the majority of developable land for watershed protection. The County hopes to use the results of the study to gain concessions when New York City goes before state agencies for the renewal of its permit for land acquisition programs in 2010.
Department Director Glenn Nealis said the Downeast Group had “the best economic development and modeling component” of the submitted proposals and “quite a bit of experience” in working with small communities. Other members of the consulting group include Economic Modeling Specialists Inc. (Moscow, Idaho), Ekistics Planning & Design (Dartmouth, Nova Scotia) and JPH Consulting (Auburn, Maine).
“We’ve assembled a very capable international team to undertake the study,” said Downeast President Greg Brown, who will lead the project, “and we suspect our analysis of the local economy will provide the evidence of the watershed’s negative effect on local business growth.”
Brown says that the project is the largest to-date for Downeast Group and stated, “We believe we can add real value to the County’s efforts on this issue and see it leading to further opportunities for the firm in the U.S. Northeast market.”
For further information contact:
Greg Brown, B.Comm., Ec.D.
President
Downeast Development
Consulting Group
75 Collins Grove, Suite 206
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
B2W 6B3Tel: 1.902.483.0162
Fax: 1.902.454.8765
Email: gbrown@downeastgroup.ca
Web: www.downeastgroup.ca
