Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
• Principle 9.
All relationships are irreversible because all outcomes are
novel, and we cannot go back in time to recapture a past condition.
Once a parcel of land is committed to use as an industrial site, it can-
not or will not be reclaimed as farmland, first because of the expense
of removing the artificial structures, second because the soil is pol-
luted, and third because no one will spend the money to do so—they
just walk away from a venture that is no longer profitable, and leave
the consequences to someone else.
In addition to the above principles, the siren song to such a locality is
enhanced by the information that they would not use all that acreage at first,
but would create even more jobs through future expansion. In reality, data
show that firms never used more than about 15 acres, and the rest is held
not for expansion, but for speculation. One thing that “glamour” firms do
understand is that the announcement of their impending arrival will drive
up industrial-land prices in the area, a phenomenon made even more lucra-
tive if a low-priced “sweetheart” deal can be arranged in the first place.
None of these games need be played with the local approach. First, a
startup company may not need much land. Second, the entrepreneurs are
already locals and are presumably aware of the entire range of alternatives
in the local real-estate market, and—if they are astute—their community's
need for food over time. They are very likely to be able to find just the right
location at a reasonable market price. If later expansion is appropriate, that
will probably be accommodated readily, and the whole process will put
much less strain on infrastructure services of local municipalities.
5. Zoning and Infrastructure
Along with the
amount
of land, the conventional approach can impose stri-
dent demands in the area of
quality
of land. If the average, large corporation is
to be attracted, the industrial zoning must be exact and must protect the firm
not only from incompatible commercial or residential uses but also from more
intense and potentially polluting uses by heavy industry. Of course, if a heavy
industry unexpectedly shows interest, the municipality will often scramble to
change the zoning, because any old smokestack will due in a storm.
Further, the nature of needed services to the site can be quite exacting.
Electronics firms, for example, often have extremely high requirements for
water, both quantity and quality. A local area can essentially be asked to sell
or degrade its best natural resources in exchange for some jobs. A full range
of services (police, fire, water, utilities, etc.) is expensive to provide, especially
in advance of a firm commitment on the part of a company to establish itself
on the promised site when no property taxes are yet available to support the
expenditures.
Needs of this type should be dramatically lower under the local approach.
A startup firm is in no position to force unreasonable bargains or subsidies,
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