Energizing Orange: Economic Development in the Friendly Town

UMass Amherst Master of Regional Planning Students Working for the Town of Orange, MA

Brief History and Background

Since the beginning of its history, the economy and the physical environment of Orange has experienced major changes. The journey of Orange begins all the way back in pre-colonial times and extends to the present day.

Regional Context

Today, the Town of Orange is the 3rd largest municipality in Franklin County and central to the North Quabbin region. Bordering Athol and Worcester County to the east, Orange's location along Route 2 connects it to Boston and the Berkshires, while other state highways lead to New Hampshire, Worcester, and the Pioneer Valley. Orange's municipal airport is a gateway to the greater Northeast.

Orange By the Numbers

To gain an understanding of where Orange wants to go, it's helpful to know where it stands. A look at Orange's population, housing, employment, and municipal budget can get us started.

Orange shares similar characteristics with other small rural towns in Massachusetts.

A third of all households, and 60% of all renters, spend 30% or more of their income on housing costs.

Orange has been affected by the loss of manufacturing, but this does not mean the future is grim for the town.

Orange’s workforce primarily has a high-school level of education and commutes nearly 30 minutes via car to their workplaces. Internet access is limited among some residents and may present barriers to advancement.

The budget for the Town of Orange prioritizes education over all other expenses.

Public Engagement

Our studio was tasked with developing a robust and creative public engagement process during the time of the covid-19 crisis. Our engagement was a useful strategy in helping to shape all of our final deliverables including the Economic Development Self-Assessment Tool (EDSAE). To ensure that we connect with a representative sample of Orange's community members, we conducted business interviews, interviews with government officials, and intercept interviews with residents and visitors.

10/31/2020 Participatory Budgeting Simulation Voting Event at the picnic area on the Main St intersection.

We chose to introduce the town to a public engagement tool called participatory budgeting. This strategy is an organized and simple way that residents of a town can vote on which development projects they want to allocate the town's budget towards. To spread the word about participatory budgeting, we canvassed neighborhoods by foot and set up tables at the farmers market, transfer station, and the food bank to invite residents to our online participatory budgeting idea collection assembly. During this assembly, we explained the fine details of participatory budgeting and collected ideas for our voting assembly. We then held a non-binding participatory budgeting simulation voting event, both in-person and online at the end of October, 2020. During the voting event, the residents of Orange voted on what they think their town should do with $60,000 of the town's budget. Even though non-binding, the result of the voting event has weight as it reflects what the community wants, and we have shared it with the town officials.

Click the button below to view the results of our 2020 Participatory Budgeting Voting Assembly

The Orange Report

We also created 5 episodes of a reoccurring community television broadcast called The Orange Report in which we introduced our studio project to town residents. Aired weekly on Athol Orange TV (AOTV), the Orange Report was a humble and rustic way of reporting back on our progress to viewers of AOTV.

The Orange Report creator and studio member Craig McNeal (Left) interviewing Rachel Gonzalez, one of the organizers of the Orange Farmers Market

A Tour of Orange

This next section goes through important aspects of the town of Orange, such as its amenities/attractions, business climate and major employers, zoning, and open space/green infrastructure.

Amenities & Attractions

There is a strong history of community events in town, with large events occurring throughout the year. Orange also boasts many natural features such as the Millers River, Lake Mattawa, and Tully Mountain. The heat map below shows frequently visited amenities and attractions in the town of Orange.

The map above is a heat map of locations in Orange most frequently visited by residents and amenities based on data that the studio team gathered from the 2020 amenities survey. Residents and visitors were asked to click points on a map of Orange representing locations they visit the most frequently. Red indicates locations with the highest levels of visitation.

The map below highlights some of these local landmarks.

Business Climate and Major Employers

Most of Orange's commercial activities exists downtown, while agriculture and farming dominate the rural areas of Orange. The downtown areas emphasizes small businesses, while larger manufacturing companies exist further away from downtown. The picture below outlines Orange's top three industries and anchor institutions.

Orange's anchor institutions play an important role in keeping the town's economy active and drawing customers from the down and the surrounding areas. Although manufacturing has been on the decline in most mill towns throughout Massachusetts, it still exists in Orange with companies such as PHA Industries, Inc. and ECHO Industries.

Zoning

Green Infrastructure

Orange’s Green Infrastructure is based around its abundant protected open space and forested lands as well as the Millers River corridor, which is where the town’s parks are located.

EDSAE

Economic Development Self-Assessment Tool

The EDSAE is a major part of the work that the Town of Orange has asked the studio team to produce. It is a tool that is used to evaluate the performance of the town's economy from multiple angles. The EDSAE is divided up into five major sections:

Demographics, housing and employment

Community events

Ecotourism and natural environment

Business climate

Development, permitting and planning

Each of these categories has a series of questions that are complex in nature and require a good deal of research and analysis. Our studio group has created two documents that pertain to the EDSAE. The first is a manual that provides the background, context, and instructions on how to fill out and conduct the EDSAE. The second document is the 2020 EDSAE report, which contains this year's answers for the questions from the manual and recommendations for Orange's economic development. Using these two documents hand-in-hand will help the town to learn more about its economic strengths and weaknesses.

We hope that the EDSAE will guide Orange towards self-assessing its own economy, so it can improve and expand its current economic development strategies.

Key Takeaways

What have we learned from all of this so far?

Recommendations

Based on the Energize Orange Team’s analysis this semester, we present the following recommendations:

Continue to prioritize funding education

Look to increase the availability of affordable housing

Invest in small parks to help raise home values and provide more recreational opportunities

Encourage businesses support and marketing networks including the North Quabbin Chamber of Commerce

Bridge the gap between farmers and the local community

Increase the appeal of the mill buildings for potential business owners

Create zoning that allows for mixed use and creates diverse options for renters

Thanks for taking the tour!

From the studio group of the UMass Amherst Regional Planning Program.

It was a pleasure working in Orange this past fall!

Special Thanks

To Camille Barchers, Alec Wade, the Town of Orange Municipal Offices, The Orange Historical Society, and the residents of Orange.

Orange shares similar characteristics with other small rural towns in Massachusetts.

A third of all households, and 60% of all renters, spend 30% or more of their income on housing costs.

Orange has been affected by the loss of manufacturing, but this does not mean the future is grim for the town.

Orange’s workforce primarily has a high-school level of education and commutes nearly 30 minutes via car to their workplaces. Internet access is limited among some residents and may present barriers to advancement.

The budget for the Town of Orange prioritizes education over all other expenses.

10/31/2020 Participatory Budgeting Simulation Voting Event at the picnic area on the Main St intersection.

The Orange Report creator and studio member Craig McNeal (Left) interviewing Rachel Gonzalez, one of the organizers of the Orange Farmers Market

The map above is a heat map of locations in Orange most frequently visited by residents and amenities based on data that the studio team gathered from the 2020 amenities survey. Residents and visitors were asked to click points on a map of Orange representing locations they visit the most frequently. Red indicates locations with the highest levels of visitation.