Economic Development Strategy and Action Plan - Perth County

4 Infrastructure AssessmentThere are two aspects to the Perth County region`s capacity to retain, expand and attract economicinvestment: physical infrastructure and new economy infrastructure.4.1 Physical InfrastructureOnce a prospective investor understands the availability, quality and cost of labour, their attention turns tothe availability and cost of real estate and the quality, availability of physical infrastructure. Physicalinfrastructure in this assessment included:• Employment lands• Municipal servicing infrastructure• Utilities infrastructure• Telecommunications infrastructure• Transportation infrastructure.Employment LandsPerth County, St. Marys and Stratford were contacted to determine the availability and cost of theavailable supply of employment lands. In Perth County, employment land is available for businessexpansions. Listowel has the largest amount of serviced employment land totalling 215.5 acres (87.2 ha).Land is zoned for general industrial and the cost to purchase land ranges from $42,000 per acre to$60,000 per acre. All of these 215.5 acres (87.2 ha) are serviced with water, sanitary sewer, electricityand natural gas lines.In the Municipality of Perth South, there are a total of 175.1 acres (70.9 ha) of available employmentlands. Much of these lands (107.1 acres or 43.4 ha) are also zoned for general industrial developmentand can be serviced with water, sanitary sewer, electricity and natural gas lines. The cost of real estateranges from $35,000 per acre to $83,500 per acre.For West Perth, there are available employment lands in Mitchell (14.0 acres), Bornholm (16.6 acres)and Monkton (3.7 acres). Much of these lands are zoned for future development, with the exception ofthe lands in Mitchell which are zoned general industrial. The lands in Mitchell have municipal water andsanitary sewer services whereas the lands in Bornholm and Monkton have private well and septicservices. Real estate costs were estimated at $27,250 per acre in Bornholm.The Municipality of Perth East has 231.3 acres (93.6 ha) of land with the potential of being used foremployment. All of these lands were not serviced with water and sanitary sewer systems.In St. Marys there are 259.5 acres (105.1 ha) of vacant general industrial land, including vacant industrialbuilding properties. The real estate costs for vacant industrial land are estimated at approximately$70,000 per acre. 33In conversation with Town of St. Marys staff, March 2010.Perth, St. Marys and Stratford Economic Development Strategy and Action Plan 26 | P age