Topsfield Downtown Revitalization Plan - December 2019 - Prepared for: Prepared by

Evaluate opportunities to help finance future development of new businesses utilizing District Increment Financing in the re-zoned area around the commons and abutting lots 2 Increase the customer base in the district to support downtown businesses by adding housing and marketing the village to residents and visitors. [...] The goal of the revitalization plan was to identify ways to leverage the expertise of residents to capitalize on the strengths of the downtown, address the weaknesses and threats to its success, and pursue opportunities to recruit new businesses. [...] There were only six rental listings in Topsfield in 2018, and only 5% of the housing in Topsfield is renter-occupied, which is significantly below the 36% average for Essex county and the 38% average for Massachusetts.13 While Topsfield will continue to be a community of home-owners, the lack of rental properties raises questions about the ability for workers in the downtown to find accessible, af. [...] MAPC analyzed the percent of the town land occupied by the central business district of each municipality, as well as the total number of businesses and employees in each municipality, and the business mix. [...] Business District Size Comparison While the business districts of Beverly, Newburyport occupied over 1% of the total land area of the municipalities, the relative size of Topsfield’s business district covering .25% of the land area of the Town was comparable to the relative size of the other business districts (between .14 and .31%).