Biotech Council makes pitch to zoning group

Even in the recent sour economic times, the biotechnology industry has continued to grow throughout the state, according to the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council.

From 2001 to 2005, the industry saw "strong growth, even in a down period in the Massachusetts economy," said Peter Adair, the director for economic development at the Biotech Council.

While most industries across the state lost jobs, biotech companies gained them, Adair said.

During those years, the more than 400 biotech companies across the Bay State gained 8,700 employees, increasing the size of the industry by nearly 26 percent, according to statistics compiled by the group, which advocates for biotech companies at the municipal, state and federal levels.

That growth continues today, Adair told members of the Zoning Bylaw Rewrite & Use Table Phase 2 Committee at Town Hall last night.

The group is currently at work revising the document that governs what businesses can come to town, and where they can locate once they're here.

This is the time to be hearing from groups like the Biotech Council, said Committee Chairman Nancy Mackenzie when the group is in the midst of revising town zoning.

A planning committee made up of residents and town officials, the group heard last night how crafting zoning regulations in certain ways could draw biotechnology companies to town.

Over the next few months, the committee will consider the pros and cons of trying to draw biotechnology companies, Mackenzie said.

If it can find areas in town that might fit the profile for drawing a biotech company, that might be a chance for the town to be "ahead of the curve, for once," she said.

Adair spoke at the request of the town Planning Department and on the invitation of Economic Development and Grants Officer Stephanie Mercandetti.

Adair told the 15-member, selectmen-appointed committee "what the industry looks for in terms of zoning."

Minimum facility requirements include having the appropriate zoning, typically light or heavy industrial, or possibly, commercial, Adair said. Municipal sewer and water connections are other minimum requirement.

The Biotech Council defines biotechnology as "the use of bio-logical processes to solve problems or make useful products."

Essentially, "making biology work for you," Adair said.

There is the perception that bio-tech companies are located in Cambridge and Boston, primarily, Adair said where a portion of the industry came of age in the 60s, 70s and 80s, he added. But that's not the case nowadays, he said.

Of the 416 biotech firms in the state, 289, or 70 percent, are located outside of Cambridge and Boston. Those include Wyeth Biotech in Andover, AstraZeneca R&D Boston in Waltham and the Abbott Bioresearch Center in Worcester.

Still, it can be an uphill battle for local communities, Adair said. Walpole has several positives, including proximity to Boston, available land and an established bio-tech facility (Siemens).

"I think this is a good area for biotech, no doubt," Adair said.

The town has also adopted the state's Chapter 43D expedited permitting process, Town Planner Don Johnson pointed out.

That last piece is key, Adair said, because one knock against the state is the "(often) long and difficult permitting process."

Committee members expressed reservations over potential contamination of the town's sole source aquifer, as well as the type of regulations to which biotech facilities are subject. Discussion also centered around the possibility of limiting what types of facilities biotech facilities are divided into four levels of potential hazard to the surrounding environment might be sited locally.