Active Engagement in Our Community
In our business we get some interesting questions. One of the more frequent questions we get is- Why does W&A Engineering have an Economic Development focus? The answer is obvious to some and less obvious to others.
Providing traditional services to developers and municipalities has provided both challenges and rewards since our founding in 1999. We have been fortunate to have grown steadily, currently employing fifteen design professionals, a team of five surveyors and five business development/administrative professionals.
In 2012 we had the opportunity to work with our home counties, local leaders and top state Economic Development officials to bring Caterpillar here. As a result of that amazingly fast and complex process, we realized that it was in everyone’s interest to support Economic Development efforts. So we offered some support to several communities in our region on the same basis. By providing planning and design support as efficiently as possible on the front end of projects, we not only aid recruitment of new industry, job creation and increased tax revenue, we also achieve one of our founding principles: active engagement in our community.
We have been blessed to work nationwide in 32 states. As we have expanded our national experience, we have also expanded our local capacity as we envision “our community” to be the state of Georgia. Currently, we are supporting 14 communities in their Economic Development efforts and will continue to grow that number before the end of the year. Our footprint is also expanding into other regions of the state. Our clients range from Northwest and West Georgia to Northeast GA and Augusta to Middle Ga, the Savannah region and South Georgia.
Services to our client communities range from evaluating new industrial properties, master planning, conceptual site designs and test fits; utility, road and drainage design; grading plans, downtown streetscapes, signage studies, MEGA site design and GRAD certifications. We have also sponsored several private networking events for our clients, increasing their exposure to statewide developers and recently arranged an industry tour.
We are proud of our association with our county EDA/IDA clients and look forward to continuing to enhance the ED efforts of our state and its communities. If you are interested in receiving W&A’s Economic Development services, contact Justin Greer, Director of Economic Development (706-310-0400 or jgreer@gaplanning.com).
W&A’s Economic Development Partners within the State of Georgia
- Athens-Clarke County Economic Development Department
- Chattooga County
- Dade County Industrial Development Authority
- Dalton-Whitfield County Joint Development Authority
- Claxton & Evans County Economic Development Authority
- Greene County Development Authority
- Haralson County Development Authority
- Meriwether County Industrial Development Authority
- Oglethorpe County
- Thomaston Upson Industrial Development Authority
- Washington-Wilkes Economic Development Authority
- Augusta Economic Development Authority
- Development Authority of Appling County
- Development Authority of Washington County