Assessment plan seeks to revitalize, grow business
A consortium of local organizations working with a consultant is putting together a roadmap to help revitalize downtown Comfort after a crippling pandemic and the devastation of the July Fourth floods.
The Boerne Kendall County Economic Development Corp. spurred the Downtown Comfort Assessment Plan that will now be funded by the Kendall County Commissioners Court.
Amy Story, executive director of the economic development corporation, told Commissioners Court Tuesday an outside, third-party consultant will assess Comfort’s business atmosphere and needs for a cost not to exceed $3,000.
The consultant’s role, she said, will be to bring together downtown business owners to talk about challenges and issues they are facing, and meet with stakeholders before bringing back a report with recommendations for the different stages of revitalization, both short- and long term.
“This is something that I feel the county should do,” Precinct 3 Commissioner Richard Chapman said. “For this small of amount, I think it would be a good investment to possibly get the taxes or the sales-tax revenue back up in Comfort.”
Story said her organization sees this as a way to keep businesses in Comfort.
County Judge Shane Stolarczyk said the decline started with COVID and was amplified by the July Fourth flooding — occurring during one of the town’s busiest tourist weekends and affecting businesses, particularly restaurants, in the days and weeks that followed.
“ That’s fair,” Story said. “There have been a number of business closures in the area. You see a lot of beautiful, vacant buildings on High Street and Front Street.”
She added, “No, it’s not an overnight problem. It was exacerbated by the flooding.”
The Comfort community has rallied together, trying to find a way to stimulate business and tourism, Story added.
A grassroots effort by Comfort businesses led to the establishment of the Visit Comfort TX organization, which took on the task: “How do we stop the business losses that are occurring?”
Story called the cost a very reasonable expense for what the county would receive in return –– possible stimulation of business and a spurt in sales and taxes returned to the county.
“ There’s a survey that’s gone out. We want this to be a very inclusive effort,” she said. An in-person visit will be conducted by the survey firm in February.
Charlie Hueber, executive director of the Comfort Chamber of Commerce, said he fully supports the assessment plan.
“This is generally a fact- finding mission,” Hueber said.
Comfort business owners have struggled for the past three or four years, he added, trying to find their own way to aid local merchants, but have seen the decline continue, despite their best efforts.
“ We need an outside voice, an outside assessment, to stimulate business,” Hueber said. “The ultimate goal is to use that information to determine where we need to put our energy. Are we wasting money on social media, or are we spinning our wheels here? And how do we get more people from the outside?”
All those questions, he said, can be answered by the assessment plan.
“This company will come in and will do a professional job,” Hueber said, adding he will be looking forward to learning the full needs of the community, what resources are available and getting started.
Stolarczyk said the investment in local businesses’ survival goes beyond just dollars.
“We see this as helping the Comfort citizens and businesses. That’s how we need to look at this,” the county judge added.
If successful, Story said, the assessment plan “will pay dividends to the county in the form of increased sales taxes, stable jobs and just seeing the business community grow and expand.”
A timeline on the plan is pending, officials said.
“This will pay dividends to the county in the form of increased sales taxes, stable jobs and just seeing the business community grow and expand.”
— Amy Story
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