Enterprise Park and Beyond: The Work of the Dover Business Industrial Development Authority

In this episode of the Dover Download podcast, Deputy City Manager Christopher Parker chats with Tim Dargan and Scott Johnson, former chair and vice chair of the Dover Business Industrial Development Authority. Dargan served on the board for nearly 30 years (1997-2024) as a commercial banker, while Johnson joined around 2010 as an entrepreneur who had previously been helped by the authority when relocating his business to Dover in 2005. Both discuss their roles in advancing Dover's economic development goals, particularly focusing on attracting quality manufacturing businesses that create good jobs and generate tax revenue rather than low-impact warehouses or storage facilities. They explain how the board evaluated potential businesses, considering factors like job quality, traffic impact, and tax base contribution while maintaining high building standards in Enterprise Park. The conversation covers the evolution of the authority's mission, including a shift toward addressing affordable housing needs in recent years as economic growth created housing shortages for workers.

Both Dargan and Johnson reflect on significant changes during their tenure, including the transition from city-led land acquisition and development to more private-sector involvement, rising construction costs, and Dover's improved reputation, making it easier to attract businesses. They emphasize the importance of diverse board membership, bringing different expertise, and describe their experience as fulfilling civic engagement that contributed meaningfully to the community's economic success.

In This Week in Dover History, we learn about an 1883 advertisement featuring Dover's Wingate store that appeared in newspapers nationwide, promoting Hunt's Remedy, a popular patent medicine of the era that claimed to cure kidney disease and other ailments but was largely ineffective despite clever marketing tactics.