AGENDA DATE: 5/21/2025
TITLE:
Title
Economic Development Strategic Plan
BODY
SUBJECT/PROPOSAL/REQUEST: Conduct a work session to provide input on the Economic Development Strategic Plan
ITEM TYPE: Regular Information Item
STAFF CONTACT(S): Richardson, Henry, Kilroy
PRESENTER (S): Emily Kilroy; Steven Pedigo, Resonance, VP for Economic Development
LEGAL REVIEW: Not Required
REVIEWED BY: Jeffrey B. Richardson
BACKGROUND: In November 2018, the Board of Supervisors adopted Albemarle County’s first economic development strategic plan. The adopted Fiscal Year 2024-2028 Strategic Plan includes updating the economic development strategic plan as Objective 4.2.
In August 2024, the Board met with the Economic Development Authority in a joint session to initiate and provide early feedback on an updated plan. During that session, members of both public bodies discussed the importance of community, state, and federal partnerships; identifying strategic investment opportunities; supporting the Rivanna Futures project; aligning educational and training opportunities with employer needs as being; and supporting vibrant mixed use centers as opportunity areas to explore.
Staff initiated work with a consultant, Resonance, in November 2024 and together have undertaken extensive data analysis and stakeholder engagement efforts to understand challenges and threats and seek to leverage strengths and opportunities.
STRATEGIC PLAN: Quality of Life - Encourage a vibrant community with economic and recreational opportunities that serve all community members.
DISCUSSION: The attachments provide the outputs of the data analysis and stakeholder engagement. Attachment A provides a demographic analysis and comparative analysis with benchmark counties that were selected because of their size, adjacency with a university, and presence of target industries (emphasizing biotechnology and life sciences and/or national security).
Attachment B provides analysis of sector clusters. The selected clusters were food processing and agribusiness; bioscience & life sciences; intelligence & national security; business & financial services; clean technology & renewable energy; and information technology. These represent a combination of the target industries from the prior economic development strategic plan as well as emerging industries based on recent studies in our region.
Attachment C is a summary from the public engagement questions that were published to the Economic Development Strategic Plan Engage Page. Responses were collected over a two week period this winter, with more than 135 responses.
Attachment D is a summary from the stakeholder engagement conducted over February and March 2025 that took place with a stakeholder committee representing workforce training/education, major employers, industry groups, and regional economic development professionals; in roundtables organized by sector clusters and support organizations; and in one-on-one interviews. In total, this represents feedback from 85 individuals.
During this work session, the Board will be asked to provide input on a draft framework for the economic development strategic plan, including areas of focus for the next several years.
BUDGET IMPACT: There is no budget impact associated with this work session.
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Staff recommend the Board provide input on the economic development strategic plan.
ATTACHMENTS:
A - Competitive Benchmarking Assessment
B - Cluster Assessment
C - Public Engagement Summary
D - Stakeholder Engagement Summary