AGENDA DATE: 11/7/2018
TITLE:
Title
Review of the Finalization of the Economic Development Strategic Plan (Project ENABLE)
SUBJECT/PROPOSAL/REQUEST: Staff is seeking the Board's feedback of the drafted Strategies for Project ENABLE
ITEM TYPE: Regular Action Item
STAFF CONTACT(S): Richardson, Walker, Johnson, Newberry
PRESENTER (S): Doug Walker, Roger Johnson
LEGAL REVIEW: Not Required
REVIEWED BY: Jeffrey B. Richardson
BACKGROUND: On September 5, 2018, the Board of Supervisors endorsed the Goals and Objectives of the draft Economic Development Strategic Plan (Project ENABLE). The first steps in the finalization process included engaging several internal work groups comprised of key partners to the Economic Development Office such as the County Executive’s Office, Community Development, Finance, and County Attorney’s Office, as well as external stakeholders such as the City of Charlottesville, University of Virginia, Piedmont Virginia Community College, ACSA and others.
Economic Development staff have now completed the initial engagement of stakeholders in accordance with the adopted finalization process and schedule. Staff proposes the Board provide feedback on Project ENABLE.
STRATEGIC PLAN: Economic Prosperity: Foster an environment that stimulates diversified job creation, capital investments, and tax revenues that support community goals.
DISCUSSION: Economic Development staff used the Mission and Guiding Principles adopted in 2017 to begin the review process with internal stakeholders. Staff incorporated valuable feedback to improve the existing plan’s clarity, which resulted in several additions including an expansion of the background section, a flowchart showing how this strategic plan relates to other County plans, an organizational key and a glossary of terms. Moreover, as staff engaged external partners at the local, regional, and state levels, it was clear that many programs and services supporting the plan’s Goals and Objectives were already available in some capacity. Further, a common understanding of how to read the plan and how it fits into other County planning processes allowed productive work on its content. Finally, staff chose to brand the draft Economic Development Strategic Plan as “Project ENABLE” in light of its primary goal to “Enable A Better Life - Economically.”
The current draft of Project ENABLE contains seven broad goals that touch on fundamental economic development activities (such as business retention and expansion, site readiness, workforce development, private capital investment, marketing, tourism, etc.), staff does not propose to focus on each one in the same way; some goals will require a longer period of time to pursue than others and some objectives will require more resources than others (see Attachment A). Staff drafted strategies from the International Economic Development Council Best practices, tailored these strategies as a project team, vetted them through a cross departmental team, an external stakeholder group, the development community, the Chamber of Commerce, CVPED Region 9 Board, Economic Development Authority; and held two public open-houses and conducted an online survey. Attachment B summarizes feedback obtained during the public stakeholder process. While not unanimous, these strategies:
• reflect the overwhelmingly consensus of the feedback received
• have been publicly vetted
• can accomplish the aforementioned goals
Again, this outlook is supported by the feedback from internal departments, external partners and Economic Development Authority. There is a general consensus that the current plan is the right foundation for the next four years and staff looks forward to the adoption of this plan in final form in December.
Following the Board’s consideration and feedback this plan staff will do its best to reflect this in the recommended plan.
BUDGET IMPACT: There is no direct budget impact associated with this agenda item.
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Staff recommends the Board provide feedback on the drafted Strategies of Project ENABLE and direct staff to return with the final product at a Board meeting in December 2018.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment A: Current Draft Strategic Plan (“Project ENABLE”) - dated October 31, 2018
Attachment B: Stakeholder Feedback