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2023-12-20 Economic Development Commission MinutesCITY OF EDMONDS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION MEETING December 20, 2023 COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: LIAISONS PRESENT: Nicole Hughes, Chair David Preston, Port Commissioner, ex-officio Kevin Harris, Vice Chair via Zoom Vivian Olson, Councilmember, ex-officio Darrol Haug Jay Hoag LIAISONS ABSENT: Natalie Seitz Vacant — Planning Board, ex-officio Matt Cox Ryan Crowther, Chamber, ex-officio Kevin Smith Allan Townsend STAFF PRESENT: Nick Perrault Todd Tatum, Director CS/ED Kate Nolan — Student Representative Megan Luttrell, Program Coordinator CS/ED Economic Development Commission meeting called to order by Nicole Hughes at 6:02 p.m. Call to Order and Land Acknowledgement 1. Roll Call and Recognition of Approved Absences: No absences. 2. Approval of Agenda: Matt moves to approve the agenda; Nick seconds; motion passes. 3. Approval of November 15, 2023, Meeting Summary: Kevin Smith moves to approve the meeting summary; Darrol seconds; motion passes. 4. Audience Comments: None. S. Landmark Advisory Committee and Workgroup Update: Kevin Harris shares that Council voted to continue moving forward with exploration of this project. Allan was present at the Council meeting and appreciated the additional information that Todd shared. Todd provided a heat map of the community feedback that Allan requested at the previous EDC meeting. Todd explains that once Mayor elect Rosen is in office, there will be more direction on how to approach the project. Staff are planning to get an RFP out in January and Todd would like the Advisory Committee to weigh in on it prior to sending it out. After the new year, momentum will pick back up. The RFP process approach has not been sorted out yet. The purpose of the RFP is to determine possible partners to move forward working with. It will likely be open for a month and a half. There could be a partner nailed down by mid -year. Natalie asks if the RFP will have community outreach, Todd can't speak to that, at this time. 6. Comprehensive Plan — Review Summary Notes from November Meeting: The group met last week. They put together the Comp Plan Economic Development Element Feedback from November 11.8.23 Presentation memo (see attached). Nicole is seeking feedback on top goals and organization. The Economic Development goals from 2020 that are top priorities are B, C & D and thread A & E into the goals. Matt asks what does destination development means. Destination development considers attraction, accessibility, infrastructure, businesses attraction, permitting, it focuses on the destination and what it provides. It turns it from an activity to an organizational perspective. Natalie points out that this concept should stretch across all revenue generating sectors. How do we leverage all the business districts into this concept. Kevin H. mentions that he thought the comp plan would be higher level than being into the details of the individual neighborhoods and/or business districts. Todd agrees; calling out specific business districts is Meeting Summary Economic Development Commission December 20, 2023 Page 1 likely too detailed. David points out that it is helpful to define terms so that is clear what the intention of the statements are. Nick's perspective is that the consultant will glean the overall point of what the EDC is trying to convey. Kevin H. adds that due to the 20-year length of the comp plan, we will not know how many business districts will exist on Hwy 99, 20 years from now. Todd highlights that many of the notes that were developed at the last meeting included a holistic approach as a priority, keep that in mind as the plan is developed. Natalie points out that the census data highlights that the bulk of the residents will be away from City resources. Moving City Hall and the police department is an approach that would mitigate the issue. She points out that there are challenges to lumping Hwy 99 as one business district, it's a two mile stretch that has different flavors throughout the corridor. Kevin Harris suggests changing terminology to business neighborhoods rather than business districts. Vivan suggests checking out Marysville's comp plan process on their website, it's very well organized and is a good model to follow. Darrol explains that a previous EDC group worked with UW to identify the needs of the different business districts, doing this again could be valuable. David Preston asks Natalie what resources east Edmonds would need to meet equitably needs. She explains 10 times the parks would need to be added; stormwater treatment into Lake Ballinger. Todd mentions that walkability improvements are another area that could use improvements. Kevin Smith suggests identifying named business districts along Hwy 99 to give a sense of place or identity and start building some clear definition of what is being discussed during the building of the comp plan update. Natalie agrees with creating centers along Hwy 99 would be a great start. Kate adds that creating identities will lead to adding imagery, much like how downtown has clear imagery associated with it. Nicole suggests the committee take notes from this discussion and refine what the message is. Matt feels that Kevin Smith's idea can tie nicely into Todd's points of identity and organization. Kevin H. suggests the workgroup revisiting the partnership section and what does it mean to economic development, call it out as a strategic and tactical tool. More partnership between the City Boards & Commissions, and the County as well as other municipalities. Natalie would like to see more in the goals about public health, under D. Quality of Life. Natalie points out that business displacement strategies and business resiliency could fall under Partnerships and/or Equity and DEIA Principles. The displacement can push businesses out of Edmonds. If corporate businesses replace displaced small businesses, it can change the character of a business district. Nicole suggests that this is a topic worth a bigger discussion at a later meeting. David adds that permitting improvements should be highlighted. Darrol suggests utilizing the Swift bus structure could address mobility issues on Hwy 99. David Preston suggests adding safety to the list of goals. The meeting for this group is scheduled for the second week of January. 7. Liaison Updates: a. City Council (Vivian Olson): They've been focused on the budget. New liaison assignments will be completed in January. There is a possibility that there will be a business support grant program again in 2024. b. Port of Edmonds (David Preston): The Ports holiday event was a great success! The admin building had a generator mishap, and it will be another 8 weeks for the repairs to be complete. Angela Harris is doing a great job! The Port had reps at the Marsh public meeting. c. Chamber of Commerce (Ryan Crowther): Absent. Meeting Summary Economic Development Commission December 20, 2023 Page 2 8. Roundtable Discussion: Matt, happy holidays. Kevin Smith, happy holidays; Johnny Mo's is a great addition. Nicole reminds everyone with the admin change and new Councilmembers, check in with your new person & happy holidays! Natalie, enjoy the season! Darrol, sat on the interview panel for the Creative District Advisory Committee, great candidates. Allan, went to the Port's Holiday event, it was great! Jay, happy holidays! Kate finished her last essay of 2023 yesterday! Nick, happy holidays! Kevin H. happy holidays! 9. Adjourn: 8:00 p.m. Next meeting: January 17, 2024, 6 PM location Hybrid — Brackett Room & Zoom Meeting Summary Economic Development Commission December 20, 2023 Page 3 DRAFT: December 14, 2023 To: Brian Vanneman, Susan McLaughlin, Todd Tatum Cc: Economic Development Commissioners From: Economic Development Commission Subject: Comp Plan Economic Development Element Feedback from 11.8.23 Presentation Background: The purpose of this memo is to provide collective feedback relating to the Economic Development Element (EDE) portion of the Comprehensive Plan (Comp Plan) update. The Economic Development Commission (EDC) has spent time reviewing the presentation from the 11.8.23 joint meeting with the Planning Board as well as the full 2020 Comp Plan and specific EDE portion. The commission was asked to provide feedback related to the following questions: 1. Which of the existing Comp Plan Goals do you believe are most important to carry forward into this Comp Plan update? Are there any other goals that you think should be considered for this Comp Plan update? Do you think that the definition of Economic Development proposed in the 2020 Comp Plan is a good one? What would you add or change if anything? Economic Development Goals (2020 Comp Plan) A. Foster a healthy business community that encourages appropriately scaled growth and investment that offers a wide range of goods and services, provides employment, and enhances municipal revenue. B. Revitalize and enhance the city's business districts, balancing the needs for housing, commerce and employment development with neighborhood character, amenities, and scale. C. Diversify and grow the City's economic make-up to reduce sales leakage, attract spending from nearby communities, enhance local employment, and increase municipal tax revenues to support local services. D. Support and enhance the community's quality of life for residents, workers and visitors in order to sustain and attract business and investment and enhance economic vitality. E. Expand and enhance the tourism sector to attract outside spending to help fuel the local economy. Definition of Economic Development (2020 Comp Plan) Improving the economic wellbeing of a community through efforts that entail job creation, job retention, tax base enhancements and quality of life. Summary comments and notes from EDC discussions — both full commission and workgroup — are included. Q: Which of the existing Economic Development Goals in the EDE portion of the 2020 Comp Plan do you believe are most important to carry forward into this Comp Plan update? In general we recommend action and outcome -oriented goals. Top Carry Forward Goals: • B — Activate Business Districts o Maximize spending local o Be poised to act in each of our business districts o Be organizationally aligned to support the business district • C — Diversify city economy o Develop and attract tourism/outside dollars o Appropriately scale development opportunities and growth • D — Quality of life o More traffic may mean less parking — need a plan to support parking The following Goals remain important, but weren't focused on in feedback • A- Healthy Business Community o This goal seems to have overlap in other Goals, would like to make sure the ideas are captured in other goals. • E — Tourism o Current goal is a general tourism goal — would like to see this be more of a destination development goal. Ranking Top 3 Topics (not in preferential order) • Zoning — Intentional housing and business to manage displacement • All zoning code review • A Housing near amenities • Increase tax revenue from housing • B — Right- size business districsts with resources • Community centered business • Need to include equity focus between different biz districts • C — Diversity Economic makeup — tech, healthcare, development • Diversify and grow city makeup 2 • Attract high income jobs • Attract/ask for what we want here • Diversify tax base — industries — include fast track permitting • B — prioritize the whole thing — enhance business districts • B — Revitalize and enhance Business Districts • B Revitalize Firdale, Perrinville • Foster Business Community • Int'I District connect to esp park, create infrastructure that increases character and appeal • D — Quality of life — be the city people want to come to and spend money • D — support community health with walkable, safe business districts — mitigate harm Q: Are there other goals that should be considered for this Comp Plan update? • Partnerships o Get port engaged with development o Healthcare District Branding • Equity and DEIA Priciples o Call out DEIA principles in Economic Development o Build Equity — invest across diverse communities o Resilient Communities— expand blue collar employment • City services supporting business development o Fast Track Permitting o Have a strategy for fire district escalating costs o Help planning department coach businesses through process so openings can be filled quickly o Seek to build collaboration between Economic group to align efforts with other city efforts o Recruitment and attraction of diverse business and gap in local offerings Q: Do you think the definition of economic development in the 2020 Comp Plan is a good one? What would you change if anything? • Add Build Connections between districts • Expand tourism to all revenue generating sectors 3 • Need to communicate a wholistic view of the plan • Be the city people want to come to to spend their money Questions and areas of exploration needed • How do these broad goals get translated into measurable action items? • How do we stimulate the chages we want to see • What implements the GMA • Need to understand ripple effects of leveraging existing CIP/PROS/CAP/CRP and hollistaclly understand unintended risks • Is car sales revenue owned by 99 districts — should it be? 4