SEQUIM — The city of Sequim plans to move forward with an economic development plan starting in 2017.
The new plan, adopted Dec. 12, addresses business retention/expansion, business attraction, land development and tourism, among other elements.
A major component of the business retention/expansion component includes staff and volunteers visiting multiple businesses in one day for a kick-off sometime in June.
Sequim City Manager Charlie Bush said the goal is to visit four businesses a month or a total of 78 in 2017 and 98 in 2018. Each visit would include a questionnaire about issues and suggestions for topics such as parking, parks and permitting.
“We’re confident we’ll be able to deliver this,” Bush said. “It’ll have a tremendous benefit for helping local businesses.”
Bush said four city staffers, split between the city manager’s office and Department of Community Development, will implement the plan. Volunteers and other city departments and agencies will be involved as needed.
Possible partnerships could be with workforce development partners, such as schools, to help bring in skilled workers, and other agencies such as the Small Business Development Center, Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce and Clallam County Economic Development Corp.
In 2016 and again for 2017, Sequim opted not to join the Clallam EDC’s membership for $5,000 as it had in previous years. Council members had debated membership with the agency for several years before then.
Bush said the city’s economic development plan allows city officials to envision benefits of contracting services with the EDC.
“I still see us partnering with them,” he said.
Assistant City Manager Joe Irvin said the city doing its own plan creates something specific for Sequim “that meets the needs of our businesses.”
“We saw an opportunity to provide for those businesses,” Irvin said.
Part of the plan includes the possibility of developing a business development center where multiple agencies, such as the Chamber of Commerce and EDC, operate in a single space.
The possibility of forming an Economic Development Commission also is included in the plan.
In 2017 and beyond, Bush said part of staff’s focus will be on bringing in wealth-generating businesses that bring revenue from outside the area.
Some of the other aspects of the plan include working with property owners to determine land uses for rezoned areas for economic opportunity areas and high technology industrial zones, and continue tourism promotion through the Chamber of Commerce.
Councilwoman Pam Leonard-Ray said she was impressed with the plan. She suggested a short exit interview be in place for businesses that close or move.
Deputy Mayor Ted Miller said he wasn’t sure city residents would benefit fully.
Bush said the intent is to provide an annual report and that the plan ideally will help businesses open sooner, get people working quicker and money circulating sooner in Sequim.
Councilman Bob Lake said he wants the city to keep moving forward and a “plan at 80 percent is better than waiting for a terrific plan 10 years from now.”
Councilwoman Genaveve Starr said the city will be more prosperous with a plan in place.
“Our city will be able to provide services our city needs and hopefully be able to keep some of our kids here,” she said.
To read the plan, visit www.sequimwa.gov.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at mnash@sequimgazette.com.
