2019-2024 Economic Development Strategic Plan

WORK PLAN CREATION The economic development work plan started as an outline of core plan elements and progressed to a draft work plan to distribution and discussion. The following describes the plan’s development and the process of refining the work plan into a final document. Conference Call #2 A second project conference call was held with the Grow Spencer Commission on November 6, 2018. The purpose of the call was for the Consultant to walk through a draft list of plan elements with the Commission and discuss what should be included within the economic development work plan. In reviewing the draft list of plan elements, several adjustments were made to reflect comments from the Commission and staff. This included adjustments to clarify implementation of the McClure study recommendations for place-making, refinement of the strategy to address downtown and riverfront investment/redevelopment, the addition of city branding and logo development, and strategies to leverage the area’s college infrastructure. Grow Spencer Commission #4 A fourth meeting was held with the Grow Spencer Commission to review a draft of the work plan, a copy of the draft report and a copy of Consultant’s memorandum addressing the City’s zoning code (Title 9). Consultant received feedback on minor adjustments and clarifications that were incorporated into a second draft of the plan that was presented to the City Council on December 10, 2018. PRIORITY-IMPACT-RESOURCE (PIR) EXERCISE To help with the prioritization and scheduling of work plan elements, the Consultant selected a group of 5 representatives to participate in a PIR exercise that is designed to evaluate the priority, impact and resource requirements of each plan element using a defined scale. The participants in the PIR process as selected by the Consultant in consultation with the City were: Kevin Robinson (Mayor), Bill Orrison (Councilman, Progress & Development Committee Chair), Amanda Mack (City Manager), Brian Weuve (Deputy City Manager) and Kiley Miller (Iowa Lakes Corridor). The individual rankings were aggregated into a group ranking and then put in an order based on highest priority followed by highest impact followed by lowest resource allocation. After each group of plan elements were ranked, all elements were ranked on a combined basis. Consultant then adjusted the order of the rankings to account for those work plan elements that are required to precede other elements. For example, the completion of a land capacity analysis would be necessary before consideration of amendments to the comprehensive plan and/or changes to identified annexation areas The PIR document is intended to be used as guidance in determining individual, annual work plans. The results of the PIR with full Council input can be found in the worksheets contained within a supplemental appendix to this report. COUNCIL REVIEW OF DRAFT PLAN Consultant held a work session with the City Council on December 10, 2018 to review the draft plan and the priority-impact- resource (P-I-R) exercise results. As a result of the work session, questions and follow up suggestions from Council and staff, the Consultant made revisions and additions to plan elements, the PIR guidance and the list of external partners.

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