Excerpt From Economic Development Through Growth Management: Making The Vision Real Washington State Department of Community Development, July 1993

Plan Element

Creating a separate Economic Development element for your comprehensive plan gives greater visibility to your economic strategy. It provides a specific place to discuss your community's economic need in relationship with your strategy for meeting that need. It allows you to assemble your economic data in one unified section along with your vision, goals, policies, and implementing measures for economic development.

Your Economic Development element would contain all components of an economic strategy described in Part IV, Developing Your Economic Strategy. The goals, polices and implementing measures contained in your Economic Development element should also be translated into appropriate narrative and policies for the other GMA planning requirements and mandatory plan elements they affect. This can be achieved based on the guidance previously discussed in the Policy and Implementation section of the PLAN-WIDE STRATEGY.

FIGURE V-1, presents a sample Table of Contents for an Economic Development element. Following TABLE V- 1, is a discussion of an abbreviated approach to an Economic Development element that might be useful to small cities and counties with limited staff and resources.

Table V-1

Table of Contents

I. Introduction

II. Profile

Introduction
Community Setting
Trends
Issues/Factors

III. Inventory of the Local Economy

Introduction
Businesses Within The Community
Local Traded Sector
Local Retail, Commercial, and Government Services

IV. Analyses

Introduction
Assessment of the Local Economy(Economic Base Analysis, etc)
Community Capacity
Comparative Advantage
Community Values and Vision Trade-Off Assessment
Business Growth and Formation Potential

V. Economic Development Approach

Introduction
Vision For The Local Economy
Economic Development Goals
Economic Development Strategy

VI. Economic Development Policies

Introduction
Economic Diversity
Business Development
Redevelopment and Revitalization
Labor Force, Education and Training
Regulation and Process

VII. Implementation

Introduction
Community Infrastructure
Business Assistance
Business Retention, Expansion, Formation and Recruitment
Simplified Approach
Process and Regulation
Communication, Marketing, and Promotion
Management, Monitoring, and Accounting

VIII. Relationship to GMA

Introduction
Urban Growth Area
Resource Lands and Critical Areas
Mandatory Comprehensive Plan Elements
Other

Simplified Approach

Small cities and counties may find it difficult to prepare a detailed Economic Development element because of limited staff and resources. If your community has these concerns, this section provides suggestions on how to narrow the tasks previously described so that you can tailor an Economic Development element to fit within your resources. It helps you set a framework for economic development that can be built upon as additional resources become available

1. Limit your Profile to Community Setting data developed for other elements of your plan and Trend data.

2. Limit your Inventory to a documentation of existing businesses within Your community.

3. Limit your Analyses to one or two. For example, conduct a basic market study and an assessment of community capacity for increased economic activity.

4. Limit your Approach to a discussion of your vision and goals for your economy.

5. Delete the Implementation section.