Thirteen meetings, times five months equals a plan for economic success in Shoreline, according to a plan presented recently to a group of private business and public officials.
“In 2004, the city didn’t have much of an economic development plan,” said Don Sands, a city Planning Commission member and chairman of the Shoreline Economic Development Task Force.
“The city council asked us to put a little meat to the bones,” he said Friday, Jan. 6 at the annual meeting of Forward Shoreline. The group includes members of the business community, city staff and elected officials. Attendees included City Council member Keith McGlashan and Mayor Bob Ransom.
“I hope the residents like (the plan),” Sands said. “And I hope the city council embraces it when we present it to them on Jan. 23.”
Also speaking at the meeting were Juli Wilkerson, director of the state Office of Community, Trade and Economic Development and John Powers, director of enterpriseSeattle, an economic development agency.
“Shoreline doesn’t have, in my opinion, a true solid vision,” Sands said. “Without that, it’s hard to sell ourselves.”
Sands handed out a nine-page outline of the plan that opened with, “The economic vitality of Shoreline is critical to the health and future of the City of Shoreline and its citizens.”
The introduction also includes the statement: “Nothing in this plan should be construed as endorsing concepts that would impair or detract from the values that currently make Shoreline great …”
Indeed, in his remarks, Sands emphasized that while economic development is vital, “We’ve got to protect what we’ve got.”
The plan is detailed. It identifies nine goals and seven strategies to achieve the goals. Under each strategy is a set of action steps on how to implement the vision.
The plan also has an appendix and a draft of ways to measure performance toward the goals. In addition to tracking items such as sales tax revenue, which is provided by the state, the appendix suggests monitoring things such as the net number of new businesses coming to the city in a given year and total jobs.
“It’s not that hard to come up with a plan,” Sands said. “The hard part is implementing it.”
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