LYNNWOOD — The city of Lynnwood has a plan.
It is not just any plan, however, but one that focuses exclusively on economic development.
According to the city’s economic development director, David Kleitsch, an economic development profile and action plan – a first-time endeavor for the city – will be completed by fall 2004.
“It is really one of the first plans to be done in Snohomish County,” Kleitsch said.
There are three areas of concern Kleitsch hopes the action plan will address: job development and family-wage jobs, and healthy business and sustainable city revenues, such as police and fire that are responsibilities of the city.
“It has been one of my goals to have a profile to identify strategies to present to the Council to improve the well-being of the community,” Kleitsch said.
Economic development takes on strong importance, Kleitsch said, considering that 75 percent of the city’s revenue comes from property tax, revenue tax and sales tax. Those help keep tax rates low for citizens, he said.
The plan has been on the horizon for some time now, but has just recently been making substantial headway. In 2001, the City Council voted to establish an Economic Development Department, with the purpose of furthering economic planning. This past year, a selection committee selected Berk &Associates to prepare the profile and action plan, and the contract was officially approved by the Council at the Dec. 8 meeting.
The Council previously budgeted $40,000 to prepare the profile and action plan for 2003 and 2004. The funding will come from the Economic Development Department Work Program budget.
Then in November, city staff recommended to the Finance, Planning &Parks Work Group (FPPWG) that the project scope be expanded to include additional community involvement and participation, meaning the project funding would increase by $23,500, for a total of $63,500.
Because the plan has an extensive public outreach component, Kleitsch said strong stakeholders will be identified, and the firm is considering holding meetings through the business advisory group and Chamber. They may even use Lynnwood University and Citizens Academy students as a means of reaching out to the community.
“The goal is to bring people in,” Kleitsch said.
Kleitsch said the economic profile will take into account several factors. The design team will look at economics, work force and businesses. They will also look at how the city compares to Snohomish County, and also how the city compares to a broader trade area around the city.
After evaluating these aspects, Kleitsch said the firm will design a profile that takes into account both the economic challenges and opportunities in Lynnwood. Examples of challenges might be traffic, or too many jobs in one employment sector, and opportunities could be the community college, or other education available in the city.
Development strategies would then be designed to capitalize on opportunities and address challenges. An action plan would be developed to identify these strategies and provide “bench marks” for city officials to identify where the city stands, Kleitsch said.
Bonnie Berk, president of Berk &Associates, said the profiling process will begin in January.
“It is very exciting,” Berk said. “There will be specific responsibilities for city staff and others realizing the economic opportunities for the city.”
Kleitsch hopes community members take the opportunity to become involved. Anyone can send information or thoughts pertaining to economic development to 425-670-6677 or visit econdev@ci.lynnwood.wa.us.
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