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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Economic development is an investment process through which a community organizes its efforts to improve the quality of life of its residents and ensure its economic well being. Without a focus on economic development, a community's ability to provide services at the level that residents expect can deteriorate. Simply put, a strong local economy provides a desirable standard of living for residents, one that supports a desirable standard of life. Through economic development efforts, jobs can be retained and new, attractive employment opportunities can be created, thereby ensuring a sound, sustainable tax base.
WHY IT MATTERS By developing a strong reputation as a community that cares for and supports business, our efforts to attract and retain businesses will be more successful. Subsequently, these efforts will result in sustained job growth and job retention, which will, in turn, bring new dollars into the community as positive economic activity is generated.
INTELLIGENT GROWTH Intelligent or smart growth, according to the American Planning Association, means using comprehensive planning to guide, design, develop, revitalize and build communities for all that:
- have a unique sense of community and place - preserve and enhance valuable natural and cultural resources - equitably distribute the costs and benefits of development - expand the range of transportation, employment, and housing choices in a fiscally responsible manner - value long-range, regional considerations of sustainability over short-term incremental geographically isolated actions
ENCOURAGE COMMUNITY & STAKEHOLDER COLLABORATION Growth can create great places to live, work, and play -- if that growth responds to a community's sense of how and where it wants to grow. Intelligent growth plans and policies are most successful when they are developed with strong citizen involvement and support.
MAKE DEVELOPMENT DECISIONS PREDICTABLE, FAIR, AND COST EFFECTIVE If a community is to be successful in implementing intelligent growth plans, it must be embraced by the private sector. Only private capital can supply the resources needed to meet the growing demand for intelligent growth developments.
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