Economic Development

What is Economic Development?

Economic development means different things to different people. On a broad scale, anything a community does to foster and create a healthy economy can fall under the auspice of economic development. 

From a public perspective, local economic development involves the allocation of limited resources – land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship in a way that has a positive effect on the level of business activity, employment, income distribution patterns, and fiscal solvency.

It is a process of deliberate intervention in normal economic growth by making it easier or more attractive. 

Sustained economic growth can provide sufficient incomes for the local labor force, profitable business opportunities for employers, and tax revenues for maintaining an infrastructure to support this continued growth. 

It is important to know that economic development is not community development. Community development is the process of making a community a better place to live and work. Economic development is purely and simply the creation of wealth in which community benefits are created. There are only three approaches used to enhance local economic development. They are:

• Business Retention and Expansion – enhancing existing businesses
• Business Recruitment – attracting new business
• Business Creation – encouraging the growth of new businesses

The Economic Development staff is responsible for the efforts to support business development while enhancing the quality of life in the community. The city proactively recruits businesses to diversify the employment base. We have successfully streamlined review and permitting, and reduced approval time in order to expedite quality developments.