Economic Development Plan Update

The City's Community & Economic Development Department recently started the process of updating the West Des Moines Economic Development Plan, which was last completed in 2003. The plan is a broad study to help city officials and staff better plan for future economic development in our City. This project will involve other city departments, elected officials, and community members, and will focus on creating high-value jobs and retaining young talent in West Des Moines.

The development of Jordan Creek Town Center was the main impetus for the original study in 2003. Because the City anticipated that the area around that site would quickly become an attractive area for development, we generated this plan to ensure the area developed the right way. The 2003 plan also led us to ramp up the executive call program, which involves visits by city staff and officials to local businesses to identify any issues they may have and educate them about how the City can assist.

The 2009 update will be managed by AngelouEconomics (AE), an economic development consulting firm. The plan has four objectives:

1) assess the region's current competitiveness;
2) identify specific high-impact target industries;
3) develop specific strategies to improve city efforts to attract new business, retain and expand existing businesses, retain young professionals and grow a skilled workforce, revitalize older commercial areas, and encourage entrepreneurship; and
4) build a shared vision and catalyze collective action through a detailed implementation plan.

As I mentioned, community input in this process is key. Although we will hold focus groups on specific issues, all citizens can get involved by going to the project website, following our progress in developing the plan, and completing surveys. There is one for businesses and one for residents, and both will be open until the end of July. You can also use the link to the consultant's email on the website to send your comments directly to AngelouEconomics.

The website is located at: http://www.wdmdevelopmentplan.com/.

Thanks for your assistance as we improve our planning for the future West Des Moines.