Planning for Economic Development
Contents
- Developing an Economic Development Plan
- Economic Development Element
- Preparing a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy for the Economic Development Administration
- Related MRSC Pages
Developing an Economic Development Plan
When planning for economic development, the goal is to create and maintain a strong, vibrant local economy. Local governments should not conduct economic development planning in isolation; regional coordination of economic development planning is essential. In 2002 the Washington Growth Management Act (GMA) emphasized county-wide coordination of economic development planning by adding economic development to the list of required elements of a growth management comprehensive plan. See RCW 36.70A.070 (7) (Chapter 154, Laws of 2002). The requirement for an economic development element was conditioned on the provision that state funding would be provided; however, to date no state funding has been available.
Economic development programs also need supporting land use, transportation, and capital facility initiatives and should relate to other elements of an overall comprehensive plan. The economic development plan provides a comprehensive overview of the economy, sets policy direction for economic growth, and identifies strategies, programs and projects to improve the economy.
Most of the economic development plans prepared by Washington cities and counties have tended to follow the format suggested in the GMA Guidebook: Developing Your Economic Development Strategy (DCD, July 1993). Part IV focuses on Developing Your Economic Development Strategy. See also:
- Summary Outline of the general principles of the economic development planning process.
- Creating an economic development action plan : a guide for development professionals, Thomas S. Lyons and Roger E. Hamlin; foreword by Karl F. Freed, 1991 MRSC Library Loan
- Economic Development: Strategies for State and Local Practice by Steven G. Koven and Thomas S. Lyons, ICMA, 2003. MRSC Library Loan
- An Economic Development Toolbox: Strategies and Methods, Terry Moore, Stuart Merck, and James Ebenhoh, Planning Advisory Service Report No. 451, American Planning Association, 2006. MRSC Library Loan
- A Guide to Preparing the Economic Development Element of a Comprehensive Plan (
), Wisconsin Economic Development Institute, Inc., August, 2003 - Wisconsin has a “Smart Growth Law,” similar to Washington's Growth Management Act.
- Learning to Lead: A Primer on Economic Development Strategies () - CTED (Dept. of Commerce), 1999
- Planning: Tools of the Trade - EDA Economic Development Information Clearinghouse
- Strategic Economic Development, ICMA MIS Report, vol. 26, no. 2, February 1994 MRSC Library Loan
- Strategic Planning for Economic Development in Rural Areas and Small Towns of Oklahoma () by Mike D. Woods and Gorden Sloggett, Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, F 859
- Strategic and economic development planning : a how-to manual for local government, by Don A. Morrison, Local Government Institute, 1991 MRSC Library Loan
Economic Development Element
- Outline of Economic Plan Element from Economic Development Through Growth Management: Making the Vision Real, Washington State Department of Community Development, July 1993
- Economic Development: Growth Management's Missing Link (), Washington Research Council, Policy Brief, January 2002
- Sample Economic Development Plans and Elements - MRSC List
Preparing a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy for the Economic Development Administration (EDA)
Under federal regulations, the preparation and periodic updating of a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) is a requirement for an area's designation as a redevelopment or Title II (Grants for Public Works and Economic Development) area to receive EDA monies. Under Title I of the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965, the strategy was called an Overall Economic Development Plan (OEDP). The act was reauthorized and reformed by Congress in 1998. The Economic Development Administration notes that preparation of a economic development plan can also improve access to federal, state, and private aid programs in addition to those of the EDA.
- Strategic Planning for Economic Development : Moving Beyond the Overall Economic Development Plan (), prepared by the Corporation for Enterprise Development, 1999
- Regional Economic Strategy for the Central Puget Sound Region, Central Puget Sound Economic Development District, Puget Sound Regional Council
- Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy for the Columbia-Pacific Region (), Grays Harbor EDC, June 2009
- Skagit County Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (), 2003.