LA GRANDE — The La Grande City Council recently approved the city’s 2022-24 economic development strategy, which lists goals and projects for the city’s economy over the next two fiscal years.

Faced with attracting new businesses as well as helping local owners recover from COVID-19 impacts, the plan targets future efforts to increase small-scale manufacturing, promote local entrepreneurship and a skilled workforce, utilize vacant spaces in La Grande and increase foot traffic around retail businesses in the downtown area.

“We want to ensure that we know where our focus will be and make sure we have a plan of action out there for how we’re going to think about allocating budget, time and effort,” La Grande Economic Development Director Timothy Bishop said.

The economic development strategy outlines objectives and goals for the next two fiscal years, allowing a timeline for necessary funding measures. The La Grande Urban Renewal Agency and the city council met on Monday, March 14, for a joint work session to review the proposed strategy, and the city council approved the plan on April 6.

Bishop noted that the strategic planning comes at an intersection of long-term plans and current focuses — the city is hoping to promote new business growth and recruitment, while continuing to help existing local businesses as they recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We really are still in a recovery mode, trying to move back toward a more resilient economy,” Bishop said. “Finding that balance between retention, resiliency and recruitment is really the balancing point.”

Noticeable emphasis

Another similar balance the city is working to achieve is recruiting new business into the area while also continuing to promote local entrepreneurship. One of the goals of the strategic plan details efforts to support local organizations in developing a skilled workforce — the partnerships include the La Grande School District, Eastern Oregon University, Blue Mountain Community College and WorkSource Oregon.

Bishop noted that the city is aiming to create the tools and resources necessary to foster a skilled workforce, while adjusting to how the pandemic has shifted employee-employer relationships and workplace environments.

A noticeable emphasis in the economic development strategy is recruiting small-scale manufacturing to La Grande, utilizing the infrastructure and space available in the city. Bishop stated that small-scale manufacturers are a good match with La Grande’s current assets.

The plan stresses small-scale manufacturing over large-scale for several reasons, such as incentives available, infrastructure and workforce absorption. Incentives through the city’s urban renewal district and business park could be much more impactful for a small-scale manufacturer with roughly 10 employees, as opposed to larger-scale manufacturers typically locating in larger cities with more monetary incentives available.

A larger manufacturer coming to La Grande would also likely pull employees from other local entities to the new company, weakening the overall local workforce. On the other hand, if a large-scale manufacturer were to relocate its workers to La Grande, challenges with housing availability would come into play. Bishop also noted that local small-scale manufacturing can stabilize and reduce supply chain issues.

Another emphasis of the plan as a whole is making use of underutilized space throughout the city. Small-scale manufacturers are capable of utilizing already available space and the existing infrastructure.

“We think there are more folks that need perhaps 2,500 square feet rather than 25,000 square feet,” Bishop said. “That allows us to focus our energy at the business park and some of those large-lotted parcels for a business that really does need a larger space, but allows us to still be active in recruiting and identifying new opportunities by focusing on tenants that can potentially re-purpose and re-use some of these smaller existing spaces. That produces a more infrastructure-efficient approach.”

With the utilization of spaces throughout La Grande comes the idea of fostering a productive, bustling downtown area, which continues to be a focus of the city’s economic development plans. The 2022-24 economic development plan emphasizes creating more retail opportunities to encourage increased foot traffic in downtown La Grande.

“There certainly is a desire stated in this economic development plan and within La Grande Main Street to really see downtown become more of a retail hub,” Bishop said. “Some of that includes continued efforts to look at downtown housing, creating a 24/7 downtown experience.”

The full economic development strategy can be viewed on the city’s website, www.cityoflagrande.org (posted in the April 6 agenda of both the city council and the Urban Renewal Agency). Upon garnering approval at the April council meeting, councilors agreed upon updates from the La Grande Economic Development Department at least once every six months to track the progress of the strategy.