Squamish's leaders shouldn't abandon efforts to attract a major new employer to town in spite of statistics that appear to show that their only chances of success are slim and none, a newly elected councillor said this week.
Coun. Ron Sander responded to a presentation about economic development by Cameron Chalmers, District of Squamish general manager of community services, on Monday (Jan. 9) by saying that while the chances of attracting a major new employer may be slim, the potential benefits make the pursuit of those employers, if successful, worthwhile.
"Those kind of economic impacts have much bigger ripples" than do small start-up businesses, Sander said. Last November, Sander campaigned on a platform that included a suggestion that Squamish should consider turning over the Oceanfront lands -currently slated for mixed-use development - to port-related business development initiatives.
Chalmers' presentation - made on behalf of Dan McRae, DOS economic sustainability co-ordinator, who was on holidays - included an introductory overview for the new council about the current state of Squamish's effort to retain existing employers and attract new ones over the next few years.
Statistics show that approximately 80 per cent of new job growth nationwide comes from existing businesses, which points to the importance of working with those who are already here to enhance their business prospects, Chalmers said.
Additionally, across Canada about 15,000 economic development organizations are chasing fewer than 200 major business expansions and relocations each year, he said.
"It's not an easy job sending out someone to try to chase major business relocations and expansions," Chalmers said.
Sander, though, said he would "still be encouraging looking into that sort of thing."
Chalmers said district officials need to be fully aware that any municipal government initiative to push job growth must be a collaboration with business groups such as the Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Business Improvement Association, Tourism Squamish, Community Futures and others.
That has been the thrust of district officials' efforts to date, Chalmers said, adding that since he was hired last June, McRae's efforts to bring those groups together have so far been well received.
First-term Coun. Sue Chapelle said that in the past, when she was a member of the Chamber of Commerce board and other business groups, "The district was doing the opposite and was actually quite dismissive toward those groups."
Chalmers said that despite limitations to what municipal officials can do to effect change on their own, "What we're realizing is that everything we do affects economic development -land-use planning and consistent application of policies really affects everything else.
"We're trying to get to a place where there's an awareness of economic-development impacts from everything that we do."
Coun. Ted Prior, another first-term councillor, said he was pleased to hear Chalmers say that district staff has an interest in seeing the community consider establishing a multi-stakeholder economic development commission at some point in the future.
"I just know it's [economic development] a huge task, and I'm happy to see you envision it changing into something else," Prior said.
'Exit strategy' eyed
It probably won't happen this year or even next, but district officials say they're working toward an "exit strategy" on municipal government involvement in the operation of the Squamish Adventure Centre.
At the moment, operation of the high-profile building near the entrance to downtown Squamish is overseen by the three-member Squamish Sustainability Corp. board, with Chalmers, district chief administrator Kevin Ramsay and Brian Barnett, the district's manager of engineering, making up the board. It also received a $151,000 annual subsidy in the 2011 municipal budget.
Ramsay told council on Monday that all involved are working to see the building become at least revenue-neutral, and operated independently, in the not-too-distant future.
"We need to make decisions about how we move forward - and moving forward is not having the three of us running the place," Ramsay said.
Chalmers said over the past year, efforts have been made to see the Adventure Centre host more community meetings and events, attract more tourists and attract a new coffee shop and event-booking company have helped animate the building and bring in more revenue.
Efforts slated for this year include launching a volunteer community host program based at the Adventure Centre and attracting events hosted by a variety of local groups, including Quest University, Chalmers said.
In 2011, the number of average daily visits has increased to about 400, with around 600 people per day having come into the building during the summer months, Chalmers said.
Coun. Doug Race said the Adventure Centre's debt picture also appears to be moving in the right direction. It was around $600,000 a couple of years ago and is around the $300,000 at the moment, he said.
The debt "is something that we've had to deal with and will continue to deal with over the next couple of years," Race said.
