Economic development — its future in Ocean Shores and concerns about its direction — emerged as the most engaging subject for citizen comment in reviewing the first two Planning Commission updated drafts of the city’s overall Comprehensive Plan.
Citizens had their first opportunity to formally view proposed updates to the city’s planning document on both economic development and the environment, and about 24 people attend the May 29 session at the Ocean Shores Convention Center.
On economic development, the draft states: “Three major sectors of the city’s economy are tourism, retail, and property development/construction. The city anticipates that these sectors will continue to constitute the majority of the city’s economy. The city’s efforts will be directed toward enhancing these economic sectors in a manner that results in the desired balance between the residential and tourism elements of the community, as well as the overall quality of life in the community. “
The document adds: “The vitality of all the major sectors of the city’s economy is dependent in large part on the regional tourist activities enhanced by the city’s physical location, its natural amenities and the attractiveness of its residential and commercial areas.”
Planning Commission consultant Linda Whitcher said the updated Comp Plan language generally follows a draft of other plans, but then adds “things that would make it uniquely Ocean Shores.”
The first section to be completed was the environmental chapter, followed by the economic section, with numbers and charts compiled by the state Department of Commerce and state Labor and Industries, as well as city revenue figures.
“We know those figures are ever-moving targets,” Whitcher acknowledged. “I don’t expect the trends to change. The trends have held true for many years.”
Members of the Planning Commission along with City Planner Alicia Bridges met in group sessions after a brief introduction, and several of the early comments centered on the course of economic development.
Resident Diane Beckley noted the economic development section mentions tourism, retail and property development. “Where does the citizen fit in? It seems like the citizens are left out but the economy continues to perk along because of the residents.”
Lillian Broadbent also said the plan “doesn’t talk about the biggest source of income as a city” in property taxes. “It’s not represented in any of the charts or the language,” she said.
The updated plan does lay out specific marketing goals and polices, saying, “Marketing is essential to economic vitality in Ocean Shores. Develop a strong marketing plan to advance economic development. In all efforts, citizen outreach and input should be paramount.”
The top policy is to create a citywide marketing campaign “that includes a city brand, slogan and image that attracts new visitors and investors that support a vibrant community with a strong business sector.”
Other policies include a market analysis, recruitment of businesses to “provide full service to the entire community,” identifying needs to promote job creation, attraction of new events, promotion of the beaches, bay and fresh waterways, along with recreational activities in the city.
Another section includes an action plan, with the first priority being to “work with businesses to revitalize and improve the city’s commercial areas” and the third to “develop sidewalks, storm drain facilities, and amenities to make downtown more walkable and encourage visitors to spend time there.”
Planning Commission members Greg Cox and Eric Noble told residents that there was no disagreement about what drives Ocean Shores economic development.
“We all know that the government’s primary source of income is taxes,” added resident Richard Wills. “So as I read this, this is about economic development, and the way to increase tax revenue is to increase property development. How do we get more people to buy property and to build on that property? So in my mind, (the plan) is saying just what it should say.”
Resident Jan Hiatt said that other factors, such as arts and entertainment or recreation, are important to economic development too, because without those, “people aren’t going to stay and buy a house here.” She also encouraged the development of better facilities for RV owners and other recreational property users.
Marlene Penry questioned if the proposed changes to the Comp Plan were not too specific, such as a policy for revisiting an existing ban on vending on the beach: “The Comp Plan is supposed to be lot higher look at things.”
Cox called it a 20-year vision. ”It’s somewhat fanciful because it’s hard to separate ourselves from the here and now. But we have to forecast and pretend that if we could start over with a clean slate, we might do it differently, and this is the rules that we would use to guide us,” Cox said.
Environmental goals
Concerning the section on environment, the Comp Plan lists the following goals:
• Support standards that maintain or improve environmental quality while allowing business and residential communities safety from dune fires, maintaining hotel views, and allowing visitors and locals to easily traverse the dunes on bicycle and walking trails.
• Preserve and develop the City’s natural systems to protect public health, safety and welfare, and to maintain the integrity of the natural environment.
• Support regulation of activities in sensitive and hazardous areas to ensure high environmental quality and to avoid risks or damage to life and property.
• Coordinate implementation of regulation and preservation efforts through the Comprehensive Plan, Critical Areas Regulation, Shoreline Master Program, Water Systems Plan and Water Conservation Program.
• Develop and implement educational and voluntary programs that promote environmental stewardship.
Next steps
Noble noted that other issues such as recreationalamenities or housing for a growing workforce are taken up in other chapters of the plan that are still being worked on.
“Hoquiam just did their Comp Plan, as did Port Townsend. We are looking at a lot of different Comp Plans to see what they did and how did they do it,” Noble said.
The comments from the Open House will be incorporated in discussions about what changes to make in the drafts, which then go to the City Council for consideration. The first chapter for council consideration likely will be the environmental one as the commission is working on updates to the Critical Areas regulations. The economic chapter might not go to the City Council until other chapters are updated.
“This is just the first of several that are being updated here,”Whitcher said. The next Planning Commission meeting is at 2 p.m. in the Library on Tuesday June 12.
