The City of North Bay’s Economic Development Department and Invest North Bay Development Corporation are preparing a strategic plan to guide their economic development efforts to build and sustain a strong and vibrant economy in North Bay.
This effort builds upon previous work completed, including the City’s Strategic Planning Process. The plan will guide the economic development efforts for North Bay for the next three years.
Business leaders and interested community members are being asked to complete a short ten-minute survey available at Invest North Bay Strategic Plan survey for the next three weeks.
“The survey is directed to business leaders and community members to gather their input as to areas of priority to stimulate economic growth in the city,” Invest North Bay Development Corporation President George Burton said. “While Invest North Bay has ideas and is pursuing investment opportunities, we feel input from the broader community will help refine our focus.”
An example he gave was looking to see if workforce development or marketing the city as a destination to establish and grow a business would be the top priority for members of the community.
“The plan will provide a clear direction and identify actions to grow North Bay’s economy,” he said. “It will provide a tactical approach to address the City’s economic priorities. We welcome businesses, residents and sector associations to provide their opinions on the economic future of this community.”
In September 2015, the City of North Bay announced a research partnership with Baylor University that will formulate the basis for a long-term economic development plan for the city. Last April saw their final results from over 4,500 unique survey responses.
See: Updated Baylor survey: we like living in North Bay but don't trust municipal government
Burton said they’d be taking all that information into consideration moving forward.
“We will be building on previous work,” Burton said. “The survey input and efforts conducted to date by Invest North Bay and then a series of tactics will be identified and executed. The Baylor study was directional; we are now looking at specifics.”
