Ensuring a bright economic future for Blaine County will require more than continuing to rely on the skiing, real estate and construction industries.
This is a message many county residents have certainly heard over the years, but it's one worth repeating, said Jon Roberts of TIP Strategies, an Austin, Texas-based economic development consulting firm. The firm was hired last summer by the Sustain Blaine economic development group to assist in developing a countywide business strategy.
Sustain Blaine touts itself as a local public-private partnership working to promote an improved economic and societal future for the county.
On Thursday, Roberts and local leaders in the Sustain Blaine effort rolled out their economic strategy for the county, the result of nearly two years of back-to-back meetings and on-the-ground research conducted with the help of the county's business leaders, elected officials and residents.
During an introduction of Roberts, developer George Kirk, one of the primary drivers behind the effort, said the economic strategy unveiled this week is meant to define the way forward, something lacking until now, he added.
"We don't have a cohesive, collaborative strategy," he said.
Kirk said that TIP Strategies, with its extensive background helping other communities around the nation develop their own plans, was brought in to help make that happen here. To do this, the consultant not only looked at the county's challenges, but also its assets.
Kirk quickly resolved to make sure that the multiple pages of the report produced by the firm don't end up like many reports tend to, gathering dust on some forgotten shelf.
Roberts laid out an ambitious plan meant to immediately put the county on the path to a more diverse economy. Foremost, he said, the region should create an organization tasked with implementing the proposed economic strategy, funded by private- and public-sector dollars, under authorization from the county and local cities.
The consultants have tentatively dubbed that organization the Blaine Development Corp. The three-person team would be made up of an executive director, marketing manager and assistant, and would represent the economic interests of the entire county, not on a county or city-by-city basis like now, Roberts said.
"This is the most important of all the goals," he said.
A 2008 TIP Strategies study provided a stark reminder of troubling issues such as increasing out-migration and rising rates of second-home ownership, compared to first-home buyers.
To counteract these trends—which may be growing even more acute in the current recession—TIP Strategies has laid out five main issues the county can act on. They include leveraging the Sun Valley "brand," supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs and diversifying development opportunities. One of the strategies to accomplish the last task will likely be controversial: increasing density in city cores by using infill development. This would create new opportunities without creating sprawl, the consultants say.
Roberts also advised the county to look at opportunities where large-scale, mixed-use development could occur that supports a more diverse economy, namely in places such as Friedman Memorial Airport, which is slated to be relocated. Once the airport is moved, perhaps within the coming decade, an opportunity to draw new business to the county could be realized, he said.
The consultant is also advising Blaine County to consider establishing a "design institute" that could serve as a catalyst to encourage innovation and help create new jobs. The institute could draw on the many businesses already heavily involved in design, such as Scott USA, Smith Sport Optics, Power Engineers and Rocky Mountain Hardware.
"You have a base of companies that any community would be envious of," Roberts said.
Roberts believes such an institute could attract world-class researchers and innovators to relocate to the area.
For more information on Sustain Blaine's new economic strategy, go to www.sustainblaine.org.
Jason Kauffman: jkauffman@mtexpress.com
Blaine County will have to move beyond the tourism, real estate and construction industries if it ever hopes to have a sustainable economic future, a consultant told local leaders Thursday. Photo by Willy Cook
