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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEDAC - 2015-01-28 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES January 28, 2015 City of Kitchener The Economic Development Advisory Committee met this date, chaired by Councillor Paul Singh, co-chaired by Jeremy Auger with the following members present, (Ashely Reid, Councillor Bil Ioannidis, Cory Ernst, Darrin Snider, Glenn Koehler, Hani Naamani, Jamie Yantizi, Jeff Hoekman, Johanna Classon-Romero, Kevin Fergin, Mark Bingman, Mark Derro, Mark Hopkins, Philip Jones, Rebecca Short, Steve Sachs, Thusenth Dhavaloganathan ) Staff in attendance: Brian Bennett, Mistie Brown, Janette McDonald, Chris Farrell The minutes of the November 26, 2014 meeting were approved. 1. The Process for Development of KEDS Janette McDonald gives an overview of the process for the development of the next KEDS. Some highlights of that overview include: of Kitchener. Stakeholder consultations will begin in the spring This year- initiated group conversations, councillor-facilitated conversations with community groups Targeting Council approval in October 2015 Janette asks if members of the board would be interested in joining a steering committee for the KEDS process (commitment of 3 hours). - Question arises of how the 150 conversations will be marketed/explained to the community and Janette replies that the KEDS process will have a communications specialist who will focus on getting community support - Suggestion made to get instructions out in advance outlining the process - Question is asked participate - Question is asked of how this will fit into the Regional Economic Development Strategy. Janette explains that this is a reoccurring question and that a part of the KEDS process will be to articulate and refine our strategy to fit into the WREDS and not duplicate. - Suggestion that having a strong plan and focus on KEDS would also influence WREDS 2.1 Regional Economy Roundtable: What do we need to know? A roundtable discussion was held regarding the individual group discussions the committee members had regarding the next KEDS. The following is a summary of their discussions - s of job growth. Waterloo rd Region employment rate stands out nationally (3 highest in the country). Where is growth is coming from is still fairly unknown, but Janette explains that the manufacturing and technology community are both influencing job growth in the region. - observing in manufacturing, retail (which is usually not directly overseen by Economic Development orgs), other clusters, unemployment, and the strength/weakness of our local economy. - Kitchener unavailability. The across the region in terms of land offerings. - The region is still very competitive in real estate and properties (residential and commercial) go very quickly here unlike other communities farther from Toronto. - Must It was questioned h to leverage the opportunities driven by the universities in our community. - A chener can focus on. - Focus on the local business around the LRT area and keep the focus on arts and culture which leads to talent attraction. - The city could partner with the universities a lot more on projects and idea sharing. - Janette asks about the questions the group on how they think the city is perceived: - Friends still see it as a university town and that nothing is going on. - Kitchener is viewed as a region and people identify us with the technology sector. - Add a sustainability component to KEDS. - Baby boomers are looking at urban properties to move into after retirement which could be a new demographic to target. - Kitchener needs a stronger marketing strategy - Incentivize downtown residential properties. - Downtown properties are very unique spaces that differ from offerings elsewhere in the region. - Upon graduating, students should be enticed to move to Kitchener - More marketing is needed on (especially Downtown Kitchener). - mid- they should be. - Vacant storefronts and a large homeless population deter people from coming downtown. - nt is still missing in the region and companies look to investors from outside. - Create branding on the neighborhoods within Kitchener like Toronto has done and having the Region of Waterloo build a regional brand. Local municipalities could focus on developing neighborhood brands. - More could be done 3. Information Items / Unfinished Business 3.1 New Business/Project Updates New movie theatre will be open the first week of February which will be licensed. The owners facility. job growth slowly starting to happen. Silvia explains the Centre in the Square consultation workshop and the newly launched survey that Cory shows the Own It magazine that the city and BIA developed that features the cool people/stuff/projects happening downtown. Janette will email the board regarding their interest in joining a steering committee for KEDS process (a commitment of 3 hours). On motion the meeting adjourned at 1:00 pm.