Economic Development
See our latest Economic Development chapter updates and provide feedback.
Economic Development: Existing chapter
A strong and diverse local economy is important to the City of Bellingham. Economic development means creating jobs and wealth and improving the quality of life for everyone. It also means influencing the growth and restructuring of the economy to make the community better off economically – for people, businesses, and government. There are many ways to achieve successful economic development, and various factors involved in this process. One example of what the City can do is to make Bellingham attractive to employers and workers through targeted Economic development goals and policies.
What changes will happen in the Bellingham Plan?
Since the 2016 Comprehensive Plan was adopted, the global economy has changed. We need to review our economic development goals and policies to make sure they are still relevant in a post-pandemic world. For example, many people can take advantage of broadened opportunities to work from home. This means that a portion of Bellingham’s workforce currently works remotely for both local and remote employers. We need to acknowledge and reflect these changes in the Bellingham Plan. These must be considered simultaneously with larger land use and housing topics, especially as housing cost and its relationship to local wages continues to be central to planning issues in Bellingham.
This chapter of the Bellingham Plan will continue to focus on the City’s main roles in economic development. These roles include: 1) creating a supportive environment for businesses, 2) accommodating expected job growth, and 3) providing services to help businesses grow and stay in Bellingham.
The topic of economic vitality was touched on at our initial “Community Vision” session as we addressed general topics related to the economy with community members. We dove into Bellingham's economic development practices in much greater detail at the “Economic Vitality” event, where we discussed how our community can support a strong and diverse local economy. This event touched on remote work, new technology, new businesses, and other factors are changing the economic landscape, including the types of jobs and wages in Bellingham.
- Community Vision – February 22, 2024
- Economic Vitality – May 15, 2024
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