Hoping to strengthen Pincher Creek’s economy for years to come, town council is dusting off a five-year-old strategy designed to attract new businesses, create jobs and address long-standing challenges such as housing and workforce shortages.

The Community Economic Development Strategy, approved in 2022 after years of research and public consultation, returned to council July 8 as members discussed how to put more of its recommendations into action rather than leaving it on the shelf.

Mayor Wayne Oliver, who raised the discussion, brought the document forward after realizing several members of the current council had never seen it.

Strategy objectives

The strategy is a 136-page document built around four goals and 30 recommendations.

The goals are to retain and expand existing businesses, attract new investment, develop a regional workforce and leverage the town’s assets to diversify its economy — including plans for a health and wellness hub and a transportation and logistics corridor.

Its research also identified seven key challenges facing the community: a critical housing shortage, looming workforce shortages, a lack of downtown vitality, aging business owners nearing retirement without clear successors, gaps in local data, administrative processes that could be streamlined, and the need to diversify the economy and strengthen business confidence.

The roots of the document stretch back to 2019, when a previous council hired consulting firm InnoVisions and Associates to study the town’s economic future. Researchers interviewed more than 100 business owners and community stakeholders, and hosted two public engagement sessions.

By March 2020 the project was on track, on time and on budget, but work was shelved so attention could turn to helping local businesses survive the Covid-19 pandemic.

Once the crisis eased, work resumed and surveys conducted in 2021 measured the pandemic’s impact on the business community, drawing more than 200 responses. The finished strategy was presented to council in late 2021 and formally approved in January 2022.

Why it stalled

Oliver said the town invested considerable time and money into developing the strategy but did little with it once approved. He encouraged council to determine which recommendations remain relevant and how to act on them.

Coun. Sahra Nodge, who was on council when the strategy was approved, said some recommendations were considered during early budget discussions, but funding requests tied to them were not approved.

Turnover in the town’s economic development role also slowed momentum, she said, leaving no clear ownership of the strategy and no one to connect local business owners with an incentive bylaw that grew from the recommendations.

What’s already happening

Even without a deliberate push, parts of the strategy have advanced through other work.

Nodge said council’s recent focus on housing, particularly through the community housing committee, lines up with one section of the strategy, even if it wasn’t planned that way.

Coun. Valerie Wynder said other pieces have been addressed through a rewritten land-use bylaw and an upcoming review of the municipal development plan.

Oliver said Pincher Creek has changed considerably since the research was done, using downtown revitalization as an example. Many storefronts have been renovated, vacancy rates have fallen and the area appears more vibrant than it did five years ago.

Coun. Mark Barber described a community with uneven growth, with the east side and north end thriving and little commercial space available to rent or buy. He said downtown is far better off than a few years ago but has slowed over the past year.

Barber said a business owner recently raised concerns about beautification and signage at both ends of Main Street, echoing recommendations in the strategy.

What happens now

Councillors generally supported reviewing the strategy while questioning why so many recommendations had not advanced.

Coun. Brian McGillivray questioned what actions had been taken since its approval. He suggested that administration lead the review process with support from a committee, as the strategy is too broad for council to manage alone.

Oliver said he had already asked the town’s housing and economic development committee, which he chairs, to review the strategy’s first goal — retaining and expanding local businesses — ahead of further discussion.

Wynder said the document could help guide budget discussions, including whether to fund an additional economic development position, and was glad council had it in hand before deliberations begin.

Council set no timeline and assigned no specific tasks. Oliver said updates will come through his regular written committee reports.

In an interview after the meeting, Oliver said he is not interested in commissioning a new economic development strategy or rewriting the strategy’s recommendations from scratch. Instead, he wants council to measure what recommendations have already been accomplished and focus on completing what remains.

“The main goal of that document is to help to improve the long-term economic well-being of the community. As elected officials, we should be doing everything we can to help strengthen the businesses in our community,” he said

“If municipalities invest money on strategies, they should see them through to completion. That’s why it’s important to me that we revisit this economic development strategy.”