Peninsula Development Association
Planning Grant Application
Program Year July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2007
Purpose:
The Peninsula Development Association (PDA) is a two-county regional economic development organization. In the past, one of its primary activities was the support of the two resident economic development councils’ strategic plans, objectives, goals and outcomes. Also, the PDA’s quarterly meetings facilitated continued collaborations and communications on a regional level that would have not otherwise occurred. However, a combination of a heightened awareness of EDA funding expectations and recent changes within the economic development entities that make up the PDA have given the organization a new direction toward regional economic development planning and implementation.
In this second year of a three-year plan, the PDA seeks planning funds to implement a process to identify, evaluate and effectively prioritize projects with clear region-wide economic benefits. The top priority projects will then form the basis of the next update to the region’s Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy.
Background:
The Olympic Peninsula is bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Straits of Juan de Fuca
to the North, Admiralty Inlet and the Hood Canal to the East and Mason County to the South. Access from the mainland is limited to one highway ( Highway 101 from Olympia) and three ferry routes. The Hood Canal Bridge connects the Peninsula to Seattle via Bainbridge Island and Bremerton ferries. There are also ferries from Port Angeles to Victoria and from Port Townsend to Whidbey Island. There is no local passenger or freight rail service.
The region consists of two counties Clallam (pop 69,000) and Jefferson (pop. 28,700). Over 95% of the land in the region is owned or controlled by the government. This includes the Olympic National Park which is a major tourist attraction.
The incorporated cities in the area are:
Port Angeles 19,010
Port Townsend 8,865
Forks 3,175
Sequim 5,330
Total 36,380
Rural 60,620
Total Region 97,000
Until the mid 1980s, the Olympic Peninsula was a burgeoning economy based almost entirely on lumber, which was the area’s most abundant natural resource. After years of harvesting at an unsustainable rate, ecological regulations were enacted in the early ‘80’s to protect the endangered Spotted Owl. This soon put a major part of the local workforce out of a job (the highest unemployment at 19.1% in 1981) and the two counties were designated as an economically “distressed” area. The more recent decline of the local fishing industry has exacerbated the economic problems. Efforts to create a new basis for a sustainable¹ economy in the area have been slow and not dramatically successful.
Mitigation funding from the Federal and State governments has hardly been proportionate to the scale of the economic downturn and has been inadequate to provide the infrastructure needed for economic development. Much of the original mitigation funding is scheduled to expire in 2008.
Recent Developments
The results of the efforts to develop the economy have been mixed. Clallam County adopted a regional locally driven, self-sustaining “cluster” economic development model designed to leverage indigenous industry resources and assets. Clallam actively encouraged large retailers to locate in the county. Jefferson County did not adopt the “cluster” model until recently and lacked the customer base to support major retailers. Average wages in the region are still 20-30% below the state average. Public school enrollment in Jefferson County has declined to the point where many of the rural schools are not sustainable with current property tax levies. Clallam County has also experienced a decrease in enrollment. This is due, in part, to competition from private schools, but also to the fact that many young people leave the area to find employment and raise a family. During the last 10 years, the region has attracted affluent retirees from California and elsewhere due to the natural beauty of the area and the low cost of housing (relative to other areas). As a result of this increase in demand and a shortage of land suitable for residential building, local property values have soared and are now far beyond the reach of the typical average working family.
The current low unemployment rate of 4.5% is, therefore, more a reflection of the exodus of our young job seekers to more lucrative job prospects outside the region and the influx of retirees rather than any significant increase in available jobs. The total population has not grown significantly but the 25-50 year old population has decreased and the over-50 population has increased in both counties.
Most recent retail sales data also indicates that the region is lagging the State. The State of Washington enjoyed a record 9% increase in retail sales last year while the Olympic Peninsula region only increased by 5.4%
In 2000, median home prices were $125,000 in Clallam County and $173,000 in Jefferson County. The Housing Affordability Index (HAI) was 117 for Clallam County and 82 for Jefferson County, with 100 indicating a balance of a family's ability to pay. In 2006, the HAI for Clallam County fell to an average of 91, with median home prices of $239,000 and Jefferson County's HAI dropped to an average of 67 with median home prices of $326,000. These lower numbers indicate a dramatic reduction in workforce housing affordability.
¹ A sustainable economy generates jobs which pay enough to permit the average family to afford a median priced home
A recent survey of local industries in Jefferson County clearly indicated that a lack of skilled workers is still a major issue. Washington State’s Community Trade and Economic Development funded Business Retention and Expansion surveys in Clallam County, confirmed that the same problem prevails there. The Marine Trade and Manufacturing Industry had seen significant growth both in Port Angeles and Port Townsend in the past. Recently it has leveled off in Port Townsend largely due to the cost of land and the cost of developing the infrastructure needed for expansion. Marine trades businesses in Clallam continue to grow at a steady rate.
The growth in retail jobs in the region occurred mainly in Sequim (Clallam County) due to the opening of a several big box stores within Sequim’s city limits. Efforts by the State of Washington and the local Joint Marketing Cooperative (Jefferson and Clallam) have stimulated tourism in the region. Similarly, the influx of retirees has resulted in an increase in the number of health care workers. Unfortunately, retail, healthcare and tourism are the lowest paid sectors of the regional economy. Together they represent 43% of the total workforce but less than 35% of the payroll. In contrast, local government employs 9% of the workforce but accounts for 15% of the region’s payroll. Growth in these low-paying sectors, unless outweighed by stronger growth in other sectors, actually reduce the region’s average wage and strain the already short supply of low income housing.
Conclusions
While the region’s economic development efforts have made a difference, it is clear that not enough is being done to stimulate family wage jobs creation in the region. Therefore, the Board of Directors of the Peninsula Development Association concludes the following:
• Growth created by increases in tourism and the healthcare and service sector demands of our retirees will lead to more serious shortages of low income housing and will not create family wage employment opportunities.
• A major effort is required to assist our high demand/high wage businesses, support local entrepreneurs starting new businesses, and attract new industries to the area in addition to stimulating our indigenous economy.
• The PDA needs to accelerate its evolution from an “umbrella” role, supporting the efforts of the local EDCs, to a regional development organization which identifies and focuses on broad projects that provide clear and immediate regional benefit. The PDA must reach out and encourage all the regional organizations to participate in the identification and adoption of a prioritized list of regional economic development projects.
I. McFall 7/30/2007
Scope of Work
As proposed within the 2006-07 Peninsula Development Association’s Planning Grant, Phase II was defined as follows:
Research and develop process for cluster sustainability through project development:
• Correlate Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies (CEDS) document within identified regional industry cluster projects
• Develop project application process
• Develop project prioritization
• Research and develop additional finance and technical resources
• Research and implement ad
Therefore, beginning in funding year July 2007-June 2008 the following activities will occur
Activity Who When Budget
1. Update the historic and statistical data to represent the region comprehensively (ongoing during the year) that is required in the CEDS doc.
Contractor Ongoing.
2. Identify 3 to 5 “umbrella” topics such (for example only):
a. Workforce Training
b. Tourism
c. Infrastructure
d. Alternative energies
e. Transportation Board/contractor Fall 2007
3. Create an RFP project template
• Job creation
• Regional Impact
• Estimated Cost Board Fall/Winter 2007
4. Create a project prioritization process
• Scoring sheet
• Presentation by agencies/organizations Board/contractor Fall/Winter 2007
5. Publish RFP and receive regional projects from communities, ports, cities, etc. Board/contractor February 2008
6. Using prioritization process, identify viable projects that match CEDS overarching focus under umbrella topics Board/contractor March 2008
7. Identify in-house PDA projects to be included in CEDS document and begin identification of funding resources Board January-March
7. Hold hearings for project sponsors Board/contractor April 2008
8. Choose PDA sponsored projects through scoring and sponsorship Board April 2008
9 Compile and write first draft of CEDS 2008-09 document Board subcommittee May 2008
10 Finalize draft Board June 1, 2008
11 Submit 2008-09 CEDS document that includes identified projects to EDA Board July 1, 2008
12 Submit applications for project funding for both outside and in-house projects Partners and Board July 1, 2008
Friday, September 28, 2007
PDA minutes 9.27.07
PENINSULA DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION
SERVING
JEFFERSON & CLALLAM COUNTIES
Board of Directors Meeting
September 27, 2007
Jamestown Community Center
1:30 p.m.
ATTENDEES
Board Members: Katherine Baril, Herb Beck, Bill Hannan, Marlin Holden, Tony Ingersoll, Laurie Medlicott, Will Purser, Linda Rotmark, David Sullivan
CALL TO ORDER:
MINUTES:
TREASURER REPORT:
Bill Hannan, treasurer is NOT running for re-election. Proposed and Approved auditing the books at the end of 2007 to ensure clean record for new officers.
PLANNING GRANT UPDATE
Success: got the approval from EDA---
NEW BUSINESS:
Port Recruitment Activities:
Herb talked about a port contract with Ian for $500 an aviation job
Ian reported Port has property/ land and must be aviation related- look for some aviated related industry- EDC will have a flat fee plus a finders fee of $500 an employee. . .Ian like to throw up an idea (not talked about with Board) I don’t see EDCs doing enough- we need to bring some real industry- PDA is best organization to do industrial level work because the EDCs are not of the scale as business recruitment (Thurston County funded with advertising by local business – serious effort to sell the area) . . .all the things that we are doing but not enough- EDC brought two projects- serious marketing program—
New PDA staff report:
Discussion of how and whether to hire a new coordinator of PDA funded by EDA funds.
Subcommittee Report: job description for new PDA Position
Katherine reported on the subcommittee results
Linda Rotmark- Dave Timmons was right we need a project manager
Marlan- if don’t give a tax incentive don’t get the new business
Ian- yes we don’t have the job skilled training and so you’d have to sweeten the pot- go to Olympia and lobby B&O tax to do this—
Marlan- it’s a workforce its training- its affordable housing. . .
Ian- tourism and health care lowest wages in the county- initially they will be imported people-
Rotmark- expect to spend $50,000?
Ian, no put together local advertisers. . . there are opportunities to get money
Rotmark- yes EDC does recruitment plan- but EDA is about further regionalizing the projects- benefit all of us—infrastructure—EDA not availing ourselves of USDA rural development- and EDC funds- this is what the planning grant does—it’s a planning grant not a recruitment grant—the planning grant helps us tell us as a region—
Bill Harnan- lead to $150,000 Barging money. . . want to see a couple of projects a quarter—
Herb- at port to port Quilcene we have a marina—others want to come in Broders and Gunstone but the problem ins the infrastructure – so the port does public water and over $100,000 to do the septic. . .
Bill Harnan- to achieve what’s necessary to get a major business here for Herb’s jobs- takes more than just the port doing it- more than EDC- when the port was working with Westport e.g. into the running against Anacortes and Westport for 100 jobs at $60,000 with benefits- the port had property. . . . it took tax incentives. . it took the college to create the training.. . now we’d have to tackle affordable housing- Westport wants to double and tripe- wall there for affordable housing and workforce- it takes a lot more collaboration than we had before that---
From PDA talk about affordable housing and workforce it’s a two county area and tackle the issue on a regional basis.
1) help overcome the obstacles
2) coordinate the mass collaborative effort to recruit
Ian – look at Arlington and you have 300 employees hired in a spectrum of industry.
Rotmark: identify scope of work- transportation, housing, fibre, workforce training and those are the regional priorities --- build capacity to compete for funds- these are our four big priorities that support economic development and start asking for people—give us a project- then link that with federal/ state funding. . . .
Bill: not think competitively but collaboratively
Rotmark- deal with the infrastructure that helps businesses do what they do. ..
Ian- where does the money come from?
Bill Hanan- we need to demonstrate collaboration
Doherty- everyone is going the same way together
Sullivan- build grants/ build team/ start part time and then build the organization. . . .
Doherty- this grant pays part time. . .
Outstanding Invoices/ Bills:
Invoice coming from Ian—Linda has problems with that First item on agenda when we see invoice
EDC role on the PDA_ next meeting
RCD NCW EDD Jay Kenhne. . .
EDA Proposal – Status report:
Ian: where are two EDC project. .1) the network for the visitors center and 2) workforce development.
Hanna: clarifies that when projects are bought forward the PDA blesses them but don’t fund them –don’t coordinate them- PDA just say it fits the perameters and the proponent has PDA support to move forward. .. it’s the proponent’s responsibility to move forward.
SERVING
JEFFERSON & CLALLAM COUNTIES
Board of Directors Meeting
September 27, 2007
Jamestown Community Center
1:30 p.m.
ATTENDEES
Board Members: Katherine Baril, Herb Beck, Bill Hannan, Marlin Holden, Tony Ingersoll, Laurie Medlicott, Will Purser, Linda Rotmark, David Sullivan
CALL TO ORDER:
MINUTES:
TREASURER REPORT:
Bill Hannan, treasurer is NOT running for re-election. Proposed and Approved auditing the books at the end of 2007 to ensure clean record for new officers.
PLANNING GRANT UPDATE
Success: got the approval from EDA---
NEW BUSINESS:
Port Recruitment Activities:
Herb talked about a port contract with Ian for $500 an aviation job
Ian reported Port has property/ land and must be aviation related- look for some aviated related industry- EDC will have a flat fee plus a finders fee of $500 an employee. . .Ian like to throw up an idea (not talked about with Board) I don’t see EDCs doing enough- we need to bring some real industry- PDA is best organization to do industrial level work because the EDCs are not of the scale as business recruitment (Thurston County funded with advertising by local business – serious effort to sell the area) . . .all the things that we are doing but not enough- EDC brought two projects- serious marketing program—
New PDA staff report:
Discussion of how and whether to hire a new coordinator of PDA funded by EDA funds.
Subcommittee Report: job description for new PDA Position
Katherine reported on the subcommittee results
Linda Rotmark- Dave Timmons was right we need a project manager
Marlan- if don’t give a tax incentive don’t get the new business
Ian- yes we don’t have the job skilled training and so you’d have to sweeten the pot- go to Olympia and lobby B&O tax to do this—
Marlan- it’s a workforce its training- its affordable housing. . .
Ian- tourism and health care lowest wages in the county- initially they will be imported people-
Rotmark- expect to spend $50,000?
Ian, no put together local advertisers. . . there are opportunities to get money
Rotmark- yes EDC does recruitment plan- but EDA is about further regionalizing the projects- benefit all of us—infrastructure—EDA not availing ourselves of USDA rural development- and EDC funds- this is what the planning grant does—it’s a planning grant not a recruitment grant—the planning grant helps us tell us as a region—
Bill Harnan- lead to $150,000 Barging money. . . want to see a couple of projects a quarter—
Herb- at port to port Quilcene we have a marina—others want to come in Broders and Gunstone but the problem ins the infrastructure – so the port does public water and over $100,000 to do the septic. . .
Bill Harnan- to achieve what’s necessary to get a major business here for Herb’s jobs- takes more than just the port doing it- more than EDC- when the port was working with Westport e.g. into the running against Anacortes and Westport for 100 jobs at $60,000 with benefits- the port had property. . . . it took tax incentives. . it took the college to create the training.. . now we’d have to tackle affordable housing- Westport wants to double and tripe- wall there for affordable housing and workforce- it takes a lot more collaboration than we had before that---
From PDA talk about affordable housing and workforce it’s a two county area and tackle the issue on a regional basis.
1) help overcome the obstacles
2) coordinate the mass collaborative effort to recruit
Ian – look at Arlington and you have 300 employees hired in a spectrum of industry.
Rotmark: identify scope of work- transportation, housing, fibre, workforce training and those are the regional priorities --- build capacity to compete for funds- these are our four big priorities that support economic development and start asking for people—give us a project- then link that with federal/ state funding. . . .
Bill: not think competitively but collaboratively
Rotmark- deal with the infrastructure that helps businesses do what they do. ..
Ian- where does the money come from?
Bill Hanan- we need to demonstrate collaboration
Doherty- everyone is going the same way together
Sullivan- build grants/ build team/ start part time and then build the organization. . . .
Doherty- this grant pays part time. . .
Outstanding Invoices/ Bills:
Invoice coming from Ian—Linda has problems with that First item on agenda when we see invoice
EDC role on the PDA_ next meeting
RCD NCW EDD Jay Kenhne. . .
EDA Proposal – Status report:
Ian: where are two EDC project. .1) the network for the visitors center and 2) workforce development.
Hanna: clarifies that when projects are bought forward the PDA blesses them but don’t fund them –don’t coordinate them- PDA just say it fits the perameters and the proponent has PDA support to move forward. .. it’s the proponent’s responsibility to move forward.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
PDA projects 7.27.07
Peninsula Development Association
Jefferson County Projects
Contents
Olympic Peninsula Visitor Center Reservation System
Water Quality Improvement project for Quilcene Port Facility
Quincy Street Dock Refurbishment
Marine Trades Apprentice Program
Olympic Peninsula Visitor Center Reservation System
Project Description
There is a need, expressed by many tourism related enterprises and the Olympic Peninsula Joint Marketing Board to provide the various Visitor Centers on the OP with a means to determine the availability or rooms, RV space, Transit booking, event tickets etc., through a centralized on-line availability/reservation system.
Phase I of the project would determine the computer hardware and software needs to create such a system and determine the costs of procurement, installation and user training. Local tourist, ferry and transit operators would be asked to partner in this project and assist in the determination of the features and technical specifications required to meet their needs. This phase would be conducted by the EDC and technical consultants who may include potential hardware/software vendors.
Estimated Cost of this phase is $30,000. Deliverables would be a recommendation on the technology direction and software solution with detailed estimates of procurement cost, installation cost and user training costs. In addition, an overall implementation schedule would be derived based primarily on vendor input.
If at this point the project is determined to be economically feasible and participation by subscriber businesses is sufficient then Phase II would be undertaken. Phase II would involve selecting a vendor for the system via a bid process, soliciting the funding and overseeing the implementation of the system and implementing the training process. At this early stage, it is difficult to estimate the total cost of the project other than by using averages of generic system costs. Assuming that the objectives can be met with off-the-shelf software and a minimum amount of local customization and estimate of 25,000 –30,000 per center is reasonable. For 7 centers that amounts to $175,000. Installation and training are typically ½ of the cost of these generic systems so that total cost of phase II would be $350,000 and take from 6 to 9 months.
Purpose
To increase OP revenues from tourism by providing a more convenient way for tourists to be informed of tourism opportunities in the county, to determine the availability of these facilities and make advanced reservations at any visitor center or, on-line from their homes.
Partners
Joint Marketing Board, Washington State Parks, possibly Washington State Ferry System
Benefits to the Olympic Peninsula
Increased Tourism activity and revenues
Estimated Total Project Cost: $380,000
Priority #2
Water Quality Improvement project for Quilcene Port Facility
Project Description
The Port of port Townsend operates a facility in Quilcene which services a number of Oyster businesses. Silting in Quilcene Bay has degraded the ability of this facility to provide clean water from the Hood Canal for required for Oyster Breeding. The market for Oysters continues to grow and local product is now being limited by the supply of fresh, clean water. The Port needs to extend the existing water supply system further into the Canal, into deeper cleaner water in order to increase the capacity without having to increase the capacity of expensive filtration and temperature control equipment.
Purpose
To increase Oyster production capacity in Quilcene Bay and provide jobs for about 28 more people.
Partners
Port of Port Townsend
NRCS RC&D
Coast Oyster
Benefits to the Olympic Peninsula
Jobs for 28 more people at an existing facility.
Estimated Cost
$425,000
Priority #4
Quincy Street Dock Refurbishment
Project Description
“Soundliner” tours is currently planning to use a 192ft Alaskan Ferry to operate Kayak, Bicycle and Walking tours at three of four destinations around the Puget Sound. The company is close to securing funding and is in the process of purchasing the vessel. The company has selected Port Townsend as one of its route “destinations” and would consider it as its “home base” if we had adequate facilities. The vessel is too large for either marina and for the NW Maritime Center who had offered use of their facility.
The Quincy Street Dock would be ideal for this purpose and for other large cruise boats we could entice to Port Townsend. The facility (currently owned by the City) is currently unserviceable and may require “upward of $1,000,000” to refurbish according to Port authorities. However, Soundliner is willing to contribute to this cost if it could be used as a permanent base.
Purpose
The purpose of this project is to research the feasibility and cost of refurbishing the dock, sharing it’s use with local restaurants and shops and converting it into a small cruise-boat center to develop tourism for the Peninsula.
Partners
City of Port Townsend
Port of Port Townsend
Joint Marketing Board
Soundliner
Victoria Express
Benefits to the Olympic Peninsula
Increased tourism revenues and several Marine jobs
Estimated Cost
Phase I: determine costs of dock refurbishment $60,000 (3 months)
Phase II: Actual refurbishment : between $1.6 and $2.0 million. (2 years)
Priority #3
Marine Trades Apprentice Program
Project Description
Several companies in both Jefferson County and Clallam County have expressed the need for more skilled people. Various attempts by local community colleges and the NW school of Wooden Boat building have not been able to satisfy this demand effectively. The industry is looking for a way to train (and cross train) the people they already have employed rather than hiring graduates from these Community College programs. Discussions with the owners of several of the local Marine Trade businesses indicate that there are shortages of very specific skills in both Clallam and Jefferson and these could best be filled by some kind of “apprentice” program. (we have in fact started this project “on a shoe string” with funds from the Marine Trade Association)
Purpose
The purpose of this project is to formally determine the current needs of the local Marine Trades in a very select group of skills (Composite Finishing for example) and then work with the Community Colleges and the NWWBS to provide a tailored curricula and obtain grants to fund instructors drawn from local industry.
Partners
Marine Trades Association
Townsend Bay Marine
Westport Marine
Olympic Workforce Development Council
NW School of Wooden Boatbuilding
Peninsula College
Benefits to the Olympic Peninsula
A shortage of skilled labor is one of the biggest problems in this industry. Solving the problem will enable the local industry to grow at the market rate.
Estimated Cost
Operating Costs : Instructors and Materials for the first year $120,000
Capital Costs: Additional building for welding instruction and composite finishing $400,000
Priority #1
Jefferson County Projects
Contents
Olympic Peninsula Visitor Center Reservation System
Water Quality Improvement project for Quilcene Port Facility
Quincy Street Dock Refurbishment
Marine Trades Apprentice Program
Olympic Peninsula Visitor Center Reservation System
Project Description
There is a need, expressed by many tourism related enterprises and the Olympic Peninsula Joint Marketing Board to provide the various Visitor Centers on the OP with a means to determine the availability or rooms, RV space, Transit booking, event tickets etc., through a centralized on-line availability/reservation system.
Phase I of the project would determine the computer hardware and software needs to create such a system and determine the costs of procurement, installation and user training. Local tourist, ferry and transit operators would be asked to partner in this project and assist in the determination of the features and technical specifications required to meet their needs. This phase would be conducted by the EDC and technical consultants who may include potential hardware/software vendors.
Estimated Cost of this phase is $30,000. Deliverables would be a recommendation on the technology direction and software solution with detailed estimates of procurement cost, installation cost and user training costs. In addition, an overall implementation schedule would be derived based primarily on vendor input.
If at this point the project is determined to be economically feasible and participation by subscriber businesses is sufficient then Phase II would be undertaken. Phase II would involve selecting a vendor for the system via a bid process, soliciting the funding and overseeing the implementation of the system and implementing the training process. At this early stage, it is difficult to estimate the total cost of the project other than by using averages of generic system costs. Assuming that the objectives can be met with off-the-shelf software and a minimum amount of local customization and estimate of 25,000 –30,000 per center is reasonable. For 7 centers that amounts to $175,000. Installation and training are typically ½ of the cost of these generic systems so that total cost of phase II would be $350,000 and take from 6 to 9 months.
Purpose
To increase OP revenues from tourism by providing a more convenient way for tourists to be informed of tourism opportunities in the county, to determine the availability of these facilities and make advanced reservations at any visitor center or, on-line from their homes.
Partners
Joint Marketing Board, Washington State Parks, possibly Washington State Ferry System
Benefits to the Olympic Peninsula
Increased Tourism activity and revenues
Estimated Total Project Cost: $380,000
Priority #2
Water Quality Improvement project for Quilcene Port Facility
Project Description
The Port of port Townsend operates a facility in Quilcene which services a number of Oyster businesses. Silting in Quilcene Bay has degraded the ability of this facility to provide clean water from the Hood Canal for required for Oyster Breeding. The market for Oysters continues to grow and local product is now being limited by the supply of fresh, clean water. The Port needs to extend the existing water supply system further into the Canal, into deeper cleaner water in order to increase the capacity without having to increase the capacity of expensive filtration and temperature control equipment.
Purpose
To increase Oyster production capacity in Quilcene Bay and provide jobs for about 28 more people.
Partners
Port of Port Townsend
NRCS RC&D
Coast Oyster
Benefits to the Olympic Peninsula
Jobs for 28 more people at an existing facility.
Estimated Cost
$425,000
Priority #4
Quincy Street Dock Refurbishment
Project Description
“Soundliner” tours is currently planning to use a 192ft Alaskan Ferry to operate Kayak, Bicycle and Walking tours at three of four destinations around the Puget Sound. The company is close to securing funding and is in the process of purchasing the vessel. The company has selected Port Townsend as one of its route “destinations” and would consider it as its “home base” if we had adequate facilities. The vessel is too large for either marina and for the NW Maritime Center who had offered use of their facility.
The Quincy Street Dock would be ideal for this purpose and for other large cruise boats we could entice to Port Townsend. The facility (currently owned by the City) is currently unserviceable and may require “upward of $1,000,000” to refurbish according to Port authorities. However, Soundliner is willing to contribute to this cost if it could be used as a permanent base.
Purpose
The purpose of this project is to research the feasibility and cost of refurbishing the dock, sharing it’s use with local restaurants and shops and converting it into a small cruise-boat center to develop tourism for the Peninsula.
Partners
City of Port Townsend
Port of Port Townsend
Joint Marketing Board
Soundliner
Victoria Express
Benefits to the Olympic Peninsula
Increased tourism revenues and several Marine jobs
Estimated Cost
Phase I: determine costs of dock refurbishment $60,000 (3 months)
Phase II: Actual refurbishment : between $1.6 and $2.0 million. (2 years)
Priority #3
Marine Trades Apprentice Program
Project Description
Several companies in both Jefferson County and Clallam County have expressed the need for more skilled people. Various attempts by local community colleges and the NW school of Wooden Boat building have not been able to satisfy this demand effectively. The industry is looking for a way to train (and cross train) the people they already have employed rather than hiring graduates from these Community College programs. Discussions with the owners of several of the local Marine Trade businesses indicate that there are shortages of very specific skills in both Clallam and Jefferson and these could best be filled by some kind of “apprentice” program. (we have in fact started this project “on a shoe string” with funds from the Marine Trade Association)
Purpose
The purpose of this project is to formally determine the current needs of the local Marine Trades in a very select group of skills (Composite Finishing for example) and then work with the Community Colleges and the NWWBS to provide a tailored curricula and obtain grants to fund instructors drawn from local industry.
Partners
Marine Trades Association
Townsend Bay Marine
Westport Marine
Olympic Workforce Development Council
NW School of Wooden Boatbuilding
Peninsula College
Benefits to the Olympic Peninsula
A shortage of skilled labor is one of the biggest problems in this industry. Solving the problem will enable the local industry to grow at the market rate.
Estimated Cost
Operating Costs : Instructors and Materials for the first year $120,000
Capital Costs: Additional building for welding instruction and composite finishing $400,000
Priority #1
Thursday, July 19, 2007
PDA planning grant 2007
Narrative
Background
The Olympic peninsula is bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the West, The Straights of Juan de Fuca to the North, Admiralty Inlet and the Hood Canal to the East and Mason County to the South. Access from the mainland is limited to one highway ( HWY 101 from Olympia) and three ferries. The Hood Canal Bridge connects the Peninsula to Seattle via Bainbridge Island and Bremerton ferries. There are also ferries from Port Angeles to Victoria and from Port Townsend to Whidbey Island. There is no local passenger of freight rail service.
The region consists of two counties Clallam (pop 67,000) and Jefferson (pop 27,000). More than 95% of the region is National or State Park, the largest of which is the Olympic National Park, a major tourist attraction.
The incorporated cities in the area are:
Port Angeles 19,010
Port Townsend 8,865
Forks 3,175
Sequim 5,330
Total 36,380
Rural 57,620
Total Region 94,000
Until the mid 1980s, the Olympic Peninsula was a burgeoning economy based almost entirely on lumber, the area’s most abundant natural resource. Ecological regulation enacted at that time to protect the endangered Spotted Owl, soon put a major part of the local workforce out of a job and turned the entire region into an economic disaster area. The decline of the local fishing industry has exacerbated the economic problems and efforts to create a new basis for a sustainable economy in the area have been slow and not dramatically successful.
The fishing industry has not recovered and, more than twenty years after the cessation of logging, the last of the spotted owls are now being rounded up for a captive breeding program. Mitigation funding from the Federal and State government has hardly been proportionate to the scale of the economic disaster perpetrated by the Spotted Owl and much of that funding is scheduled to expire next year.
Change in Average wages 1990 to 2000 adjusted for inflation
Average wages in the region, (adjusted for inflation), actually decreased from 1990 to 2000. Unemployment exceeded 25% during this period. Economic Development Organizations were formed in both counties with a view to reversing this dire economic situation.
Recent Developments
Clallam County adopted a regional locally driven, self-sustaining “cluster” economic development model designed to leverage indigenous industry resources and assets. Clallam actively encouraged large retailers to locate in the county. Jefferson County did not adopt the “cluster” model until recently and discouraged major retailers from locating in the county.
The results of the efforts to develop the economy have been mixed. Average wages in the region are still 20-30% below the State Average. Public school enrollment in Jefferson County has declined to the point where many of the rural schools are not sustainable without property tax levies. Clallam County has seen a slight upturn in enrollment, a reflection of the fact that new family wage jobs are being created.
During the last 10 years, the region has attracted affluent retirees from California and elsewhere due to the natural beauty of the area and the low cost of housing. (relative to other areas) As a result of this increase in demand and a shortage of land suitable for residential building, local property values have soared and are now far beyond the reach of the typical average working family.
The current low unemployment rate of 4.5% is more a reflection of the exodus of our young job seekers to more lucrative job prospects off the Peninsula, and the influx of retirees (40% of the population vs. 25% in 2000) rather than any significant increase in available jobs. The total population has not grown significantly but the 25-50 population has decreased and the 50+ population has increased in both counties.
Most recent retail sales data also indicates that the region is lagging the State. The State of Washington enjoyed a record 9% increase in retail sales last year. Clallam increased by only 7% and Jefferson by a meager 0.8%, a reflection of the growth of the retail industry outside of Jefferson County.
Retail Tax Revenue/Growth 2005/2006
Area Taxable Retail Sales(millions) Retail Trade Only(millions) TRS/person Median Income
Clallam County $1020/ 7.2% $484/3.5 % $15,700 $42,367
Jefferson County $372/0.8% $119/2.1 $13,800 $42,620
Washington State $110,500/ 9% $49,400/7.5% $17,300 $51,794
Median Home prices were $231,000 in Clallam and $179,000 in Jefferson Co. in 2000 approximately 5 times the average regional wage. Today the median home price in Jefferson County is $312,000, 7.3 times the average wage. Clallam County faired slightly better with homes costing about 6.5 times the average wage. A two income family making average wages cannot afford the median priced home in this area.
Median Household Income 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2005 % of WA
Clallam County $38,052 $39,702 $39,863 $40,124 $41,108 $42,367 81.8%
Jefferson County $39,122 $40,923 $41,385 $40,852 $41,801 $42,620 82.3%
State of Washington $48,397 $49,286 $49,771 $50,664 $51,762 $51,794
A recent survey of local industries in Jefferson County clearly indicated that a lack of skilled workers is still a major issue. No survey has been made recently in Clallam, but anecdotal evidence suggests that the same problem prevails there. Jefferson County’s manufacturing industry is dominated by Port Townsend paper, the regions largest employer in the private sector. This company has struggled financially for several years and entered bankruptcy in 2006 from which it has recently emerged. The Marine trade industry has seen healthy growth in Port Angeles and Port Townsend in the past. Recently it has leveled off in Port Townsend largely due to a lack of available land zoned appropriately for expansion. Marine trades and Manufacturing in Clallam are continuing to grow at a modest rate.
According to this same survey, Jefferson County is still not a “business friendly” community. This view has been a common result of surveys conducted since 2003
Recent data on the relationship between the public and private sectors is not available for Clallam County.
The growth in Retail jobs paralleled the growth in trade and efforts by the State of Washington and the local Joint Marketing board stimulated tourism in the region. Similarly, the influx of retirees has resulted in an increase in the number of health care workers. Unfortunately, Retail, Health-Care and Tourism are the lowest paid sectors of the regional economy. Together they represent 43% of the total workforce but less than 35% of the payroll. In contrast, local government employs 9% of the workforce but accounts for 15% of the region’s payroll. Growth in these low-paid sectors, unless matched by similar growth in other sectors actually reduce the region’s average wage and strain the already short supply of low income housing.
Conclusions
While the region’s economic development efforts have made a difference, it is clear that not enough is being done to stimulate family wage jobs creation in the region. Growth created by increases in Tourism and the Health Care demands of our retirees will lead to more serious shortages of low income housing and will not create family wage employment opportunities. A major effort is required to increase or higher wage jobs and attract new industries to the area in addition to stimulating our indigenous economy. Some changes therefore need to be made to the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy submitted to the EDA in 2006.
To accomplish this the PDA needs accelerate its evolution from an “umbrella” role, coordinating the efforts of the local EDCs, to a regional development organization which identifies and focuses on broad projects which provide clear and immediate REGIONAL benefit. The PDA must reach out to all the regional organizations to create a prioritized list of these projects.
The PDA should revise the current (interim) CEDS and also create a detailed five-year plan of key economic development activity with measurable milestones and results. This plan should strengthen and focus the efforts to develop the indigenous industry clusters and include some radical changes in our approach to providing these industries with the skilled people they need. Effective, timely workforce development must be a top priority.
The PDA in conjunction with the local EDCs should embark on a major program to recruit new synergistic businesses to the area and to attract intellectual property developers who offer the opportunity for family wage jobs. Initially companies like this would have to import most of their employees, but eventually would provide family wage jobs to young people educated in the region. Attracting these industries requires identifying and building the modern technology infrastructure needed and providing incentives to these businesses to relocate.
The Scope of Work document attached and the interim CEDS update to be published shortly reflect these changes in direction.
Scope of Work
o Educate the PDA board in the Regional Economic Development process
o Determine concise, formal and measurable goals for the PDA. A reasonable goal would be “Achieve, within 5 years, a regional wage so that a dual-income family can afford the median price home” Set interim annual goals for Average Wage, Number of employees by sector and number of new businesses established
o Institute a formal Project Funding Application process and communicate the application process to all the relevant regional agencies. The application form should mirror EDA requirements to estimate the increase in jobs resulting from the project, the total cost of the project and the partners who support and promote the project.
o Create a formal “Project Review Committee” set regular meetings and develop funding criteria.
o Schedule the participation of Board members to participate in the developing the next CEDS and the five-year-plan according the procedures set out in the guidelines. Both the CEDS and the five-year-plan need to be a “living” document much like a business plan in the private sector where board members participate in its evolution and MEASURE their progress at least quarterly.
o Form Subcommittees charged with each of the major projects areas and have them report formally to the board with the same diligence as the treasurer might. The project areas must include
Workforce Development
o Skill set requirements
o Training requirements
o Joint ventures with local industry
Infrastructure Development
o Zoning
o Sewer & Water
o Fiber Optic and other technology
Solicitation strategy
o Determination of target industries and companies
o Determination of infrastructure and workforce requirement
o Highly targeted solicitation process.
Background
The Olympic peninsula is bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the West, The Straights of Juan de Fuca to the North, Admiralty Inlet and the Hood Canal to the East and Mason County to the South. Access from the mainland is limited to one highway ( HWY 101 from Olympia) and three ferries. The Hood Canal Bridge connects the Peninsula to Seattle via Bainbridge Island and Bremerton ferries. There are also ferries from Port Angeles to Victoria and from Port Townsend to Whidbey Island. There is no local passenger of freight rail service.
The region consists of two counties Clallam (pop 67,000) and Jefferson (pop 27,000). More than 95% of the region is National or State Park, the largest of which is the Olympic National Park, a major tourist attraction.
The incorporated cities in the area are:
Port Angeles 19,010
Port Townsend 8,865
Forks 3,175
Sequim 5,330
Total 36,380
Rural 57,620
Total Region 94,000
Until the mid 1980s, the Olympic Peninsula was a burgeoning economy based almost entirely on lumber, the area’s most abundant natural resource. Ecological regulation enacted at that time to protect the endangered Spotted Owl, soon put a major part of the local workforce out of a job and turned the entire region into an economic disaster area. The decline of the local fishing industry has exacerbated the economic problems and efforts to create a new basis for a sustainable economy in the area have been slow and not dramatically successful.
The fishing industry has not recovered and, more than twenty years after the cessation of logging, the last of the spotted owls are now being rounded up for a captive breeding program. Mitigation funding from the Federal and State government has hardly been proportionate to the scale of the economic disaster perpetrated by the Spotted Owl and much of that funding is scheduled to expire next year.
Change in Average wages 1990 to 2000 adjusted for inflation
Average wages in the region, (adjusted for inflation), actually decreased from 1990 to 2000. Unemployment exceeded 25% during this period. Economic Development Organizations were formed in both counties with a view to reversing this dire economic situation.
Recent Developments
Clallam County adopted a regional locally driven, self-sustaining “cluster” economic development model designed to leverage indigenous industry resources and assets. Clallam actively encouraged large retailers to locate in the county. Jefferson County did not adopt the “cluster” model until recently and discouraged major retailers from locating in the county.
The results of the efforts to develop the economy have been mixed. Average wages in the region are still 20-30% below the State Average. Public school enrollment in Jefferson County has declined to the point where many of the rural schools are not sustainable without property tax levies. Clallam County has seen a slight upturn in enrollment, a reflection of the fact that new family wage jobs are being created.
During the last 10 years, the region has attracted affluent retirees from California and elsewhere due to the natural beauty of the area and the low cost of housing. (relative to other areas) As a result of this increase in demand and a shortage of land suitable for residential building, local property values have soared and are now far beyond the reach of the typical average working family.
The current low unemployment rate of 4.5% is more a reflection of the exodus of our young job seekers to more lucrative job prospects off the Peninsula, and the influx of retirees (40% of the population vs. 25% in 2000) rather than any significant increase in available jobs. The total population has not grown significantly but the 25-50 population has decreased and the 50+ population has increased in both counties.
Most recent retail sales data also indicates that the region is lagging the State. The State of Washington enjoyed a record 9% increase in retail sales last year. Clallam increased by only 7% and Jefferson by a meager 0.8%, a reflection of the growth of the retail industry outside of Jefferson County.
Retail Tax Revenue/Growth 2005/2006
Area Taxable Retail Sales(millions) Retail Trade Only(millions) TRS/person Median Income
Clallam County $1020/ 7.2% $484/3.5 % $15,700 $42,367
Jefferson County $372/0.8% $119/2.1 $13,800 $42,620
Washington State $110,500/ 9% $49,400/7.5% $17,300 $51,794
Median Home prices were $231,000 in Clallam and $179,000 in Jefferson Co. in 2000 approximately 5 times the average regional wage. Today the median home price in Jefferson County is $312,000, 7.3 times the average wage. Clallam County faired slightly better with homes costing about 6.5 times the average wage. A two income family making average wages cannot afford the median priced home in this area.
Median Household Income 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2005 % of WA
Clallam County $38,052 $39,702 $39,863 $40,124 $41,108 $42,367 81.8%
Jefferson County $39,122 $40,923 $41,385 $40,852 $41,801 $42,620 82.3%
State of Washington $48,397 $49,286 $49,771 $50,664 $51,762 $51,794
A recent survey of local industries in Jefferson County clearly indicated that a lack of skilled workers is still a major issue. No survey has been made recently in Clallam, but anecdotal evidence suggests that the same problem prevails there. Jefferson County’s manufacturing industry is dominated by Port Townsend paper, the regions largest employer in the private sector. This company has struggled financially for several years and entered bankruptcy in 2006 from which it has recently emerged. The Marine trade industry has seen healthy growth in Port Angeles and Port Townsend in the past. Recently it has leveled off in Port Townsend largely due to a lack of available land zoned appropriately for expansion. Marine trades and Manufacturing in Clallam are continuing to grow at a modest rate.
According to this same survey, Jefferson County is still not a “business friendly” community. This view has been a common result of surveys conducted since 2003
Recent data on the relationship between the public and private sectors is not available for Clallam County.
The growth in Retail jobs paralleled the growth in trade and efforts by the State of Washington and the local Joint Marketing board stimulated tourism in the region. Similarly, the influx of retirees has resulted in an increase in the number of health care workers. Unfortunately, Retail, Health-Care and Tourism are the lowest paid sectors of the regional economy. Together they represent 43% of the total workforce but less than 35% of the payroll. In contrast, local government employs 9% of the workforce but accounts for 15% of the region’s payroll. Growth in these low-paid sectors, unless matched by similar growth in other sectors actually reduce the region’s average wage and strain the already short supply of low income housing.
Conclusions
While the region’s economic development efforts have made a difference, it is clear that not enough is being done to stimulate family wage jobs creation in the region. Growth created by increases in Tourism and the Health Care demands of our retirees will lead to more serious shortages of low income housing and will not create family wage employment opportunities. A major effort is required to increase or higher wage jobs and attract new industries to the area in addition to stimulating our indigenous economy. Some changes therefore need to be made to the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy submitted to the EDA in 2006.
To accomplish this the PDA needs accelerate its evolution from an “umbrella” role, coordinating the efforts of the local EDCs, to a regional development organization which identifies and focuses on broad projects which provide clear and immediate REGIONAL benefit. The PDA must reach out to all the regional organizations to create a prioritized list of these projects.
The PDA should revise the current (interim) CEDS and also create a detailed five-year plan of key economic development activity with measurable milestones and results. This plan should strengthen and focus the efforts to develop the indigenous industry clusters and include some radical changes in our approach to providing these industries with the skilled people they need. Effective, timely workforce development must be a top priority.
The PDA in conjunction with the local EDCs should embark on a major program to recruit new synergistic businesses to the area and to attract intellectual property developers who offer the opportunity for family wage jobs. Initially companies like this would have to import most of their employees, but eventually would provide family wage jobs to young people educated in the region. Attracting these industries requires identifying and building the modern technology infrastructure needed and providing incentives to these businesses to relocate.
The Scope of Work document attached and the interim CEDS update to be published shortly reflect these changes in direction.
Scope of Work
o Educate the PDA board in the Regional Economic Development process
o Determine concise, formal and measurable goals for the PDA. A reasonable goal would be “Achieve, within 5 years, a regional wage so that a dual-income family can afford the median price home” Set interim annual goals for Average Wage, Number of employees by sector and number of new businesses established
o Institute a formal Project Funding Application process and communicate the application process to all the relevant regional agencies. The application form should mirror EDA requirements to estimate the increase in jobs resulting from the project, the total cost of the project and the partners who support and promote the project.
o Create a formal “Project Review Committee” set regular meetings and develop funding criteria.
o Schedule the participation of Board members to participate in the developing the next CEDS and the five-year-plan according the procedures set out in the guidelines. Both the CEDS and the five-year-plan need to be a “living” document much like a business plan in the private sector where board members participate in its evolution and MEASURE their progress at least quarterly.
o Form Subcommittees charged with each of the major projects areas and have them report formally to the board with the same diligence as the treasurer might. The project areas must include
Workforce Development
o Skill set requirements
o Training requirements
o Joint ventures with local industry
Infrastructure Development
o Zoning
o Sewer & Water
o Fiber Optic and other technology
Solicitation strategy
o Determination of target industries and companies
o Determination of infrastructure and workforce requirement
o Highly targeted solicitation process.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
PDA projects 7.27.07- Olympic Trails
Funding Request to PDA
Project: Olympic Discovery Trail
Date: June, 2007
Lead on project: Russ Veeneman, Olympic Peninsula Joint Marketing Committee, Executive Director, Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce. 360.385.7869
Project Phase: Development and Implementation:
Funding Request: Four priorities for consideration up to $500,000 each
As a member of the Joint Marketing Council I would like to submit a request to the PDA for funding a variety of projects for the Olympic Discovery Trail. This trail is primarily known as a wonderful addition to our tourism product on the Olympic Peninsula, but it is so much more. It has shown to be a powerful tool for increasing real estate interest near the trail for residential and commercial applications. The trail also has terrific potential to be a non-motorized transportation link. When completed we will link the ferry operations of Washington State and the private ferry operators from Port Angeles to Victoria. This would allow us access to the Galloping Goose Trail in Victoria and ferry access to the San Juan Islands for the popular island destinations. In addition the trail runs very close to the bus lines of Kitsap and Clallam Transit. This access gives users a wonderful opportunity for destination rides with a return trip via the bus. We also now have several events that would not exist if not for the trail. These events with the Discovery Marathon having the highest visibility, bring hundreds of thousands of dollars to our community each year.
The trail has been developed mostly through grant funding, volunteer labor, and the generosity of land owners. We are reaching some critical growth points and some significant funding would make a big difference to complete the dream of a trail connecting the Olympic Peninsula communities. With this in mind we submit the following for your review.
For questions or additional information contact
Rich James 360 417 2290 Russ Veenema 360 452 2363 X 13
Transportation Program Manager Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce
Clallam County
The top priority project for the development of the Olympic Discovery Trail would be to ensure sufficient project funding to allow construction of the pedestrian portion of the bridge that will replace the Elwha River One Lane Bridge. This project will connect the existing 30 miles of Olympic Discovery Trail east of Port Angeles with the recently completed 24 miles of trail in the Adventure Route segment of the trail located west of the Elwha River and leading to Lake Crescent. This project will construct a 700 foot long, 14 foot wide pedestrian bridge across the Elwha River and build 2 miles of trail extending from the western City limit of Port Angeles down to the bridge crossing. The completed project would be a "Destination Site" on the trail with outstanding views of the Elwha River, the Elwha Valley, the Strait and the Olympic Mountains. There is an urgent need for up to $1,000,000 of additional grant funding to allow the County to award the bid for the bridge project. The total Elwha River Bridge project cost is $19,700,000 of which $16,400,000 would be for construction. The other project partners include the State Department of Transportation contributing $10,500,000 of Federal bridge funding, the City of Port Angeles contributing railroad right of way, the National Park Service contributing $1,800,000, the Bureau of Indian Affairs contributing $1,500,000 and the Elwha Tribe contributing a $500,000 grant if they receive the grant award. The County is supplying $1,500,000 to $2,000,000 of County Road funds for the project. If the County could receive some positive indication on the availability of grant funding for this project in the next 2 weeks it might convince the County to go forward with the award process on this vitally needed linkage in the trail system. This is an opportunity to contribute to a vitally needed project and an opportunity not to be lost.
The second priority for grant funding in Clallam County would be to fund a new bridge within Sequim Bay State Park to allow the trail to cross over a steep ravine. This project would require approximately $500,000 of project funding to construct a 300 foot long bridge.
The third priority for grant funding would be the funding of the Dry Creek Bridge within the City of Port Angeles. This is also a 300 foot long bridge that would require approximately $500,000 of project funding.
The fourth priority for project funding would be in Jefferson County. It would be to acquire 1.5 miles of the right of way for the Olympic Discovery Trail beside US 101. This acquisition would complete a route for the Olympic Discovery Trail from the east Clallam County line to Discovery Bay.
The fifth priority for the trail would fund the construction of replacement bridges and trail at the mouth of Snow Creek at Discovery Bay. This project would likely be in the $500,000 range also.
Project: Olympic Discovery Trail
Date: June, 2007
Lead on project: Russ Veeneman, Olympic Peninsula Joint Marketing Committee, Executive Director, Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce. 360.385.7869
Project Phase: Development and Implementation:
Funding Request: Four priorities for consideration up to $500,000 each
As a member of the Joint Marketing Council I would like to submit a request to the PDA for funding a variety of projects for the Olympic Discovery Trail. This trail is primarily known as a wonderful addition to our tourism product on the Olympic Peninsula, but it is so much more. It has shown to be a powerful tool for increasing real estate interest near the trail for residential and commercial applications. The trail also has terrific potential to be a non-motorized transportation link. When completed we will link the ferry operations of Washington State and the private ferry operators from Port Angeles to Victoria. This would allow us access to the Galloping Goose Trail in Victoria and ferry access to the San Juan Islands for the popular island destinations. In addition the trail runs very close to the bus lines of Kitsap and Clallam Transit. This access gives users a wonderful opportunity for destination rides with a return trip via the bus. We also now have several events that would not exist if not for the trail. These events with the Discovery Marathon having the highest visibility, bring hundreds of thousands of dollars to our community each year.
The trail has been developed mostly through grant funding, volunteer labor, and the generosity of land owners. We are reaching some critical growth points and some significant funding would make a big difference to complete the dream of a trail connecting the Olympic Peninsula communities. With this in mind we submit the following for your review.
For questions or additional information contact
Rich James 360 417 2290 Russ Veenema 360 452 2363 X 13
Transportation Program Manager Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce
Clallam County
The top priority project for the development of the Olympic Discovery Trail would be to ensure sufficient project funding to allow construction of the pedestrian portion of the bridge that will replace the Elwha River One Lane Bridge. This project will connect the existing 30 miles of Olympic Discovery Trail east of Port Angeles with the recently completed 24 miles of trail in the Adventure Route segment of the trail located west of the Elwha River and leading to Lake Crescent. This project will construct a 700 foot long, 14 foot wide pedestrian bridge across the Elwha River and build 2 miles of trail extending from the western City limit of Port Angeles down to the bridge crossing. The completed project would be a "Destination Site" on the trail with outstanding views of the Elwha River, the Elwha Valley, the Strait and the Olympic Mountains. There is an urgent need for up to $1,000,000 of additional grant funding to allow the County to award the bid for the bridge project. The total Elwha River Bridge project cost is $19,700,000 of which $16,400,000 would be for construction. The other project partners include the State Department of Transportation contributing $10,500,000 of Federal bridge funding, the City of Port Angeles contributing railroad right of way, the National Park Service contributing $1,800,000, the Bureau of Indian Affairs contributing $1,500,000 and the Elwha Tribe contributing a $500,000 grant if they receive the grant award. The County is supplying $1,500,000 to $2,000,000 of County Road funds for the project. If the County could receive some positive indication on the availability of grant funding for this project in the next 2 weeks it might convince the County to go forward with the award process on this vitally needed linkage in the trail system. This is an opportunity to contribute to a vitally needed project and an opportunity not to be lost.
The second priority for grant funding in Clallam County would be to fund a new bridge within Sequim Bay State Park to allow the trail to cross over a steep ravine. This project would require approximately $500,000 of project funding to construct a 300 foot long bridge.
The third priority for grant funding would be the funding of the Dry Creek Bridge within the City of Port Angeles. This is also a 300 foot long bridge that would require approximately $500,000 of project funding.
The fourth priority for project funding would be in Jefferson County. It would be to acquire 1.5 miles of the right of way for the Olympic Discovery Trail beside US 101. This acquisition would complete a route for the Olympic Discovery Trail from the east Clallam County line to Discovery Bay.
The fifth priority for the trail would fund the construction of replacement bridges and trail at the mouth of Snow Creek at Discovery Bay. This project would likely be in the $500,000 range also.
PDA meeting agenda 6.28.07
QUARTERLY BOARD MEETING
PROPOSED AGENDA
Thursday, June 28, 2007
12:00 Noon
Jamestown Community Center
Blyn
1. Call to Order
2. Introductions
3. Approval of Proposed Agenda
4. Approval of Minutes from May 31, 2007 Meeting
5. Financial Report
6. Old Business
Grant Deliverables Update
CEDS Update
EDA Planning Grant Application Update
7. New Business
Fees for PDA Board Members Discussion
8. Other Business
9. Next PDA Meeting Date
10. Adjourn
PROPOSED AGENDA
Thursday, June 28, 2007
12:00 Noon
Jamestown Community Center
Blyn
1. Call to Order
2. Introductions
3. Approval of Proposed Agenda
4. Approval of Minutes from May 31, 2007 Meeting
5. Financial Report
6. Old Business
Grant Deliverables Update
CEDS Update
EDA Planning Grant Application Update
7. New Business
Fees for PDA Board Members Discussion
8. Other Business
9. Next PDA Meeting Date
10. Adjourn
CEDS Draft 2007
A Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy
for the
Peninsula Development Association
June 2007
Ian McFall
Economic Development Council
P.O. Box 877
Port Townsend, WA 98362
Tel: 360.385.6767
Mail: director@edcjc.com
Contents
I Background
II Analysis of Economic Development Problems and Opportunities
III CEDS Goals and Objectives
IV Community and Private Sector Participation
V Strategic Projects, Programs and Activities.
VI CEDS Plan of Action
VII Performance Measures
Appendix 1: PDA’s STRUCTURE
Appendix 2: TRENDS IN REGIONAL POPULATION
Appendix 3: ALTERNATIVE ENERGY
I Background
Until the mid 1980s, the Olympic Peninsula was a burgeoning economy based almost entirely on lumber, the area’s most abundant natural resource. Ecological regulation enacted at that time to protect the endangered Spotted Owl, soon put 75% of the local workers out of a job and turned the entire region into an economic disaster area. More than twenty years after the cessation of logging the last of the owls are being rounded up for a captive breeding program. Obviously decimating the logging industry didn’t prevent the demise of the owls. Despite this fact, 97% of the Olympic Peninsula is now controlled by the National or State Parks and the remaining 3% is the subject of some of the most stringent ecological regulation in the world.
Mitigation funding from the Federal and State government has hardly been proportionate to the scale of the economic disaster perpetrated by the Spotted Owl. Much of what little funding there is expires next year.
The decline of the local fishing industry has exacerbated the economic problems and efforts to create a new basis for a sustainable economy in the area have not been dramatically successful. Economic growth on the Peninsula was half that of the State last year and average wages are still 20-30% below the State Average. Public school enrollment, a leading indicator of a healthy economy, has steadily declined to the point where many of the rural schools are not sustainable without property tax levies. Due to the influx of well-heeled retirees, housing costs have soared and are now far beyond the reach of the typical average working family. The current low unemployment rate of 4.5% is more a reflection of the exodus of our young job seekers to more lucrative prospects off the Peninsula, and the influx of retirees (now 46% of the population) rather than any significant increase in available jobs. The total population has not grown significantly.
The failure to create a new basis for a sustainable economy in the area is not for lack of trying.
No fewer than four Economic Development organizations exist today, all of which strive for economic development in the region. The Economic Development organizations alone number fifty dedicated people meeting every month and that doesn’t include the Chambers of Commerce and the Ports of Port Townsend and Port Angeles, who also expend a lot of energy on Economic Development.
However much of this effort has been to no avail and it is now the opinion of many residents of the region that, unless we do something very different from what we are doing today, the Olympic Peninsula will become a retirement community largely supported by Tourism with few opportunities for our young people.
II Analysis of Economic Development Problems and Opportunities
While the US and Washington State economies have recently enjoyed a healthy growth, the Olympic Peninsula Region has not kept up. For example, while Washington State as a whole had a record Taxable Retail Sales increase of 9% last year, Clallam saw only 7% and Jefferson County a meager 0.8%. (see table below). Part of the reason for Jefferson County’s dismal results is that, past “no-growth” policies in Jefferson County have stymied the growth of retail sales businesses in the county. As a result, most of the sales tax revenues generated by Jefferson residents is going to Clallam, Kitsap or Mason County.
Area Taxable Retail Sales(millions) Retail Trade Only(millions) TRS/person Average Earnings.
Clallam County $1020/ 7.2% $484/3.5 % $15,700
Jefferson County $372/0.8% $119/2.1 $13,800
Washington State $110,500/ 9% $49,400/7.5% $17,300
Wage rates in the region are slightly higher but still 30% below the state average and the government is still the largest (and highest wage) employer in Jefferson County with nearly twice as many employees as the next largest sector. The top three industry clusters after the Government, are also the lowest paid and, combined, amount to over one third of total employment in the region. Growth in tourism has increased employment in this, the lowest paid sector. Retirees who are now 46% of the population and make up a large part of our health care patrons have increased employment in the Health Care sector. The increase in employment in these low paid sectors depresses our average wage
.
Jefferson County Employment by sector
Sector Number of Employees Average Wage % of State Wage
Government 2089 $35,931 84%
Health Care 1287 $27,607 76%
Tourism 1227 $12,518 83%
Retail 1034 $20,445 75%
All Sectors 9016 $27,980 69%
Continued growth in tourism and an increase in the influx of retirees as baby-boomers reach retirement age in 2010 will perpetuate this trend. The influx of retirees has also escalated the demand for housing. In Jefferson County in particular, supply is limited due to very stringent environmental regulation and a lengthy permit process, which deters new construction. As a result demand has far exceeded supply and prices have soared. Average home valuations increased 40% at the last assessment. The average home is now out of reach of most working families in the area and unattainable for a single wage-earner family making the average wage.
Unemployment in the region is now an apparently healthy 4.5%. However, this more a reflection of the exodus of our young job seekers and the influx of retirees rather than a significant increase in the number of available jobs. This is reflected in public school enrollment, which declined again this year. Most of our rural public schools can no longer be sustained without property tax levies.
Environmental Regulation of the region has also served to restrict growth. 97% of the region is now parkland and the remaining 3% is subject to continually more stringent regulation. In Jefferson County in particular, sewer and water infrastructure needed to make areas designated for Urban Growth eight years ago have never been built. The cost of this infrastructure has spiraled upward with inflation and ever more complex and costly environmental regulation. More regulation, particularly with regard to water rights and pollution of the Sound should be expected. Most of regulation can be expected to be detrimental to commercial growth and a deterrent to many prospective new businesses.
The good news is that our Marine Trade and Manufacturing Clusters businesses have continued to grow. Unfortunately, they are severely restricted by the need for skilled people. In a recent survey of 1300 JeffCo businesses, lack of available skilled workers was listed as the number one issue limiting business growth. The Marine trades in Jefferson County are now topped out because of limited available space and business actually declined last year.
III CEDS Goals and Objectives
Our single minded goal must be to increase the average wage by removing the obstacles to growth in those clusters that have higher paying jobs and attract more businesses with higher paying jobs to the region. The influx or more retirees and the recent efforts by the State to promote tourism will serve only to increase employment in the lowest paid sectors, further depressing our average wage. We must therefore substantially increase employment in the higher paying clusters to offset this.
A reasonable overall objective would be to attain an average regional wage sufficient to qualify a two-income family for a mortgage to buy the average priced home in the region.
Based on current employment (in Jeffco), if tourism doubles in five years and the retired population reaches 65% we would have to quadruple employment in the other industry clusters to achieve this.
IV Community and Private Sector Participation
The private sector is disenchanted with the much of the public sector. Many businesses, particularly in Jefferson County feel that the region is unfriendly to business. Much of this criticism is justified. Permits from Community Development and Public Health departments take far too long to process. B&O taxes are high and deter small businesses from hiring full time employees. Infrastructure, desperately needed for business expansion, is delayed by politics, environmentalists, tribal issues, lack of adequate matching funding. As a result, some major projects have been “in-progress” for 10 years and have yet to break ground.
There is currently lots of planning and very little execution. In general, the private sector gets very involved with major development projects and is generally supportive of economic development. The process bogs down when a minority group objects to a project. In those cases, the public sector rarely displays the leadership qualities needed to realize the project in the face of minority dissent. Instead, the projects flounder and eventually either die or the developer withdraws in frustration.
The attitudes of the business surveyed are virtually unchanged from the Economic Assessment made by Daniel J Evans school of public affairs in 2003. (Sommers and Holabird)
V Strategic Projects, Programs and Activities.
Strategy for developing and retaining existing businesses
The strategy for retaining and promoting the growth of our existing businesses is a straight forward three-step process.
• Survey each key industry
• Determine the specific obstacles to growth for the major part of that industry
• Create and initiate a specific plan to reduce or eliminate those restrictions.
Such a survey was recently completed for 1300 of the 4500 businesses registered in Jefferson County as other than sole proprietorships. These included businesses involved in
• Tourism
• Marine trades
• Aquaculture and agriculture
• Health care
• Manufacturing
• Electronic Technology
• The Arts
According to the survey none of these businesses are market limited. Therefore, if the limitations to their growth were eliminated or reduced, their revenues and employment levels could be increased. The four major obstacles to growth identified by the survey were:
• Lack of skilled people and poor work ethic.
• Lack of available appropriately zoned facilities
• Lack of funds for regional market development
• Regulation
These findings are virtually the same as those of Sommers and Holabird in 2003
Based on this survey, discussions with all three Chambers of Commerce, several Rotary Clubs, three of the largest trade groups in the county and several of our local business leaders, there has emerged a consensus that the projects listed below are critical to economic growth in Jefferson County. A key part of our Economic Development strategy must be to create a realistic plan to complete these within budget and within a reasonable time-frame. This requires adequate funding and the political will to keep the projects moving forward even in the face of inevitable minority objections.
These projects are listed in the table at the end of this section. Estimated costs of these projects is preliminary as are the estimates of the employment increases which result from them. These estimates should be honed and the projects reprioritized appropriately.
Strategy to solicit New Businesses to locate in the region.
It emerges clearly from this analysis that growth in tourism alone will not lead to a sustainable economy. Furthermore, the growth in sectors other than Health Care and Tourism to achieve an increase in average wages for the region is very difficult to achieve. We therefore have to mount a substantial effort to attract intellectual property companies with higher paying jobs in addition to nurturing our existing industries.
Entrepreneurs and most corporations look for four things when making a decision to locate or relocate their business. The order of importance varies depending on the type of business.
o A pool of skilled people, an educational system likely to generate more of those people, and a place where they can attract key employees who, initially at least, may not available locally. The better the quality of life that the new location affords the more likely it is that these key employees can be retained. This is extremely important to small companies because the cost of losing and retraining a new employee is huge.
o “Business friendly” local and state government departments.
o Adequate, appropriately zoned facilities for their business.
o A local market for their goods or services.
Businesses which are synergistic to our existing businesses e.g. suppliers, distributors, component manufacturers etc who supply products and services to, or market the products produced by our indigenous industries will find an attractive, ready-made market here. These businesses, therefore, should be our first priority in our solicitation efforts because we have something to offer them. Information about key suppliers and distributors is readily available from our existing business leaders. We need to make a short list of these companies and have our local business leaders help us in a focused effort to solicit them to set up shop here.
We also need to attract the type of business that can use any surplus infrastructure we have available. In Jefferson County, the Port of Port Townsend has space and funding available to build facilities for aviation related businesses at the airport. The labor skills used to build composite light aircraft are similar to those used in our Marine Trade industry. So, here we can offer infrastructure and a pool of people with some of the right skills. We need to mount a serious “rifle-shot” effort to attract a significant business like this to the area.
Last but not least, we need to attract intellectual property developers to the area. This industry is environmentally clean and therefore easy to assimilate into this intensely ecologically-sensitive area, and it pays well. Three key things are required to attract intellectual property developers. These are:
a) Fiber optic Internet infrastructure
b) Incubator facilities for small start ups in this field
c) Funding to provide B&O tax breaks and other incentives to intice companies to relocate here.
These items are included in the following list of critical projects.
Project description
Partners Estimated Project Cost over 5 years Jobs Created over 5 years Priority
Develop our most needed workforce skills by radically changing our existing educational process and establishing apprentice ship programs. Public schools, Community Colleges Local industry associations $1.5 m 500 Top
Mount a Commissioner-level effort to get the Sewer completed in the Tri-Area UGA and in Brinnon DCD. PUD, County Commissioners $1.0 m 250 Very High
Obtain additional professional help to promote International and Domestic tourism on the Olympic Peninsula and fund it adequately Joint Marketing. Lodging Tax Advisory Committee 10% of Tourism Revenue 1000
Jeff. County Very High
Expand our existing Marine trade facilities and fund the Ports to accomplish this.
Port of PT, Port of PA. MTA. $1.5 m 250
Jeff Co Top
Fast Track the Pleasant Harbor Project with backing of the commissioners.
DCD, Commissioners $100,000 250 Top
Fund the expansion of Aquaculture infrastructure operated by the Port of Port Townsend DCD, Port of PT
Oyster Industry $500,000 50 High
Fund a highly targeted search for synergistic and Intellectual Property companies to relocate here. EDC, Port of PA and Port of PA $100,000 150 High
Organize the creation of an appellation “Olympic Peninsula” and provide funds to promote it. EDC, Chambers
Grower Assoc. Vintners etc $250,000 300 High
Form an Angel Capital fund EDC, private individuals, Banks $25,000 200 High
Initiate a project to deploy HS Internet capability and create Incubators. EDC, City of PA, State Park Ft. Warden $1.0 300 High
Fund a very small regional organization to manage dispersed low income housing for seasonal tourism workers EDC, City of PT, City of PA $125,000 200 Very High
Total 3450 35%
VI CEDS Plan of Action
1 Workforce Development
Our public schools and community colleges do not turn out graduates with skills that fit our indigenous industries and many graduates that do, don’t have an acceptable work ethic.
Action Items
a) Create a partnership between our Community colleges and local businesses to initiate an “apprenticeship” program where local businesses pay for their own employees to be trained in specific skills at the community college and students “intern” at local companies to hone there skills hands on. The EDC has started such a program in cooperation with the Marine Trade Association and the local Wooden Boat School. Similar programs exist in Clallam county.
b) Establish a “charter-style” vocational school to train high school seniors in specific trades including building industry, welding, finishing, fine woodcraft and electronic drafting. These are all skills in short supply within our existing marine trades cluster
c) We must provide “Work ethic training” in high school. College students learn about the real world in a place with a safety net. Those students who don’t pursue a college education and enter the job market after leaving high school don’t have that advantage. Liberal educational policies in public schools reward students with “gold stars for all” and play soccer games without keeping score. This doesn’t prepare our young people for the competitive world economy we live in. Entry-level employees need to be taught that performance counts and gold stars only go to winners. Today we have so many high school graduates who don’t seem to realize that Woody Allen was right.(90% of success is showing up) that large Washington corporations are now instituting management training programs on how to deal with this “Z generation”
Our public schools should institute a senior year course on “how to get a job and keep it”
2 Water/Sewer infrastructure.
Many of the zoning and permit restrictions which limit business growth in the area are the result of the requirement that facilities have sufficient available water (fireflow ) and sewer. To remove these constraints, the county needs to get the sewer built in Hadlock and take advantage of the State Park Sewer development in Brinnon. The Hadlock sewer has been ten years in the process. Elephants give birth in five. The County has spent nearly ten years and hundreds of thousands of dollars on studies related to this project and is yet to break ground.
Action Items:
a) Our Commissioners must be asked to champion this project despite the objections of the inevitable vociferous few. A person in DCD should be assigned to the project to plan and execute the project within 2 years
d) State Parks, DCD and the State funding organizations need to clarify their roles and create an action plan with a schedule to complete this in one year
3 Funding the Promotion of Olympic Peninsula Tourism
Tourism represents about 12% of our employment in the region. The growth rate in tourism slowed slightly due in some part to rising gas prices and higher travel costs. However, the growth of tourism derived revenues was lower in the Olympic Peninsula than for Kitsap and below the average for the state. In short, the Olympic Peninsula is losing market share.
The reason for the loss of market share is very likely related to relative spending on advertising to promote the area. The Olympic Peninsula generated over $2 million in Lodging tax revenues alone last year. Advertising expense was less than $100,000 about a quarter of Kitsap’s budget.
Action Items
a) Compare nearby area advertising budgets and Tourism revenues to that of the Olympic Peninsula and bring the Olympic Peninsula budget into line
b) Contract with a professional marketing organization to assist our own team to create an integrated promotional program including advertising
c) Initiate an effort to link the various Peninsula Visitor Centers in order to provide multi-facility availability/reservation capability at the centers and on-line.
d) Create a plan to deal effectively with the inevitable need for passports for travel to Canada. This will effect tourism negatively unless a long range plan to deal with the logistics is developed and executed in the next two years.
4 Expansion of Marine trade facilities
The Marine Trades in Jefferson County are restricted by both a shortage of skilled people and a lack of space required for expansion. The lack of skilled workers is addresses in previous section covering workforce development. Providing more space is more difficult and requires a major study in land use particularly in Port Townsend where the only available land that is appropriately zoned is used by the Paper Mill and the Kai Tai Lagoon area.
Action items
a) engage experts to do a long range land use project for Port Townsend with a view to expanding the Port Facilities possibly including land currently owned by the Paper Mill.
5 Fast Track the Black Point Project.
This project is a planned resort including a golf course and 800 condominiums. This will ad approximately $240 million to the assessed value of the county and generate 1.6 million in property tax revenues alone. The project is presently in the Environmental Impact Statement process. Although a few residents have objected, the majority of the local community is in favor of the project. It is essential that the county government recognize the economic value of this project and lend its full support.
Action Items
a) Assign a DCD employee to bird dog the project through the lengthy and complex EIS and permit process.
6 Funding aquaculture infrastructure operated by the port
The Port of Port Townsend owns and operates infrastructure in Quilcene that is used by several Oyster producers in the county. These facilities have degraded by silting and other issues some of which have been brought about by salmon preservation efforts. This infrastructure is key to the continued growth of the Oyster industry on Quilcene bay.
Action items
a) provide funding to the port to upgrade the infrastructure
7 Funding a search and INCENTIVES for synergistic and IP companies to relocate
We must attract new businesses to the region. This requires personal. In addition, incentives need to be established for new businesses to relocate. These funds need to be budgeted.
Action items
a) Fund the EDC to create a short list of companies in the target industries and actively solicit them.
b) Set aside B&O taxes to fund incentives to attract target companies.
8 Organization and funding of “appellation Olympic Penisula”
Much of the success of the Napa Valley and similar regions has been as a result of joint marketing efforts and creation of a local brand or “appellation” Local vintners, shellfish producers, salmon fisheries, organic crops growers and beef/dairy producers should form a similar consortium. This is already in an embryo stage but requires funding and management to really make it happen.
Action Item
a) Establish an “Appellation Olympic Peninsula” with seed funding for management and advertising
9 Formation of an Angel Capital fund
The growth of some of small businesses are restricted by lack of capital. We have a large number of retirees with vested interest in the community who have the wherewithal to provide financing. An angel fund should be established for this purpose.
Action Item
a) Provide funds to the PDA to organize the fund and solicit participants.
b) Integrate the Angel fund into the Economic development process to assist existing companies to expand their operations and to help attract promising new start-ups in the targeted industries.
10 Initiate a project to deploy HS Internet capability and create Incubator
To attract intellectual property developers requires fiber optic Internet infrastructure. Some Internet infrastructure is available on the Peninsula but is inadequate.
Action Item
a) fund a survey to determine needs of the target industry and fund implimentation
11) Fund a very small regional organization to manage dispersed low income housing
Tourism work is the lowest paid sector and highly seasonal. Seasonal workers have difficulty finding affordable housing.
Action Item
a) Fund a “housing agency” for low income and seasonal workers by creating an inventory of Additional Dwelling Units in the region and directing housing seekers to owners.
b) Relax ADU regulations to create more ADU properties since these are generally preferable to concentrated low income housing.
VII Performance Measures
We must measure the success of our Economic Development efforts simply by measuring the following parameters for Clallam and Jefferson Counties.
• Total number of non-government jobs
• Average non-government wages as a percent of State non-government wages.
• Total Taxable Retail Sales
• Total B&O Tax revenues.
• Proportion of workers who could qualify for a mortgage to purchase the average home.
Appendix 1: PDA’s STRUCTURE
The PDA membership is comprised of representatives of the Counties of Jefferson and Clallam and includes representatives from the Board of Commissioners of each county, tribal communities, and representatives’ at-large of employment, education, labor.
A Board of Directors oversees the administrative functions of the PDA effort. The Executive Board consists of not less than eleven (11) and not more than twenty-one (21) members. Fifty-one percent of the Board of Directors must be elected officials. Representatives selected to serve on the Executive Board are named at the first meeting of each fiscal year and serve for the respective fiscal year. The following is a list of people who comprise the PDA membership (2006):
Officers:
Bill Hannan, President Port of Port Angeles
Jay Bennett, Vice-President Diversified Resources, Inc.
Herb Beck, Secretary/Treasurer Port of Port Townsend
Directors:
Katherine Baril Washington State University Extension-Jefferson County
John Beitzel City of Sequim
Ryland Bowechop Makah Tribal Council
Gary Cohn Port Angeles School District
Larry Crockett Port of Port Townsend
Bill Elliott (Alternate) City of Sequim
John Fischbach Jefferson County
Rod Fleck (Alternate) City of Forks
Hugh Haffner PUD of Clallam County
Marny Hannan Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce
Marlin Holden Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe
Anthony Ingersoll North Olympic Peninsula Resource and Conservation District
Merle Pender Employment Securities Dept.
Wayne King Jefferson County PUD
Laurie Medlicott City of Port Townsend
Mary O’Neil-Garrett Peninsula College
Jim Parker (Alternate) Jefferson County PUD
Clyde Rasmussen (Alternate) North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center
Nedra Reed City of Forks
Karen Rogers City of Port Angeles
David Sullivan (Alternate) Jefferson County
Steve Tharinger Clallam County
Betsy Wharton City of Port Angeles
EDC Director
Linda Rotmark Clallam County EDC
Appendix 2: TRENDS IN REGIONAL POPULATION
Population 1990-2004 and Projections to 2015
County/State 1990 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2010* 2015*
Jefferson 20,406 24,112 26,299 26,446 26,600 26,700 27,000 30,892 34,067
Clallam 56,204 61,461 64,179 64,454 64,900 65,300 65,900 67,754 70,769
State 4,866,692 5,470,104 5,894,121 5,974,900 6,041,710 6,098,300 6,167,800 6,648,112 7,096,501
Source: US Census and WA-OFM
*Projections
PDA Region Population 1990 2004 % Change
Jefferson 20,406 27,000 32.31%
Clallam 56,204 65,900 17.25%
Median Household Income 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2005 % of WA
Clallam County $38,052 $39,702 $39,863 $40,124 $41,108 $42,367 81.8%
Jefferson County $39,122 $40,923 $41,385 $40,852 $41,801 $42,620 82.3%
State of Washington $48,397 $49,286 $49,771 $50,664 $51,762 $51,794
EMPLOYMENT/UNEMPLOYMENT
Clallam County Jefferson County Washington State
2004Total Employment 24,950 12,030 3,012,900
Total Unemployment 1,490 580 193,700
Percent of Labor Force 5.6% 4.6% 6.0%
Civilian Labor Force 26,440 12,610 3,206,600
2003Total Employment 23,790 11,250 2,902,900
Total Unemployment 1,920 740 237,000
Percent of Labor Force 7.5% 6.2% 7.5%
Civilian Labor Force 25,710 11,990 3,139,900
2002Total Employment 23,310 10,870 2,882,600
Total Unemployment 1,880 770 226,700
Percent of Labor Force 7.5% 6.6% 7.3%
Civilian Labor Force 25,190 11,640 3,109,300
2001Total Employment 22,520 10,580 2,830,600
Total Unemployment 1,890 650 193,400
Percent of Labor Force 7.7% 5.8% 6.4%
Civilian Labor Force 24,410 11,230 3,024,000
2000Total Employment 23,030 10,420 2,896,300
Total Unemployment 1,900 590 159,300
Percent of Labor Force 7.6% 5.4% 5.2%
Civilian Labor Force 24,930 11,010 3,055,600
Appendix 3: Employment by Business Sector
Business
Sector Clallam-County Jefferson-County Olympic Peninsula
#employed % of Total #employed % of Total #employed % of Total
Appendix 4: Alternative Energy
I’ve included this appendix because Alternative Energy was included in the previous CEDS. However, I believe that replacing fossil fuel with alternative energy sources is huge undertaking which can best be done at the State and National level. For this region to do more than institute tried and proven energy saving programs throughout the county would be an ineffective use of the limited funding we have available. However, much can be done with energy saving programs, some counties have saved as much as 15% of their energy costs for a very small investment. We should do the same. The local PUDs should provide an incentive for the general public to follow suit.
for the
Peninsula Development Association
June 2007
Ian McFall
Economic Development Council
P.O. Box 877
Port Townsend, WA 98362
Tel: 360.385.6767
Mail: director@edcjc.com
Contents
I Background
II Analysis of Economic Development Problems and Opportunities
III CEDS Goals and Objectives
IV Community and Private Sector Participation
V Strategic Projects, Programs and Activities.
VI CEDS Plan of Action
VII Performance Measures
Appendix 1: PDA’s STRUCTURE
Appendix 2: TRENDS IN REGIONAL POPULATION
Appendix 3: ALTERNATIVE ENERGY
I Background
Until the mid 1980s, the Olympic Peninsula was a burgeoning economy based almost entirely on lumber, the area’s most abundant natural resource. Ecological regulation enacted at that time to protect the endangered Spotted Owl, soon put 75% of the local workers out of a job and turned the entire region into an economic disaster area. More than twenty years after the cessation of logging the last of the owls are being rounded up for a captive breeding program. Obviously decimating the logging industry didn’t prevent the demise of the owls. Despite this fact, 97% of the Olympic Peninsula is now controlled by the National or State Parks and the remaining 3% is the subject of some of the most stringent ecological regulation in the world.
Mitigation funding from the Federal and State government has hardly been proportionate to the scale of the economic disaster perpetrated by the Spotted Owl. Much of what little funding there is expires next year.
The decline of the local fishing industry has exacerbated the economic problems and efforts to create a new basis for a sustainable economy in the area have not been dramatically successful. Economic growth on the Peninsula was half that of the State last year and average wages are still 20-30% below the State Average. Public school enrollment, a leading indicator of a healthy economy, has steadily declined to the point where many of the rural schools are not sustainable without property tax levies. Due to the influx of well-heeled retirees, housing costs have soared and are now far beyond the reach of the typical average working family. The current low unemployment rate of 4.5% is more a reflection of the exodus of our young job seekers to more lucrative prospects off the Peninsula, and the influx of retirees (now 46% of the population) rather than any significant increase in available jobs. The total population has not grown significantly.
The failure to create a new basis for a sustainable economy in the area is not for lack of trying.
No fewer than four Economic Development organizations exist today, all of which strive for economic development in the region. The Economic Development organizations alone number fifty dedicated people meeting every month and that doesn’t include the Chambers of Commerce and the Ports of Port Townsend and Port Angeles, who also expend a lot of energy on Economic Development.
However much of this effort has been to no avail and it is now the opinion of many residents of the region that, unless we do something very different from what we are doing today, the Olympic Peninsula will become a retirement community largely supported by Tourism with few opportunities for our young people.
II Analysis of Economic Development Problems and Opportunities
While the US and Washington State economies have recently enjoyed a healthy growth, the Olympic Peninsula Region has not kept up. For example, while Washington State as a whole had a record Taxable Retail Sales increase of 9% last year, Clallam saw only 7% and Jefferson County a meager 0.8%. (see table below). Part of the reason for Jefferson County’s dismal results is that, past “no-growth” policies in Jefferson County have stymied the growth of retail sales businesses in the county. As a result, most of the sales tax revenues generated by Jefferson residents is going to Clallam, Kitsap or Mason County.
Area Taxable Retail Sales(millions) Retail Trade Only(millions) TRS/person Average Earnings.
Clallam County $1020/ 7.2% $484/3.5 % $15,700
Jefferson County $372/0.8% $119/2.1 $13,800
Washington State $110,500/ 9% $49,400/7.5% $17,300
Wage rates in the region are slightly higher but still 30% below the state average and the government is still the largest (and highest wage) employer in Jefferson County with nearly twice as many employees as the next largest sector. The top three industry clusters after the Government, are also the lowest paid and, combined, amount to over one third of total employment in the region. Growth in tourism has increased employment in this, the lowest paid sector. Retirees who are now 46% of the population and make up a large part of our health care patrons have increased employment in the Health Care sector. The increase in employment in these low paid sectors depresses our average wage
.
Jefferson County Employment by sector
Sector Number of Employees Average Wage % of State Wage
Government 2089 $35,931 84%
Health Care 1287 $27,607 76%
Tourism 1227 $12,518 83%
Retail 1034 $20,445 75%
All Sectors 9016 $27,980 69%
Continued growth in tourism and an increase in the influx of retirees as baby-boomers reach retirement age in 2010 will perpetuate this trend. The influx of retirees has also escalated the demand for housing. In Jefferson County in particular, supply is limited due to very stringent environmental regulation and a lengthy permit process, which deters new construction. As a result demand has far exceeded supply and prices have soared. Average home valuations increased 40% at the last assessment. The average home is now out of reach of most working families in the area and unattainable for a single wage-earner family making the average wage.
Unemployment in the region is now an apparently healthy 4.5%. However, this more a reflection of the exodus of our young job seekers and the influx of retirees rather than a significant increase in the number of available jobs. This is reflected in public school enrollment, which declined again this year. Most of our rural public schools can no longer be sustained without property tax levies.
Environmental Regulation of the region has also served to restrict growth. 97% of the region is now parkland and the remaining 3% is subject to continually more stringent regulation. In Jefferson County in particular, sewer and water infrastructure needed to make areas designated for Urban Growth eight years ago have never been built. The cost of this infrastructure has spiraled upward with inflation and ever more complex and costly environmental regulation. More regulation, particularly with regard to water rights and pollution of the Sound should be expected. Most of regulation can be expected to be detrimental to commercial growth and a deterrent to many prospective new businesses.
The good news is that our Marine Trade and Manufacturing Clusters businesses have continued to grow. Unfortunately, they are severely restricted by the need for skilled people. In a recent survey of 1300 JeffCo businesses, lack of available skilled workers was listed as the number one issue limiting business growth. The Marine trades in Jefferson County are now topped out because of limited available space and business actually declined last year.
III CEDS Goals and Objectives
Our single minded goal must be to increase the average wage by removing the obstacles to growth in those clusters that have higher paying jobs and attract more businesses with higher paying jobs to the region. The influx or more retirees and the recent efforts by the State to promote tourism will serve only to increase employment in the lowest paid sectors, further depressing our average wage. We must therefore substantially increase employment in the higher paying clusters to offset this.
A reasonable overall objective would be to attain an average regional wage sufficient to qualify a two-income family for a mortgage to buy the average priced home in the region.
Based on current employment (in Jeffco), if tourism doubles in five years and the retired population reaches 65% we would have to quadruple employment in the other industry clusters to achieve this.
IV Community and Private Sector Participation
The private sector is disenchanted with the much of the public sector. Many businesses, particularly in Jefferson County feel that the region is unfriendly to business. Much of this criticism is justified. Permits from Community Development and Public Health departments take far too long to process. B&O taxes are high and deter small businesses from hiring full time employees. Infrastructure, desperately needed for business expansion, is delayed by politics, environmentalists, tribal issues, lack of adequate matching funding. As a result, some major projects have been “in-progress” for 10 years and have yet to break ground.
There is currently lots of planning and very little execution. In general, the private sector gets very involved with major development projects and is generally supportive of economic development. The process bogs down when a minority group objects to a project. In those cases, the public sector rarely displays the leadership qualities needed to realize the project in the face of minority dissent. Instead, the projects flounder and eventually either die or the developer withdraws in frustration.
The attitudes of the business surveyed are virtually unchanged from the Economic Assessment made by Daniel J Evans school of public affairs in 2003. (Sommers and Holabird)
V Strategic Projects, Programs and Activities.
Strategy for developing and retaining existing businesses
The strategy for retaining and promoting the growth of our existing businesses is a straight forward three-step process.
• Survey each key industry
• Determine the specific obstacles to growth for the major part of that industry
• Create and initiate a specific plan to reduce or eliminate those restrictions.
Such a survey was recently completed for 1300 of the 4500 businesses registered in Jefferson County as other than sole proprietorships. These included businesses involved in
• Tourism
• Marine trades
• Aquaculture and agriculture
• Health care
• Manufacturing
• Electronic Technology
• The Arts
According to the survey none of these businesses are market limited. Therefore, if the limitations to their growth were eliminated or reduced, their revenues and employment levels could be increased. The four major obstacles to growth identified by the survey were:
• Lack of skilled people and poor work ethic.
• Lack of available appropriately zoned facilities
• Lack of funds for regional market development
• Regulation
These findings are virtually the same as those of Sommers and Holabird in 2003
Based on this survey, discussions with all three Chambers of Commerce, several Rotary Clubs, three of the largest trade groups in the county and several of our local business leaders, there has emerged a consensus that the projects listed below are critical to economic growth in Jefferson County. A key part of our Economic Development strategy must be to create a realistic plan to complete these within budget and within a reasonable time-frame. This requires adequate funding and the political will to keep the projects moving forward even in the face of inevitable minority objections.
These projects are listed in the table at the end of this section. Estimated costs of these projects is preliminary as are the estimates of the employment increases which result from them. These estimates should be honed and the projects reprioritized appropriately.
Strategy to solicit New Businesses to locate in the region.
It emerges clearly from this analysis that growth in tourism alone will not lead to a sustainable economy. Furthermore, the growth in sectors other than Health Care and Tourism to achieve an increase in average wages for the region is very difficult to achieve. We therefore have to mount a substantial effort to attract intellectual property companies with higher paying jobs in addition to nurturing our existing industries.
Entrepreneurs and most corporations look for four things when making a decision to locate or relocate their business. The order of importance varies depending on the type of business.
o A pool of skilled people, an educational system likely to generate more of those people, and a place where they can attract key employees who, initially at least, may not available locally. The better the quality of life that the new location affords the more likely it is that these key employees can be retained. This is extremely important to small companies because the cost of losing and retraining a new employee is huge.
o “Business friendly” local and state government departments.
o Adequate, appropriately zoned facilities for their business.
o A local market for their goods or services.
Businesses which are synergistic to our existing businesses e.g. suppliers, distributors, component manufacturers etc who supply products and services to, or market the products produced by our indigenous industries will find an attractive, ready-made market here. These businesses, therefore, should be our first priority in our solicitation efforts because we have something to offer them. Information about key suppliers and distributors is readily available from our existing business leaders. We need to make a short list of these companies and have our local business leaders help us in a focused effort to solicit them to set up shop here.
We also need to attract the type of business that can use any surplus infrastructure we have available. In Jefferson County, the Port of Port Townsend has space and funding available to build facilities for aviation related businesses at the airport. The labor skills used to build composite light aircraft are similar to those used in our Marine Trade industry. So, here we can offer infrastructure and a pool of people with some of the right skills. We need to mount a serious “rifle-shot” effort to attract a significant business like this to the area.
Last but not least, we need to attract intellectual property developers to the area. This industry is environmentally clean and therefore easy to assimilate into this intensely ecologically-sensitive area, and it pays well. Three key things are required to attract intellectual property developers. These are:
a) Fiber optic Internet infrastructure
b) Incubator facilities for small start ups in this field
c) Funding to provide B&O tax breaks and other incentives to intice companies to relocate here.
These items are included in the following list of critical projects.
Project description
Partners Estimated Project Cost over 5 years Jobs Created over 5 years Priority
Develop our most needed workforce skills by radically changing our existing educational process and establishing apprentice ship programs. Public schools, Community Colleges Local industry associations $1.5 m 500 Top
Mount a Commissioner-level effort to get the Sewer completed in the Tri-Area UGA and in Brinnon DCD. PUD, County Commissioners $1.0 m 250 Very High
Obtain additional professional help to promote International and Domestic tourism on the Olympic Peninsula and fund it adequately Joint Marketing. Lodging Tax Advisory Committee 10% of Tourism Revenue 1000
Jeff. County Very High
Expand our existing Marine trade facilities and fund the Ports to accomplish this.
Port of PT, Port of PA. MTA. $1.5 m 250
Jeff Co Top
Fast Track the Pleasant Harbor Project with backing of the commissioners.
DCD, Commissioners $100,000 250 Top
Fund the expansion of Aquaculture infrastructure operated by the Port of Port Townsend DCD, Port of PT
Oyster Industry $500,000 50 High
Fund a highly targeted search for synergistic and Intellectual Property companies to relocate here. EDC, Port of PA and Port of PA $100,000 150 High
Organize the creation of an appellation “Olympic Peninsula” and provide funds to promote it. EDC, Chambers
Grower Assoc. Vintners etc $250,000 300 High
Form an Angel Capital fund EDC, private individuals, Banks $25,000 200 High
Initiate a project to deploy HS Internet capability and create Incubators. EDC, City of PA, State Park Ft. Warden $1.0 300 High
Fund a very small regional organization to manage dispersed low income housing for seasonal tourism workers EDC, City of PT, City of PA $125,000 200 Very High
Total 3450 35%
VI CEDS Plan of Action
1 Workforce Development
Our public schools and community colleges do not turn out graduates with skills that fit our indigenous industries and many graduates that do, don’t have an acceptable work ethic.
Action Items
a) Create a partnership between our Community colleges and local businesses to initiate an “apprenticeship” program where local businesses pay for their own employees to be trained in specific skills at the community college and students “intern” at local companies to hone there skills hands on. The EDC has started such a program in cooperation with the Marine Trade Association and the local Wooden Boat School. Similar programs exist in Clallam county.
b) Establish a “charter-style” vocational school to train high school seniors in specific trades including building industry, welding, finishing, fine woodcraft and electronic drafting. These are all skills in short supply within our existing marine trades cluster
c) We must provide “Work ethic training” in high school. College students learn about the real world in a place with a safety net. Those students who don’t pursue a college education and enter the job market after leaving high school don’t have that advantage. Liberal educational policies in public schools reward students with “gold stars for all” and play soccer games without keeping score. This doesn’t prepare our young people for the competitive world economy we live in. Entry-level employees need to be taught that performance counts and gold stars only go to winners. Today we have so many high school graduates who don’t seem to realize that Woody Allen was right.(90% of success is showing up) that large Washington corporations are now instituting management training programs on how to deal with this “Z generation”
Our public schools should institute a senior year course on “how to get a job and keep it”
2 Water/Sewer infrastructure.
Many of the zoning and permit restrictions which limit business growth in the area are the result of the requirement that facilities have sufficient available water (fireflow ) and sewer. To remove these constraints, the county needs to get the sewer built in Hadlock and take advantage of the State Park Sewer development in Brinnon. The Hadlock sewer has been ten years in the process. Elephants give birth in five. The County has spent nearly ten years and hundreds of thousands of dollars on studies related to this project and is yet to break ground.
Action Items:
a) Our Commissioners must be asked to champion this project despite the objections of the inevitable vociferous few. A person in DCD should be assigned to the project to plan and execute the project within 2 years
d) State Parks, DCD and the State funding organizations need to clarify their roles and create an action plan with a schedule to complete this in one year
3 Funding the Promotion of Olympic Peninsula Tourism
Tourism represents about 12% of our employment in the region. The growth rate in tourism slowed slightly due in some part to rising gas prices and higher travel costs. However, the growth of tourism derived revenues was lower in the Olympic Peninsula than for Kitsap and below the average for the state. In short, the Olympic Peninsula is losing market share.
The reason for the loss of market share is very likely related to relative spending on advertising to promote the area. The Olympic Peninsula generated over $2 million in Lodging tax revenues alone last year. Advertising expense was less than $100,000 about a quarter of Kitsap’s budget.
Action Items
a) Compare nearby area advertising budgets and Tourism revenues to that of the Olympic Peninsula and bring the Olympic Peninsula budget into line
b) Contract with a professional marketing organization to assist our own team to create an integrated promotional program including advertising
c) Initiate an effort to link the various Peninsula Visitor Centers in order to provide multi-facility availability/reservation capability at the centers and on-line.
d) Create a plan to deal effectively with the inevitable need for passports for travel to Canada. This will effect tourism negatively unless a long range plan to deal with the logistics is developed and executed in the next two years.
4 Expansion of Marine trade facilities
The Marine Trades in Jefferson County are restricted by both a shortage of skilled people and a lack of space required for expansion. The lack of skilled workers is addresses in previous section covering workforce development. Providing more space is more difficult and requires a major study in land use particularly in Port Townsend where the only available land that is appropriately zoned is used by the Paper Mill and the Kai Tai Lagoon area.
Action items
a) engage experts to do a long range land use project for Port Townsend with a view to expanding the Port Facilities possibly including land currently owned by the Paper Mill.
5 Fast Track the Black Point Project.
This project is a planned resort including a golf course and 800 condominiums. This will ad approximately $240 million to the assessed value of the county and generate 1.6 million in property tax revenues alone. The project is presently in the Environmental Impact Statement process. Although a few residents have objected, the majority of the local community is in favor of the project. It is essential that the county government recognize the economic value of this project and lend its full support.
Action Items
a) Assign a DCD employee to bird dog the project through the lengthy and complex EIS and permit process.
6 Funding aquaculture infrastructure operated by the port
The Port of Port Townsend owns and operates infrastructure in Quilcene that is used by several Oyster producers in the county. These facilities have degraded by silting and other issues some of which have been brought about by salmon preservation efforts. This infrastructure is key to the continued growth of the Oyster industry on Quilcene bay.
Action items
a) provide funding to the port to upgrade the infrastructure
7 Funding a search and INCENTIVES for synergistic and IP companies to relocate
We must attract new businesses to the region. This requires personal. In addition, incentives need to be established for new businesses to relocate. These funds need to be budgeted.
Action items
a) Fund the EDC to create a short list of companies in the target industries and actively solicit them.
b) Set aside B&O taxes to fund incentives to attract target companies.
8 Organization and funding of “appellation Olympic Penisula”
Much of the success of the Napa Valley and similar regions has been as a result of joint marketing efforts and creation of a local brand or “appellation” Local vintners, shellfish producers, salmon fisheries, organic crops growers and beef/dairy producers should form a similar consortium. This is already in an embryo stage but requires funding and management to really make it happen.
Action Item
a) Establish an “Appellation Olympic Peninsula” with seed funding for management and advertising
9 Formation of an Angel Capital fund
The growth of some of small businesses are restricted by lack of capital. We have a large number of retirees with vested interest in the community who have the wherewithal to provide financing. An angel fund should be established for this purpose.
Action Item
a) Provide funds to the PDA to organize the fund and solicit participants.
b) Integrate the Angel fund into the Economic development process to assist existing companies to expand their operations and to help attract promising new start-ups in the targeted industries.
10 Initiate a project to deploy HS Internet capability and create Incubator
To attract intellectual property developers requires fiber optic Internet infrastructure. Some Internet infrastructure is available on the Peninsula but is inadequate.
Action Item
a) fund a survey to determine needs of the target industry and fund implimentation
11) Fund a very small regional organization to manage dispersed low income housing
Tourism work is the lowest paid sector and highly seasonal. Seasonal workers have difficulty finding affordable housing.
Action Item
a) Fund a “housing agency” for low income and seasonal workers by creating an inventory of Additional Dwelling Units in the region and directing housing seekers to owners.
b) Relax ADU regulations to create more ADU properties since these are generally preferable to concentrated low income housing.
VII Performance Measures
We must measure the success of our Economic Development efforts simply by measuring the following parameters for Clallam and Jefferson Counties.
• Total number of non-government jobs
• Average non-government wages as a percent of State non-government wages.
• Total Taxable Retail Sales
• Total B&O Tax revenues.
• Proportion of workers who could qualify for a mortgage to purchase the average home.
Appendix 1: PDA’s STRUCTURE
The PDA membership is comprised of representatives of the Counties of Jefferson and Clallam and includes representatives from the Board of Commissioners of each county, tribal communities, and representatives’ at-large of employment, education, labor.
A Board of Directors oversees the administrative functions of the PDA effort. The Executive Board consists of not less than eleven (11) and not more than twenty-one (21) members. Fifty-one percent of the Board of Directors must be elected officials. Representatives selected to serve on the Executive Board are named at the first meeting of each fiscal year and serve for the respective fiscal year. The following is a list of people who comprise the PDA membership (2006):
Officers:
Bill Hannan, President Port of Port Angeles
Jay Bennett, Vice-President Diversified Resources, Inc.
Herb Beck, Secretary/Treasurer Port of Port Townsend
Directors:
Katherine Baril Washington State University Extension-Jefferson County
John Beitzel City of Sequim
Ryland Bowechop Makah Tribal Council
Gary Cohn Port Angeles School District
Larry Crockett Port of Port Townsend
Bill Elliott (Alternate) City of Sequim
John Fischbach Jefferson County
Rod Fleck (Alternate) City of Forks
Hugh Haffner PUD of Clallam County
Marny Hannan Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce
Marlin Holden Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe
Anthony Ingersoll North Olympic Peninsula Resource and Conservation District
Merle Pender Employment Securities Dept.
Wayne King Jefferson County PUD
Laurie Medlicott City of Port Townsend
Mary O’Neil-Garrett Peninsula College
Jim Parker (Alternate) Jefferson County PUD
Clyde Rasmussen (Alternate) North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center
Nedra Reed City of Forks
Karen Rogers City of Port Angeles
David Sullivan (Alternate) Jefferson County
Steve Tharinger Clallam County
Betsy Wharton City of Port Angeles
EDC Director
Linda Rotmark Clallam County EDC
Appendix 2: TRENDS IN REGIONAL POPULATION
Population 1990-2004 and Projections to 2015
County/State 1990 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2010* 2015*
Jefferson 20,406 24,112 26,299 26,446 26,600 26,700 27,000 30,892 34,067
Clallam 56,204 61,461 64,179 64,454 64,900 65,300 65,900 67,754 70,769
State 4,866,692 5,470,104 5,894,121 5,974,900 6,041,710 6,098,300 6,167,800 6,648,112 7,096,501
Source: US Census and WA-OFM
*Projections
PDA Region Population 1990 2004 % Change
Jefferson 20,406 27,000 32.31%
Clallam 56,204 65,900 17.25%
Median Household Income 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2005 % of WA
Clallam County $38,052 $39,702 $39,863 $40,124 $41,108 $42,367 81.8%
Jefferson County $39,122 $40,923 $41,385 $40,852 $41,801 $42,620 82.3%
State of Washington $48,397 $49,286 $49,771 $50,664 $51,762 $51,794
EMPLOYMENT/UNEMPLOYMENT
Clallam County Jefferson County Washington State
2004Total Employment 24,950 12,030 3,012,900
Total Unemployment 1,490 580 193,700
Percent of Labor Force 5.6% 4.6% 6.0%
Civilian Labor Force 26,440 12,610 3,206,600
2003Total Employment 23,790 11,250 2,902,900
Total Unemployment 1,920 740 237,000
Percent of Labor Force 7.5% 6.2% 7.5%
Civilian Labor Force 25,710 11,990 3,139,900
2002Total Employment 23,310 10,870 2,882,600
Total Unemployment 1,880 770 226,700
Percent of Labor Force 7.5% 6.6% 7.3%
Civilian Labor Force 25,190 11,640 3,109,300
2001Total Employment 22,520 10,580 2,830,600
Total Unemployment 1,890 650 193,400
Percent of Labor Force 7.7% 5.8% 6.4%
Civilian Labor Force 24,410 11,230 3,024,000
2000Total Employment 23,030 10,420 2,896,300
Total Unemployment 1,900 590 159,300
Percent of Labor Force 7.6% 5.4% 5.2%
Civilian Labor Force 24,930 11,010 3,055,600
Appendix 3: Employment by Business Sector
Business
Sector Clallam-County Jefferson-County Olympic Peninsula
#employed % of Total #employed % of Total #employed % of Total
Appendix 4: Alternative Energy
I’ve included this appendix because Alternative Energy was included in the previous CEDS. However, I believe that replacing fossil fuel with alternative energy sources is huge undertaking which can best be done at the State and National level. For this region to do more than institute tried and proven energy saving programs throughout the county would be an ineffective use of the limited funding we have available. However, much can be done with energy saving programs, some counties have saved as much as 15% of their energy costs for a very small investment. We should do the same. The local PUDs should provide an incentive for the general public to follow suit.
Graves letter 6.28.07
From: Lawrence Graves [mailto:LGraves@frontierbank.com]
Sent: Monday, July 02, 2007 12:34 PM
To: Teri Martin
Subject: Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy
Teri,
Could you forward these examples for other regions to all of the PDA board members, I believe this is the level of detail being required by EDA. In my opinion, neither the 2006 or draft 2007 Peninsula Dev. Assoc. CEDS documents are to the level of detail.
I have attached 3 links which are good examples of CEDS: Skagit County, Columbia-Pacific Region & Clearwater County.
http://www.skagitcounty.net/PlanningandPermit/Documents/2003EconDevStrategy.pdf
http://www.ghedc.com/downloads/GraysHarbor_ceds2006.pdf
http://clearwater-eda.org/CEDS%20Update%20June%202005.pdf
Please forward to members for their review, input(comment) and direction for our Comprehensive Development Strategy document.
Regards,
Lawrence
Sent: Monday, July 02, 2007 12:34 PM
To: Teri Martin
Subject: Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy
Teri,
Could you forward these examples for other regions to all of the PDA board members, I believe this is the level of detail being required by EDA. In my opinion, neither the 2006 or draft 2007 Peninsula Dev. Assoc. CEDS documents are to the level of detail.
I have attached 3 links which are good examples of CEDS: Skagit County, Columbia-Pacific Region & Clearwater County.
http://www.skagitcounty.net/PlanningandPermit/Documents/2003EconDevStrategy.pdf
http://www.ghedc.com/downloads/GraysHarbor_ceds2006.pdf
http://clearwater-eda.org/CEDS%20Update%20June%202005.pdf
Please forward to members for their review, input(comment) and direction for our Comprehensive Development Strategy document.
Regards,
Lawrence
PDA CEDS Final 2007
A Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy for the
Olympic Peninsula
June 2007
CEDS 2007
Ian McFall
Economic Development Council
P.O. Box 877
Port Townsend, WA 98362
Tel: 360.385.6767
Mail: director@edcjc.com
Contents
I Background
II Analysis of Economic Development Problems and Opportunities
III CEDS Goals and Objectives
IV Community and Private Sector Participation
V Strategic Projects, Programs and Activities.
VI CEDS Plan of Action
VII Performance Measures
Appendix 1: PDA’s STRUCTURE
Appendix 2: TRENDS IN REGIONAL POPULATION
Appendix 3: ALTERNATIVE ENERGY
I Background
Until the mid 1980s, the Olympic Peninsula was a burgeoning economy based almost entirely on lumber, the area’s most abundant natural resource. Ecological regulation enacted at that time to protect the endangered Spotted Owl, soon put 75% of the local workers out of a job and turned the entire region into an economic disaster area. More than twenty years after the cessation of logging the last of the owls are being rounded up for a captive breeding program. Obviously decimating the logging industry didn’t prevent the demise of the owls. Despite this fact, 97% of the Olympic Peninsula is now controlled by the National or State Parks and the remaining 3% is the subject of some of the most stringent ecological regulation in the world.
Mitigation funding from the Federal and State government has hardly been proportionate to the scale of the economic disaster perpetrated by the Spotted Owl. Much of what little funding there is expires next year.
The decline of the local fishing industry has exacerbated the economic problems and efforts to create a new basis for a sustainable economy in the area have not been dramatically successful. Economic growth on the Peninsula was half that of the State last year and average wages are still 20-30% below the State Average. Public school enrollment, a leading indicator of a healthy economy, has steadily declined to the point where many of the rural schools are not sustainable without property tax levies. Due to the influx of well-heeled retirees, housing costs have soared and are now far beyond the reach of the typical average working family. The current low unemployment rate of 4.5% is more a reflection of the exodus of our young job seekers to more lucrative prospects off the Peninsula, and the influx of retirees (now 46% of the population) rather than any significant increase in available jobs. The total population has not grown significantly.
The failure to create a new basis for a sustainable economy in the area is not for lack of trying.
No fewer than four Economic Development organizations exist today, all of which strive for economic development in the region. The Economic Development organizations alone number fifty dedicated people meeting every month and that doesn’t include the Chambers of Commerce and the Ports of Port Townsend and Port Angeles, who also expend a lot of energy on Economic Development.
However much of this effort has been to no avail and it is now the opinion of many residents of the region that, unless we do something very different from what we are doing today, the Olympic Peninsula will become a retirement community largely supported by Tourism with few opportunities for our young people.
II Analysis of Economic Development Problems and Opportunities
While the US and Washington State economies have recently enjoyed a healthy growth, the Olympic Peninsula Region has not kept up. For example, while Washington State as a whole had a record Taxable Retail Sales increase of 9% last year, Clallam saw only 7% and Jefferson County a meager 0.8%. (see table below). Part of the reason for Jefferson County’s dismal results is that, past “no-growth” policies in Jefferson County have stymied the growth of retail sales businesses in the county. As a result, most of the sales tax revenues generated by Jefferson residents is going to Clallam, Kitsap or Mason County.
Area Taxable Retail Sales(millions) Retail Trade Only(millions) TRS/person Average Earnings.
Clallam County $1020/ 7.2% $484/3.5 % $15,700
Jefferson County $372/0.8% $119/2.1 $13,800
Washington State $110,500/ 9% $49,400/7.5% $17,300
Wage rates in the region are slightly higher but still 30% below the state average and the government is still the largest (and highest wage) employer in Jefferson County with nearly twice as many employees as the next largest sector. The top three industry clusters after the Government, are also the lowest paid and, combined, amount to over one third of total employment in the region. Growth in tourism has increased employment in this, the lowest paid sector. Retirees who are now 46% of the population and make up a large part of our health care patrons have increased employment in the Health Care sector. The increase in employment in these low paid sectors depresses our average wage
.
Jefferson County Employment by sector
Sector Number of Employees Average Wage % of State Wage
Government 2089 $35,931 84%
Health Care 1287 $27,607 76%
Tourism 1227 $12,518 83%
Retail 1034 $20,445 75%
All Sectors 9016 $27,980 69%
Continued growth in tourism and an increase in the influx of retirees as baby-boomers reach retirement age in 2010 will perpetuate this trend. The influx of retirees has also escalated the demand for housing. In Jefferson County in particular, supply is limited due to very stringent environmental regulation and a lengthy permit process, which deters new construction. As a result demand has far exceeded supply and prices have soared. Average home valuations increased 40% at the last assessment. The average home is now out of reach of most working families in the area and unattainable for a single wage-earner family making the average wage.
Unemployment in the region is now an apparently healthy 4.5%. However, this more a reflection of the exodus of our young job seekers and the influx of retirees rather than a significant increase in the number of available jobs. This is reflected in public school enrollment, which declined again this year. Most of our rural public schools can no longer be sustained without property tax levies.
Environmental Regulation of the region has also served to restrict growth. 97% of the region is now parkland and the remaining 3% is subject to continually more stringent regulation. In Jefferson County in particular, sewer and water infrastructure needed to make areas designated for Urban Growth eight years ago have never been built. The cost of this infrastructure has spiraled upward with inflation and ever more complex and costly environmental regulation. More regulation, particularly with regard to water rights and pollution of the Sound should be expected. Most of regulation can be expected to be detrimental to commercial growth and a deterrent to many prospective new businesses.
The good news is that our Marine Trade and Manufacturing Clusters businesses have continued to grow. Unfortunately, they are severely restricted by the need for skilled people. In a recent survey of 1300 JeffCo businesses, lack of available skilled workers was listed as the number one issue limiting business growth. The Marine trades in Jefferson County are now topped out because of limited available space and business actually declined last year.
III CEDS Goals and Objectives
Our single minded goal must be to increase the average wage by removing the obstacles to growth in those clusters that have higher paying jobs and attract more businesses with higher paying jobs to the region. The influx or more retirees and the recent efforts by the State to promote tourism will serve only to increase employment in the lowest paid sectors, further depressing our average wage. We must therefore substantially increase employment in the higher paying clusters to offset this.
A reasonable overall objective would be to attain an average regional wage sufficient to qualify a two-income family for a mortgage to buy the average priced home in the region.
Based on current employment (in Jeffco), if tourism doubles in five years and the retired population reaches 65% we would have to quadruple employment in the other industry clusters to achieve this.
IV Community and Private Sector Participation
The private sector is disenchanted with the much of the public sector. Many businesses, particularly in Jefferson County feel that the region is unfriendly to business. Much of this criticism is justified. Permits from Community Development and Public Health departments take far too long to process. B&O taxes are high and deter small businesses from hiring full time employees. (65% of surveyed companies were within the city limits and subject to B&O tax) Infrastructure, desperately needed for business expansion, is delayed by politics, environmentalists, tribal issues, lack of adequate matching funding. As a result, some major projects have been “in-progress” for 10 years and have yet to break ground.
There is currently lots of planning and very little execution. In general, the private sector gets very involved with major development projects and is generally supportive of economic development. The process bogs down when a minority group objects to a project. In those cases, the public sector rarely displays the leadership qualities needed to realize the project in the face of minority dissent. Instead, the projects flounder and eventually either die or the developer withdraws in frustration.
The attitudes of the business surveyed are virtually unchanged from the Economic Assessment made by Daniel J Evans school of public affairs in 2003. (Sommers and Holabird)
V Strategic Projects, Programs and Activities.
Strategy for developing and retaining existing businesses
The strategy for retaining and promoting the growth of our existing businesses is a straight forward three-step process.
• Survey each key industry
• Determine the specific obstacles to growth for the major part of that industry
• Create and initiate a specific plan to reduce or eliminate those restrictions.
Such a survey was recently completed for 1300 of the 4500 businesses registered in Jefferson County as other than sole proprietorships. These included businesses involved in
• Tourism
• Marine trades
• Aquaculture and agriculture
• Health care
• Manufacturing
• Electronic Technology
• The Arts
According to the survey none of these businesses are market limited. Therefore, if the limitations to their growth were eliminated or reduced, their revenues and employment levels could be increased. The four major obstacles to growth identified by the survey were:
• Lack of skilled people and poor work ethic.
• Lack of available appropriately zoned facilities
• Lack of funds for regional market development
• Regulation
These findings are virtually the same as those of Sommers and Holabird in 2003
Based on this survey, discussions with all three Chambers of Commerce, several Rotary Clubs, three of the largest trade groups in the county and several of our local business leaders, there has emerged a consensus that the projects listed below are critical to economic growth in Jefferson County. A key part of our Economic Development strategy must be to create a realistic plan to complete these within budget and within a reasonable time-frame. This requires adequate funding and the political will to keep the projects moving forward even in the face of inevitable minority objections.
These projects are listed in the table at the end of this section. Estimated costs of these projects is preliminary as are the estimates of the employment increases which result from them. These estimates should be honed and the projects reprioritized appropriately.
Strategy to solicit New Businesses to locate in the region.
It emerges clearly from this analysis that growth in tourism alone will not lead to a sustainable economy. Furthermore, the growth in sectors other than Health Care and Tourism to achieve an increase in average wages for the region is very difficult to achieve. We therefore have to mount a substantial effort to attract intellectual property companies with higher paying jobs in addition to nurturing our existing industries.
Entrepreneurs and most corporations look for four things when making a decision to locate or relocate their business. The order of importance varies depending on the type of business.
o A pool of skilled people, an educational system likely to generate more of those people, and a place where they can attract key employees who, initially at least, may not available locally. The better the quality of life that the new location affords the more likely it is that these key employees can be retained. This is extremely important to small companies because the cost of losing and retraining a new employee is huge.
o “Business friendly” local and state government departments.
o Adequate, appropriately zoned facilities for their business.
o A local market for their goods or services.
Businesses which are synergistic to our existing businesses e.g. suppliers, distributors, component manufacturers etc who supply products and services to, or market the products produced by our indigenous industries will find an attractive, ready-made market here. These businesses, therefore, should be our first priority in our solicitation efforts because we have something to offer them. Information about key suppliers and distributors is readily available from our existing business leaders. We need to make a short list of these companies and have our local business leaders help us in a focused effort to solicit them to set up shop here.
We also need to attract the type of business that can use any surplus infrastructure we have available. In Jefferson County, the Port of Port Townsend has space and funding available to build facilities for aviation related businesses at the airport. The labor skills used to build composite light aircraft are similar to those used in our Marine Trade industry. So, here we can offer infrastructure and a pool of people with some of the right skills. We need to mount a serious “rifle-shot” effort to attract a significant business like this to the area.
Last but not least, we need to attract intellectual property developers to the area. This industry is environmentally clean and therefore easy to assimilate into this intensely ecologically-sensitive area, and it pays well. Three key things are required to attract intellectual property developers. These are:
a) Fiber optic Internet infrastructure
b) Incubator facilities for small start ups in this field
c) Funding to provide B&O tax breaks and other incentives to intice companies to relocate here.
There are two issues with this strategy. Initially, there are no benefits to local residents. If fact local residents may be adversely affected because new companies will bring highly paid workers with them initially, driving up housing costs. Once established these same companies will provide opportunities for young people in the county, but this is a long-term benefit. Over the long term, retirees may well represent the majority of voters and jobs will not be on their priority list for elected officials.
Key Economic Development Projects
Project description
Partners Estimated Project Cost over 5 years Jobs Created over 5 years Priority
Develop our most needed workforce skills by radically changing our existing educational process and establishing apprentice ship programs. Public schools, Community Colleges Local industry associations $1.5 m 500 Top
Mount a Commissioner-level effort to get the Sewer completed in the Tri-Area UGA and in Brinnon DCD. PUD, County Commissioners $1.0 m 250 Very High
Obtain additional professional help to promote International and Domestic tourism on the Olympic Peninsula and fund it adequately Joint Marketing. Lodging Tax Advisory Committee 10% of Tourism Revenue 1000
Jeff. County Very High
Expand our existing Marine trade facilities and fund the Ports to accomplish this.
Port of PT, Port of PA. MTA. $1.5 m 250
Jeff Co Top
Fast Track the Pleasant Harbor Project with backing of the commissioners.
DCD, Commissioners $100,000 250 Top
Fund the expansion of Aquaculture infrastructure operated by the Port of Port Townsend DCD, Port of PT
Oyster Industry $500,000 50 High
Fund a highly targeted search for synergistic and Intellectual Property companies to relocate here. EDC, Port of PA and Port of PA $100,000 150 High
Organize the creation of an appellation “Olympic Peninsula” and provide funds to promote it. EDC, Chambers
Grower Assoc. Vintners etc $250,000 300 High
Form an Angel Capital fund EDC, private individuals, Banks $25,000 200 High
Initiate a project to deploy HS Internet capability and create Incubators. EDC, City of PA, State Park Ft. Warden $1.0 300 High
Fund a very small regional organization to manage dispersed low income housing for seasonal tourism workers EDC, City of PT, City of PA $125,000 200 Very High
Total 3450 35%
VI CEDS Plan of Action
1 Workforce Development
Our public schools and community colleges do not turn out graduates with skills that fit our indigenous industries and many graduates that do, don’t have an acceptable work ethic.
Action Items
a) Create a partnership between our Community colleges and local businesses to initiate an “apprenticeship” program where local businesses pay for their own employees to be trained in specific skills at the community college and students “intern” at local companies to hone there skills hands on. The EDC has started such a program in cooperation with the Marine Trade Association and the local Wooden Boat School. Similar programs exist in Clallam county.
b) Establish a “charter-style” vocational school to train high school seniors in specific trades including building industry, welding, finishing, fine woodcraft and electronic drafting. These are all skills in short supply within our existing marine trades cluster
c) We must provide “Work ethic training” in high school. College students learn about the real world in a place with a safety net. Those students who don’t pursue a college education and enter the job market after leaving high school don’t have that advantage. Liberal educational policies in public schools reward students with “gold stars for all” and play soccer games without keeping score. This doesn’t prepare our young people for the competitive world economy we live in. Entry-level employees need to be taught that performance counts and gold stars only go to winners. Today we have so many high school graduates who don’t seem to realize that Woody Allen was right.(90% of success is showing up) that large Washington corporations are now instituting management training programs on how to deal with this “Z generation”
Our public schools should institute a senior year course on “how to get a job and keep it”
2 Water/Sewer infrastructure.
Many of the zoning and permit restrictions which limit business growth in the area are the result of the requirement that facilities have sufficient available water (fireflow ) and sewer. To remove these constraints, the county needs to get the sewer built in Hadlock and take advantage of the State Park Sewer development in Brinnon. The Hadlock sewer has been ten years in the process. Elephants give birth in five. The County has spent nearly ten years and hundreds of thousands of dollars on studies related to this project and is yet to break ground.
Action Items:
a) Our Commissioners must be asked to champion this project despite the objections of the inevitable vociferous few. A person in DCD should be assigned to the project to plan and execute the project within 2 years
d) State Parks, DCD and the State funding organizations need to clarify their roles and create an action plan with a schedule to complete this in one year
3 Funding the Promotion of Olympic Peninsula Tourism
Tourism represents about 12% of our employment in the region. The growth rate in tourism slowed slightly due in some part to rising gas prices and higher travel costs. However, the growth of tourism derived revenues was lower in the Olympic Peninsula than for Kitsap and below the average for the state. In short, the Olympic Peninsula is losing market share.
The reason for the loss of market share is very likely related to relative spending on advertising to promote the area. The Olympic Peninsula generated over $2 million in Lodging tax revenues alone last year. Advertising expense was less than $100,000 about a quarter of Kitsap’s budget.
Action Items
a) Compare nearby area advertising budgets and Tourism revenues to that of the Olympic Peninsula and bring the Olympic Peninsula budget into line
b) Contract with a professional marketing organization to assist our own team to create an integrated promotional program including advertising
c) Initiate an effort to link the various Peninsula Visitor Centers in order to provide multi-facility availability/reservation capability at the centers and on-line.
d) Create a plan to deal effectively with the inevitable need for passports for travel to Canada. This will effect tourism negatively unless a long range plan to deal with the logistics is developed and executed in the next two years.
4 Expansion of Marine trade facilities
The Marine Trades in Jefferson County are restricted by both a shortage of skilled people and a lack of space required for expansion. The lack of skilled workers is addresses in previous section covering workforce development. Providing more space is more difficult and requires a major study in land use particularly in Port Townsend where the only available land that is appropriately zoned is used by the Paper Mill and the Kai Tai Lagoon area.
Action items
a) engage experts to do a long range land use project for Port Townsend with a view to expanding the Port Facilities possibly including land currently owned by the Paper Mill.
5 Fast Track the Black Point Project.
This project is a planned resort including a golf course and 800 condominiums. This will ad approximately $240 million to the assessed value of the county and generate 1.6 million in property tax revenues alone. The project is presently in the Environmental Impact Statement process. Although a few residents have objected, the majority of the local community is in favor of the project. It is essential that the county government recognize the economic value of this project and lend its full support.
Action Items
a) Assign a DCD employee to bird dog the project through the lengthy and complex EIS and permit process.
6 Funding aquaculture infrastructure operated by the port
The Port of Port Townsend owns and operates infrastructure in Quilcene that is used by several Oyster producers in the county. These facilities have degraded by silting and other issues some of which have been brought about by salmon preservation efforts. This infrastructure is key to the continued growth of the Oyster industry on Quilcene bay.
Action items
a) provide funding to the port to upgrade the infrastructure
7 Funding a search and INCENTIVES for synergistic and IP companies to relocate
We must attract new businesses to the region. This requires personal. In addition, incentives need to be established for new businesses to relocate. These funds need to be budgeted.
Action items
a) Fund the EDC to create a short list of companies in the target industries and actively solicit them.
b) Set aside B&O taxes to fund incentives to attract target companies.
8 Organization and funding of “appellation Olympic Penisula”
Much of the success of the Napa Valley and similar regions has been as a result of joint marketing efforts and creation of a local brand or “appellation” Local vintners, shellfish producers, salmon fisheries, organic crops growers and beef/dairy producers should form a similar consortium. This is already in an embryo stage but requires funding and management to really make it happen.
Action Item
a) Establish an “Appellation Olympic Peninsula” with seed funding for management and advertising
9 Formation of an Angel Capital fund
The growth of some of small businesses are restricted by lack of capital. We have a large number of retirees with vested interest in the community who have the wherewithal to provide financing. An angel fund should be established for this purpose.
Action Item
a) Provide funds to the PDA to organize the fund and solicit participants.
b) Integrate the Angel fund into the Economic development process to assist existing companies to expand their operations and to help attract promising new start-ups in the targeted industries.
10 Initiate a project to deploy HS Internet capability and create Incubator
To attract intellectual property developers requires fiber optic Internet infrastructure. Some Internet infrastructure is available on the Peninsula but is inadequate.
Action Item
a) fund a survey to determine needs of the target industry and fund implementation
11) Fund a very small regional organization to manage dispersed low income housing
Tourism work is the lowest paid sector and highly seasonal. Seasonal workers have difficulty finding affordable housing.
Action Item
a) Fund a “housing agency” for low income and seasonal workers by creating an inventory of Additional Dwelling Units in the region and directing housing seekers to owners.
b) Relax ADU regulations to create more ADU properties since these are generally preferable to concentrated low income housing.
VII Performance Measures
We must measure the success of our Economic Development efforts simply by measuring the following parameters for Clallam and Jefferson Counties.
• Total number of non-government jobs
• Average non-government wages as a percent of State non-government wages.
• Total Taxable Retail Sales
• Total B&O Tax revenues.
• Proportion of workers who could qualify for a mortgage to purchase the average home.
Appendix 1: PDA’s STRUCTURE
The PDA membership is comprised of representatives of the Counties of Jefferson and Clallam and includes representatives from the Board of Commissioners of each county, tribal communities, and representatives’ at-large of employment, education, labor.
A Board of Directors oversees the administrative functions of the PDA effort. The Executive Board consists of not less than eleven (11) and not more than twenty-one (21) members. Fifty-one percent of the Board of Directors must be elected officials. Representatives selected to serve on the Executive Board are named at the first meeting of each fiscal year and serve for the respective fiscal year. The following is a list of people who comprise the PDA membership (2006):
Officers:
Bill Hannan, President Port of Port Angeles
Jay Bennett, Vice-President Diversified Resources, Inc.
Herb Beck, Secretary/Treasurer Port of Port Townsend
Directors:
Katherine Baril Washington State University Extension-Jefferson County
John Beitzel City of Sequim
Ryland Bowechop Makah Tribal Council
Gary Cohn Port Angeles School District
Larry Crockett Port of Port Townsend
Bill Elliott (Alternate) City of Sequim
John Fischbach Jefferson County
Rod Fleck (Alternate) City of Forks
Hugh Haffner PUD of Clallam County
Marny Hannan Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce
Marlin Holden Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe
Anthony Ingersoll North Olympic Peninsula Resource and Conservation District
Merle Pender Employment Securities Dept.
Wayne King Jefferson County PUD
Laurie Medlicott City of Port Townsend
Mary O’Neil-Garrett Peninsula College
Jim Parker (Alternate) Jefferson County PUD
Clyde Rasmussen (Alternate) North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center
Nedra Reed City of Forks
Karen Rogers City of Port Angeles
David Sullivan (Alternate) Jefferson County
Steve Tharinger Clallam County
Betsy Wharton City of Port Angeles
EDC Director
Linda Rotmark Clallam County EDC
Appendix 2: TRENDS IN REGIONAL POPULATION
Population 1990-2004 and Projections to 2015
County/State 1990 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2010* 2015*
Jefferson 20,406 24,112 26,299 26,446 26,600 26,700 27,000 30,892 34,067
Clallam 56,204 61,461 64,179 64,454 64,900 65,300 65,900 67,754 70,769
State 4,866,692 5,470,104 5,894,121 5,974,900 6,041,710 6,098,300 6,167,800 6,648,112 7,096,501
Source: US Census and WA-OFM
*Projections
PDA Region Population 1990 2004 % Change
Jefferson 20,406 27,000 32.31%
Clallam 56,204 65,900 17.25%
Median Household Income 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2005 % of WA
Clallam County $38,052 $39,702 $39,863 $40,124 $41,108 $42,367 81.8%
Jefferson County $39,122 $40,923 $41,385 $40,852 $41,801 $42,620 82.3%
State of Washington $48,397 $49,286 $49,771 $50,664 $51,762 $51,794
EMPLOYMENT/UNEMPLOYMENT
Clallam County Jefferson County Washington State
2004Total Employment 24,950 12,030 3,012,900
Total Unemployment 1,490 580 193,700
Percent of Labor Force 5.6% 4.6% 6.0%
Civilian Labor Force 26,440 12,610 3,206,600
2003Total Employment 23,790 11,250 2,902,900
Total Unemployment 1,920 740 237,000
Percent of Labor Force 7.5% 6.2% 7.5%
Civilian Labor Force 25,710 11,990 3,139,900
2002Total Employment 23,310 10,870 2,882,600
Total Unemployment 1,880 770 226,700
Percent of Labor Force 7.5% 6.6% 7.3%
Civilian Labor Force 25,190 11,640 3,109,300
2001Total Employment 22,520 10,580 2,830,600
Total Unemployment 1,890 650 193,400
Percent of Labor Force 7.7% 5.8% 6.4%
Civilian Labor Force 24,410 11,230 3,024,000
2000Total Employment 23,030 10,420 2,896,300
Total Unemployment 1,900 590 159,300
Percent of Labor Force 7.6% 5.4% 5.2%
Civilian Labor Force 24,930 11,010 3,055,600
Appendix 3: Employment by Business Sector
Business
Sector Clallam-County Jefferson-County Olympic Peninsula
#employed % of Total #employed % of Total #employed % of Total
Appendix 4: Alternative Energy
I’ve included this appendix because Alternative Energy was included in the previous CEDS. However, I believe that replacing fossil fuel with alternative energy sources is huge undertaking which can best be done at the State and National level. For this region to do more than institute tried and proven energy saving programs throughout the county would be an ineffective use of the limited funding we have available. However, much can be done with energy saving programs, some counties have saved as much as 15% of their energy costs for a very small investment. We should do the same. The local PUDs should provide an incentive for the general public to follow suit.
Olympic Peninsula
June 2007
CEDS 2007
Ian McFall
Economic Development Council
P.O. Box 877
Port Townsend, WA 98362
Tel: 360.385.6767
Mail: director@edcjc.com
Contents
I Background
II Analysis of Economic Development Problems and Opportunities
III CEDS Goals and Objectives
IV Community and Private Sector Participation
V Strategic Projects, Programs and Activities.
VI CEDS Plan of Action
VII Performance Measures
Appendix 1: PDA’s STRUCTURE
Appendix 2: TRENDS IN REGIONAL POPULATION
Appendix 3: ALTERNATIVE ENERGY
I Background
Until the mid 1980s, the Olympic Peninsula was a burgeoning economy based almost entirely on lumber, the area’s most abundant natural resource. Ecological regulation enacted at that time to protect the endangered Spotted Owl, soon put 75% of the local workers out of a job and turned the entire region into an economic disaster area. More than twenty years after the cessation of logging the last of the owls are being rounded up for a captive breeding program. Obviously decimating the logging industry didn’t prevent the demise of the owls. Despite this fact, 97% of the Olympic Peninsula is now controlled by the National or State Parks and the remaining 3% is the subject of some of the most stringent ecological regulation in the world.
Mitigation funding from the Federal and State government has hardly been proportionate to the scale of the economic disaster perpetrated by the Spotted Owl. Much of what little funding there is expires next year.
The decline of the local fishing industry has exacerbated the economic problems and efforts to create a new basis for a sustainable economy in the area have not been dramatically successful. Economic growth on the Peninsula was half that of the State last year and average wages are still 20-30% below the State Average. Public school enrollment, a leading indicator of a healthy economy, has steadily declined to the point where many of the rural schools are not sustainable without property tax levies. Due to the influx of well-heeled retirees, housing costs have soared and are now far beyond the reach of the typical average working family. The current low unemployment rate of 4.5% is more a reflection of the exodus of our young job seekers to more lucrative prospects off the Peninsula, and the influx of retirees (now 46% of the population) rather than any significant increase in available jobs. The total population has not grown significantly.
The failure to create a new basis for a sustainable economy in the area is not for lack of trying.
No fewer than four Economic Development organizations exist today, all of which strive for economic development in the region. The Economic Development organizations alone number fifty dedicated people meeting every month and that doesn’t include the Chambers of Commerce and the Ports of Port Townsend and Port Angeles, who also expend a lot of energy on Economic Development.
However much of this effort has been to no avail and it is now the opinion of many residents of the region that, unless we do something very different from what we are doing today, the Olympic Peninsula will become a retirement community largely supported by Tourism with few opportunities for our young people.
II Analysis of Economic Development Problems and Opportunities
While the US and Washington State economies have recently enjoyed a healthy growth, the Olympic Peninsula Region has not kept up. For example, while Washington State as a whole had a record Taxable Retail Sales increase of 9% last year, Clallam saw only 7% and Jefferson County a meager 0.8%. (see table below). Part of the reason for Jefferson County’s dismal results is that, past “no-growth” policies in Jefferson County have stymied the growth of retail sales businesses in the county. As a result, most of the sales tax revenues generated by Jefferson residents is going to Clallam, Kitsap or Mason County.
Area Taxable Retail Sales(millions) Retail Trade Only(millions) TRS/person Average Earnings.
Clallam County $1020/ 7.2% $484/3.5 % $15,700
Jefferson County $372/0.8% $119/2.1 $13,800
Washington State $110,500/ 9% $49,400/7.5% $17,300
Wage rates in the region are slightly higher but still 30% below the state average and the government is still the largest (and highest wage) employer in Jefferson County with nearly twice as many employees as the next largest sector. The top three industry clusters after the Government, are also the lowest paid and, combined, amount to over one third of total employment in the region. Growth in tourism has increased employment in this, the lowest paid sector. Retirees who are now 46% of the population and make up a large part of our health care patrons have increased employment in the Health Care sector. The increase in employment in these low paid sectors depresses our average wage
.
Jefferson County Employment by sector
Sector Number of Employees Average Wage % of State Wage
Government 2089 $35,931 84%
Health Care 1287 $27,607 76%
Tourism 1227 $12,518 83%
Retail 1034 $20,445 75%
All Sectors 9016 $27,980 69%
Continued growth in tourism and an increase in the influx of retirees as baby-boomers reach retirement age in 2010 will perpetuate this trend. The influx of retirees has also escalated the demand for housing. In Jefferson County in particular, supply is limited due to very stringent environmental regulation and a lengthy permit process, which deters new construction. As a result demand has far exceeded supply and prices have soared. Average home valuations increased 40% at the last assessment. The average home is now out of reach of most working families in the area and unattainable for a single wage-earner family making the average wage.
Unemployment in the region is now an apparently healthy 4.5%. However, this more a reflection of the exodus of our young job seekers and the influx of retirees rather than a significant increase in the number of available jobs. This is reflected in public school enrollment, which declined again this year. Most of our rural public schools can no longer be sustained without property tax levies.
Environmental Regulation of the region has also served to restrict growth. 97% of the region is now parkland and the remaining 3% is subject to continually more stringent regulation. In Jefferson County in particular, sewer and water infrastructure needed to make areas designated for Urban Growth eight years ago have never been built. The cost of this infrastructure has spiraled upward with inflation and ever more complex and costly environmental regulation. More regulation, particularly with regard to water rights and pollution of the Sound should be expected. Most of regulation can be expected to be detrimental to commercial growth and a deterrent to many prospective new businesses.
The good news is that our Marine Trade and Manufacturing Clusters businesses have continued to grow. Unfortunately, they are severely restricted by the need for skilled people. In a recent survey of 1300 JeffCo businesses, lack of available skilled workers was listed as the number one issue limiting business growth. The Marine trades in Jefferson County are now topped out because of limited available space and business actually declined last year.
III CEDS Goals and Objectives
Our single minded goal must be to increase the average wage by removing the obstacles to growth in those clusters that have higher paying jobs and attract more businesses with higher paying jobs to the region. The influx or more retirees and the recent efforts by the State to promote tourism will serve only to increase employment in the lowest paid sectors, further depressing our average wage. We must therefore substantially increase employment in the higher paying clusters to offset this.
A reasonable overall objective would be to attain an average regional wage sufficient to qualify a two-income family for a mortgage to buy the average priced home in the region.
Based on current employment (in Jeffco), if tourism doubles in five years and the retired population reaches 65% we would have to quadruple employment in the other industry clusters to achieve this.
IV Community and Private Sector Participation
The private sector is disenchanted with the much of the public sector. Many businesses, particularly in Jefferson County feel that the region is unfriendly to business. Much of this criticism is justified. Permits from Community Development and Public Health departments take far too long to process. B&O taxes are high and deter small businesses from hiring full time employees. (65% of surveyed companies were within the city limits and subject to B&O tax) Infrastructure, desperately needed for business expansion, is delayed by politics, environmentalists, tribal issues, lack of adequate matching funding. As a result, some major projects have been “in-progress” for 10 years and have yet to break ground.
There is currently lots of planning and very little execution. In general, the private sector gets very involved with major development projects and is generally supportive of economic development. The process bogs down when a minority group objects to a project. In those cases, the public sector rarely displays the leadership qualities needed to realize the project in the face of minority dissent. Instead, the projects flounder and eventually either die or the developer withdraws in frustration.
The attitudes of the business surveyed are virtually unchanged from the Economic Assessment made by Daniel J Evans school of public affairs in 2003. (Sommers and Holabird)
V Strategic Projects, Programs and Activities.
Strategy for developing and retaining existing businesses
The strategy for retaining and promoting the growth of our existing businesses is a straight forward three-step process.
• Survey each key industry
• Determine the specific obstacles to growth for the major part of that industry
• Create and initiate a specific plan to reduce or eliminate those restrictions.
Such a survey was recently completed for 1300 of the 4500 businesses registered in Jefferson County as other than sole proprietorships. These included businesses involved in
• Tourism
• Marine trades
• Aquaculture and agriculture
• Health care
• Manufacturing
• Electronic Technology
• The Arts
According to the survey none of these businesses are market limited. Therefore, if the limitations to their growth were eliminated or reduced, their revenues and employment levels could be increased. The four major obstacles to growth identified by the survey were:
• Lack of skilled people and poor work ethic.
• Lack of available appropriately zoned facilities
• Lack of funds for regional market development
• Regulation
These findings are virtually the same as those of Sommers and Holabird in 2003
Based on this survey, discussions with all three Chambers of Commerce, several Rotary Clubs, three of the largest trade groups in the county and several of our local business leaders, there has emerged a consensus that the projects listed below are critical to economic growth in Jefferson County. A key part of our Economic Development strategy must be to create a realistic plan to complete these within budget and within a reasonable time-frame. This requires adequate funding and the political will to keep the projects moving forward even in the face of inevitable minority objections.
These projects are listed in the table at the end of this section. Estimated costs of these projects is preliminary as are the estimates of the employment increases which result from them. These estimates should be honed and the projects reprioritized appropriately.
Strategy to solicit New Businesses to locate in the region.
It emerges clearly from this analysis that growth in tourism alone will not lead to a sustainable economy. Furthermore, the growth in sectors other than Health Care and Tourism to achieve an increase in average wages for the region is very difficult to achieve. We therefore have to mount a substantial effort to attract intellectual property companies with higher paying jobs in addition to nurturing our existing industries.
Entrepreneurs and most corporations look for four things when making a decision to locate or relocate their business. The order of importance varies depending on the type of business.
o A pool of skilled people, an educational system likely to generate more of those people, and a place where they can attract key employees who, initially at least, may not available locally. The better the quality of life that the new location affords the more likely it is that these key employees can be retained. This is extremely important to small companies because the cost of losing and retraining a new employee is huge.
o “Business friendly” local and state government departments.
o Adequate, appropriately zoned facilities for their business.
o A local market for their goods or services.
Businesses which are synergistic to our existing businesses e.g. suppliers, distributors, component manufacturers etc who supply products and services to, or market the products produced by our indigenous industries will find an attractive, ready-made market here. These businesses, therefore, should be our first priority in our solicitation efforts because we have something to offer them. Information about key suppliers and distributors is readily available from our existing business leaders. We need to make a short list of these companies and have our local business leaders help us in a focused effort to solicit them to set up shop here.
We also need to attract the type of business that can use any surplus infrastructure we have available. In Jefferson County, the Port of Port Townsend has space and funding available to build facilities for aviation related businesses at the airport. The labor skills used to build composite light aircraft are similar to those used in our Marine Trade industry. So, here we can offer infrastructure and a pool of people with some of the right skills. We need to mount a serious “rifle-shot” effort to attract a significant business like this to the area.
Last but not least, we need to attract intellectual property developers to the area. This industry is environmentally clean and therefore easy to assimilate into this intensely ecologically-sensitive area, and it pays well. Three key things are required to attract intellectual property developers. These are:
a) Fiber optic Internet infrastructure
b) Incubator facilities for small start ups in this field
c) Funding to provide B&O tax breaks and other incentives to intice companies to relocate here.
There are two issues with this strategy. Initially, there are no benefits to local residents. If fact local residents may be adversely affected because new companies will bring highly paid workers with them initially, driving up housing costs. Once established these same companies will provide opportunities for young people in the county, but this is a long-term benefit. Over the long term, retirees may well represent the majority of voters and jobs will not be on their priority list for elected officials.
Key Economic Development Projects
Project description
Partners Estimated Project Cost over 5 years Jobs Created over 5 years Priority
Develop our most needed workforce skills by radically changing our existing educational process and establishing apprentice ship programs. Public schools, Community Colleges Local industry associations $1.5 m 500 Top
Mount a Commissioner-level effort to get the Sewer completed in the Tri-Area UGA and in Brinnon DCD. PUD, County Commissioners $1.0 m 250 Very High
Obtain additional professional help to promote International and Domestic tourism on the Olympic Peninsula and fund it adequately Joint Marketing. Lodging Tax Advisory Committee 10% of Tourism Revenue 1000
Jeff. County Very High
Expand our existing Marine trade facilities and fund the Ports to accomplish this.
Port of PT, Port of PA. MTA. $1.5 m 250
Jeff Co Top
Fast Track the Pleasant Harbor Project with backing of the commissioners.
DCD, Commissioners $100,000 250 Top
Fund the expansion of Aquaculture infrastructure operated by the Port of Port Townsend DCD, Port of PT
Oyster Industry $500,000 50 High
Fund a highly targeted search for synergistic and Intellectual Property companies to relocate here. EDC, Port of PA and Port of PA $100,000 150 High
Organize the creation of an appellation “Olympic Peninsula” and provide funds to promote it. EDC, Chambers
Grower Assoc. Vintners etc $250,000 300 High
Form an Angel Capital fund EDC, private individuals, Banks $25,000 200 High
Initiate a project to deploy HS Internet capability and create Incubators. EDC, City of PA, State Park Ft. Warden $1.0 300 High
Fund a very small regional organization to manage dispersed low income housing for seasonal tourism workers EDC, City of PT, City of PA $125,000 200 Very High
Total 3450 35%
VI CEDS Plan of Action
1 Workforce Development
Our public schools and community colleges do not turn out graduates with skills that fit our indigenous industries and many graduates that do, don’t have an acceptable work ethic.
Action Items
a) Create a partnership between our Community colleges and local businesses to initiate an “apprenticeship” program where local businesses pay for their own employees to be trained in specific skills at the community college and students “intern” at local companies to hone there skills hands on. The EDC has started such a program in cooperation with the Marine Trade Association and the local Wooden Boat School. Similar programs exist in Clallam county.
b) Establish a “charter-style” vocational school to train high school seniors in specific trades including building industry, welding, finishing, fine woodcraft and electronic drafting. These are all skills in short supply within our existing marine trades cluster
c) We must provide “Work ethic training” in high school. College students learn about the real world in a place with a safety net. Those students who don’t pursue a college education and enter the job market after leaving high school don’t have that advantage. Liberal educational policies in public schools reward students with “gold stars for all” and play soccer games without keeping score. This doesn’t prepare our young people for the competitive world economy we live in. Entry-level employees need to be taught that performance counts and gold stars only go to winners. Today we have so many high school graduates who don’t seem to realize that Woody Allen was right.(90% of success is showing up) that large Washington corporations are now instituting management training programs on how to deal with this “Z generation”
Our public schools should institute a senior year course on “how to get a job and keep it”
2 Water/Sewer infrastructure.
Many of the zoning and permit restrictions which limit business growth in the area are the result of the requirement that facilities have sufficient available water (fireflow ) and sewer. To remove these constraints, the county needs to get the sewer built in Hadlock and take advantage of the State Park Sewer development in Brinnon. The Hadlock sewer has been ten years in the process. Elephants give birth in five. The County has spent nearly ten years and hundreds of thousands of dollars on studies related to this project and is yet to break ground.
Action Items:
a) Our Commissioners must be asked to champion this project despite the objections of the inevitable vociferous few. A person in DCD should be assigned to the project to plan and execute the project within 2 years
d) State Parks, DCD and the State funding organizations need to clarify their roles and create an action plan with a schedule to complete this in one year
3 Funding the Promotion of Olympic Peninsula Tourism
Tourism represents about 12% of our employment in the region. The growth rate in tourism slowed slightly due in some part to rising gas prices and higher travel costs. However, the growth of tourism derived revenues was lower in the Olympic Peninsula than for Kitsap and below the average for the state. In short, the Olympic Peninsula is losing market share.
The reason for the loss of market share is very likely related to relative spending on advertising to promote the area. The Olympic Peninsula generated over $2 million in Lodging tax revenues alone last year. Advertising expense was less than $100,000 about a quarter of Kitsap’s budget.
Action Items
a) Compare nearby area advertising budgets and Tourism revenues to that of the Olympic Peninsula and bring the Olympic Peninsula budget into line
b) Contract with a professional marketing organization to assist our own team to create an integrated promotional program including advertising
c) Initiate an effort to link the various Peninsula Visitor Centers in order to provide multi-facility availability/reservation capability at the centers and on-line.
d) Create a plan to deal effectively with the inevitable need for passports for travel to Canada. This will effect tourism negatively unless a long range plan to deal with the logistics is developed and executed in the next two years.
4 Expansion of Marine trade facilities
The Marine Trades in Jefferson County are restricted by both a shortage of skilled people and a lack of space required for expansion. The lack of skilled workers is addresses in previous section covering workforce development. Providing more space is more difficult and requires a major study in land use particularly in Port Townsend where the only available land that is appropriately zoned is used by the Paper Mill and the Kai Tai Lagoon area.
Action items
a) engage experts to do a long range land use project for Port Townsend with a view to expanding the Port Facilities possibly including land currently owned by the Paper Mill.
5 Fast Track the Black Point Project.
This project is a planned resort including a golf course and 800 condominiums. This will ad approximately $240 million to the assessed value of the county and generate 1.6 million in property tax revenues alone. The project is presently in the Environmental Impact Statement process. Although a few residents have objected, the majority of the local community is in favor of the project. It is essential that the county government recognize the economic value of this project and lend its full support.
Action Items
a) Assign a DCD employee to bird dog the project through the lengthy and complex EIS and permit process.
6 Funding aquaculture infrastructure operated by the port
The Port of Port Townsend owns and operates infrastructure in Quilcene that is used by several Oyster producers in the county. These facilities have degraded by silting and other issues some of which have been brought about by salmon preservation efforts. This infrastructure is key to the continued growth of the Oyster industry on Quilcene bay.
Action items
a) provide funding to the port to upgrade the infrastructure
7 Funding a search and INCENTIVES for synergistic and IP companies to relocate
We must attract new businesses to the region. This requires personal. In addition, incentives need to be established for new businesses to relocate. These funds need to be budgeted.
Action items
a) Fund the EDC to create a short list of companies in the target industries and actively solicit them.
b) Set aside B&O taxes to fund incentives to attract target companies.
8 Organization and funding of “appellation Olympic Penisula”
Much of the success of the Napa Valley and similar regions has been as a result of joint marketing efforts and creation of a local brand or “appellation” Local vintners, shellfish producers, salmon fisheries, organic crops growers and beef/dairy producers should form a similar consortium. This is already in an embryo stage but requires funding and management to really make it happen.
Action Item
a) Establish an “Appellation Olympic Peninsula” with seed funding for management and advertising
9 Formation of an Angel Capital fund
The growth of some of small businesses are restricted by lack of capital. We have a large number of retirees with vested interest in the community who have the wherewithal to provide financing. An angel fund should be established for this purpose.
Action Item
a) Provide funds to the PDA to organize the fund and solicit participants.
b) Integrate the Angel fund into the Economic development process to assist existing companies to expand their operations and to help attract promising new start-ups in the targeted industries.
10 Initiate a project to deploy HS Internet capability and create Incubator
To attract intellectual property developers requires fiber optic Internet infrastructure. Some Internet infrastructure is available on the Peninsula but is inadequate.
Action Item
a) fund a survey to determine needs of the target industry and fund implementation
11) Fund a very small regional organization to manage dispersed low income housing
Tourism work is the lowest paid sector and highly seasonal. Seasonal workers have difficulty finding affordable housing.
Action Item
a) Fund a “housing agency” for low income and seasonal workers by creating an inventory of Additional Dwelling Units in the region and directing housing seekers to owners.
b) Relax ADU regulations to create more ADU properties since these are generally preferable to concentrated low income housing.
VII Performance Measures
We must measure the success of our Economic Development efforts simply by measuring the following parameters for Clallam and Jefferson Counties.
• Total number of non-government jobs
• Average non-government wages as a percent of State non-government wages.
• Total Taxable Retail Sales
• Total B&O Tax revenues.
• Proportion of workers who could qualify for a mortgage to purchase the average home.
Appendix 1: PDA’s STRUCTURE
The PDA membership is comprised of representatives of the Counties of Jefferson and Clallam and includes representatives from the Board of Commissioners of each county, tribal communities, and representatives’ at-large of employment, education, labor.
A Board of Directors oversees the administrative functions of the PDA effort. The Executive Board consists of not less than eleven (11) and not more than twenty-one (21) members. Fifty-one percent of the Board of Directors must be elected officials. Representatives selected to serve on the Executive Board are named at the first meeting of each fiscal year and serve for the respective fiscal year. The following is a list of people who comprise the PDA membership (2006):
Officers:
Bill Hannan, President Port of Port Angeles
Jay Bennett, Vice-President Diversified Resources, Inc.
Herb Beck, Secretary/Treasurer Port of Port Townsend
Directors:
Katherine Baril Washington State University Extension-Jefferson County
John Beitzel City of Sequim
Ryland Bowechop Makah Tribal Council
Gary Cohn Port Angeles School District
Larry Crockett Port of Port Townsend
Bill Elliott (Alternate) City of Sequim
John Fischbach Jefferson County
Rod Fleck (Alternate) City of Forks
Hugh Haffner PUD of Clallam County
Marny Hannan Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce
Marlin Holden Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe
Anthony Ingersoll North Olympic Peninsula Resource and Conservation District
Merle Pender Employment Securities Dept.
Wayne King Jefferson County PUD
Laurie Medlicott City of Port Townsend
Mary O’Neil-Garrett Peninsula College
Jim Parker (Alternate) Jefferson County PUD
Clyde Rasmussen (Alternate) North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center
Nedra Reed City of Forks
Karen Rogers City of Port Angeles
David Sullivan (Alternate) Jefferson County
Steve Tharinger Clallam County
Betsy Wharton City of Port Angeles
EDC Director
Linda Rotmark Clallam County EDC
Appendix 2: TRENDS IN REGIONAL POPULATION
Population 1990-2004 and Projections to 2015
County/State 1990 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2010* 2015*
Jefferson 20,406 24,112 26,299 26,446 26,600 26,700 27,000 30,892 34,067
Clallam 56,204 61,461 64,179 64,454 64,900 65,300 65,900 67,754 70,769
State 4,866,692 5,470,104 5,894,121 5,974,900 6,041,710 6,098,300 6,167,800 6,648,112 7,096,501
Source: US Census and WA-OFM
*Projections
PDA Region Population 1990 2004 % Change
Jefferson 20,406 27,000 32.31%
Clallam 56,204 65,900 17.25%
Median Household Income 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2005 % of WA
Clallam County $38,052 $39,702 $39,863 $40,124 $41,108 $42,367 81.8%
Jefferson County $39,122 $40,923 $41,385 $40,852 $41,801 $42,620 82.3%
State of Washington $48,397 $49,286 $49,771 $50,664 $51,762 $51,794
EMPLOYMENT/UNEMPLOYMENT
Clallam County Jefferson County Washington State
2004Total Employment 24,950 12,030 3,012,900
Total Unemployment 1,490 580 193,700
Percent of Labor Force 5.6% 4.6% 6.0%
Civilian Labor Force 26,440 12,610 3,206,600
2003Total Employment 23,790 11,250 2,902,900
Total Unemployment 1,920 740 237,000
Percent of Labor Force 7.5% 6.2% 7.5%
Civilian Labor Force 25,710 11,990 3,139,900
2002Total Employment 23,310 10,870 2,882,600
Total Unemployment 1,880 770 226,700
Percent of Labor Force 7.5% 6.6% 7.3%
Civilian Labor Force 25,190 11,640 3,109,300
2001Total Employment 22,520 10,580 2,830,600
Total Unemployment 1,890 650 193,400
Percent of Labor Force 7.7% 5.8% 6.4%
Civilian Labor Force 24,410 11,230 3,024,000
2000Total Employment 23,030 10,420 2,896,300
Total Unemployment 1,900 590 159,300
Percent of Labor Force 7.6% 5.4% 5.2%
Civilian Labor Force 24,930 11,010 3,055,600
Appendix 3: Employment by Business Sector
Business
Sector Clallam-County Jefferson-County Olympic Peninsula
#employed % of Total #employed % of Total #employed % of Total
Appendix 4: Alternative Energy
I’ve included this appendix because Alternative Energy was included in the previous CEDS. However, I believe that replacing fossil fuel with alternative energy sources is huge undertaking which can best be done at the State and National level. For this region to do more than institute tried and proven energy saving programs throughout the county would be an ineffective use of the limited funding we have available. However, much can be done with energy saving programs, some counties have saved as much as 15% of their energy costs for a very small investment. We should do the same. The local PUDs should provide an incentive for the general public to follow suit.
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