Commissioners OK new economic development plan

TAVARES — The Lake County Board of County Commissioners adopted a new economic strategic plan at its regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday.

The 82-page plan outlines a roadmap for Lake County to diversify its economy and tax base. The plan was crafted by consultant TIP Strategies of Austin, Texas, and is a comprehensive set of strategies, which includes an implementation plan to guide future economic development efforts in Lake County.

"The implementation of this plan will assist the County in its endeavors to diversify the commercial tax base to support the services that residents demand," said Dottie Keedy, Director of the Lake County Department of Economic Growth & Redevelopment.

The strategic plan, which is titled "Building Bridges for Economic Development in Lake County," took about eight months to develop. Throughout the development process consultants met with key individuals and organizations and had several meetings with the County Commission-appointed Economic Development Strategic Plan Steering Committee. In addition, the consultants conducted two visioning sessions in November with business owners and community leaders to set economic development goals, build consensus, and prioritize strategies and projects.

"Now comes the difficult part of the project: the implementation process," Keedy said. "We must work with our local and regional partners to aggressively pursue economic development opportunities in the plan's suggested target sectors."

The plan spells out a number of goals and initiatives to spur economic development in Lake County. The goals the document sets forth are:
• Coordinate efforts with allies and leaders
• Diversify the tax base through innovation, industry attraction and business development
• Enhance and promote quality of place
• Develop, retain and attract talent

In addition, the plan identifies target industry sectors that Lake County should try to attract, including:
• Health & Wellness
• Clean Tech
• Agritech
• Business Services
• Arts, Recreation & Leisure