ESTEVAN - Estevan should develop as a "community rooted in energy, family and prosperity."
Such a vision for the Energy City was presented by Doug Griffiths and Heather Thomson of 13 Ways through a draft strategic plan at the Estevan Economic Development Town Hall on Thursday.
Griffiths, who has been contracted out by the city to help with economic development efforts, said the strategic plan is based on the feedback they received, work with city council, meetings with administration and their own assessment of Estevan and its challenges and opportunities.
Three open sessions were held at the Days Inn with dozens of residents attending the meetings to listen to Griffiths speak about the unique improvement plan for Estevan, ask questions and share their opinions and visions.
Griffiths started his presentations with several examples of other communities that went through a downturn due to various reasons, but then found their path and recovered in a new way. He pointed out that Estevan, a community that's also been through many ups and downs throughout its history, doesn't need to try using all of the strategies, but it definitely has all the potential to develop and again become a strong, prosperous community, attractive for people and businesses alike.
"This particular strategy is not about the past, it is not about bringing back coal, it is not about some quick fix that's going to make things better instantly. It's not about smokestack chasing, because every community in North America is trying to chase the next big factory, and that's a waste of energy. It may come, but that should not be your focus. It's not about hoping for a miracle that things are going to go well. So in case anybody out there says that this next election, Justin Trudeau is going to lose and coal is going to come back, I'm sorry, but as you can see by the graph, since the 1900s to 2016, coal has been declining in demand globally. And the little known fact, during (Donald) Trump's four years (as U.S. president), 2.7 times more coal mines shut down than during Barack Obama's eight years. There's just a trend. It's real, you can't do anything about it," Griffiths explained.
"So this is not about the past, not about a quick fix, not about some miraculous solution. This is about a real strategy going forward based on the way the world is changing," Griffiths said.
Unlike operational plans, which are usually detailed and lengthy, but quite often are vague and not very practical, the strategy developed by 13 Ways is only two pages long. It starts with the brief story of Estevan, outlining its assets to help market the community.
"Settlers from Eastern Canada and the United States came to Estevan by rail 130 years ago, because of the natural opportunities that existed here. With the highest number of clear sunshine days in all of North America, agriculture opportunities blossomed, and with coal in abundance, there was plenty of opportunities to make a living while families built their farms. Our economy and our population continued to grow and diversify, as new sources of energy such as oil and gas and power production grew in demand. Over the years, our community grew into a city, with its roots firmly planted in energy production, and a mindset ready to take advantage of an abundance of opportunity.
"Access to the world through highways, airways and railroad connections and corridors to major North American markets encouraged our growth as a manufacturing and production hub. That, in turn, attracted new businesses, new industries and new people. While the foundation of our economy remains energy, it is shifting, diversifying and growing. Our natural advantages are leveraged by technologies and innovations to supply fresh markets with the products they need. Our presence on the world stage is growing, fed by the energy of our people, our community and our beautiful natural environment.
"While we grow economically, we know what is equally important to grow our community's quality of life for the families and businesses alike. We already have beautiful waterways and water bodies, bathed in sunshine, unparalleled indoor and outdoor recreation amenities, great healthcare and educational institutions, and an affordable, yet high quality of life. As our population and our workforce continues to grow and diversify, we will continue to invest in initiatives that add vibrancy and life to our community, support the success of our families and our businesses, and maintain our stature as the city of energy for generations to come," says the plan.
The mission of the strategic plan 2021 is to "build a community that energizes residents, inspires visitors, promotes development and creates an innovative future for every generation."
The main values, according to the research provided by the 13 Ways, are quality of life for families, downtown vibrancy and economic growth. Based on those values, Griffiths suggests three main streams of milestones and actions.
The first block, the "Welcome to the Energy" initiative, offers to open up the idea of energy.
"Instead of just Energy City, saying our energy is downtown, our energy is families, our energy is quality of life. It becomes a marketing opportunity to leverage it more. So Welcome to the Energy, a tourism attraction strategy implemented," Griffiths explained.
This part of the plan also suggests local block party organization and promotion, development of multicultural events and engagements and improvement of the wayfinding signage and marketing plan implementation. All these initiatives will make the community more attractive for people to visit and to move to.
The second block – Downtown Vibrancy – discusses the changes required to revitalize downtown, which in turn also makes the community attractive for life for people of all ages and makes it more attractive for investors. This part of the strategy plan assumes the downtown redesign, development of four-season event opportunities, growth of daycare and child care spaces as well as accessibility improvements and development of walking trails and bike paths, connecting neighbourhoods to the core.
“A downtown redesign project, I think that's one of the biggest and most important initiatives you guys are going to undertake because it helps speed everything else that we're talking about into that from economic development, and the welcoming initiatives," Griffiths said.
"Why are we focusing so much on the downtown district? What about businesses that are outside of that area? I think that the important thing is to remember that there's a residual effect," added Thomson.
"Every dollar of public investment in downtown core returns $3 of private investment in the downtown," said Griffiths.
The third block of milestones and actions for Estevan is Economic Growth. The small business growth part of the strategy suggests business incubation space initiatives, mentorship and financing initiatives, succession planning initiatives and the development of creative co-working space opportunities, a lot of which is already happening in Estevan.
"The city has already been working on a bunch of these initiatives, just as we've been talking about them. And they've already made so much progress," Griffiths said.
The industrial growth opportunities portion of the economic growth strategy suggests focusing on the attraction of innovative and alternative opportunities in agriculture, manufacturing and energy, as well as advocacy, partnership, communication and marketing.
Griffiths pointed out that while back in the day big manufacturers chose to build in the areas where the taxes and regulations were the most favourable, now this approach is not pertinent anymore as the companies prefer to come where the employees want to live. And Estevan has the potential to be such a community.
"The city of Estevan commits to continued partnership with the Estevan Economic Development Board to ensure enduring prosperity for our community and all its residents. As the board works to attract new industries, the city will continue to build on our exceptional quality of life. Together, we will grow the brand and promise of the City of Energy," Griffiths said.
He added that half of the marketing will be focused on external stakeholders, while the other half of the marketing is going to be done for people in the community.
"There's so much opportunity here. And it's absolutely amazing what you're going to accomplish, but you need to own it. I don't mean council and I don't mean administration or economic development. Every single person in this community needs to own it," Griffiths said.
"There is no bigger correlation between success and attitude than anything else. That's it. The government could give you $100 billion, and it will not amount to a damn thing. It is the attitude that matters. So with this marketing and branding, and this strategic plan, we're going to be really pushing that."