[0:00] Good afternoon. I'd like to welcome you to the Economic and Tourism Development Commission meeting on September 9. I'd like to call the meeting to order. Did everybody on board have a chance to review last month's minutes? Yes. Are there any questions or amendments?

[0:24] May I ask for a, what?

[0:29] What?

[0:29] I'm going to have a motion.

[0:31] Oh my God.

[0:32] You know, I'm going to see you today or what?

[0:33] You can call me.

[0:34] I have a motion to accept a minute.

[0:36] I move to accept a minute.

[0:37] And second.

[0:38] Second.

[0:39] All those in favor?

[0:40] All right.

[0:43] Going forward.

[0:46] The chairman does not have a report today, so we'll move right into staff reports.

[0:51] Okay.

[0:52] And mine's going to be pretty quick.

[0:53] But just everybody should be getting my weekly emails and gave updates on all the projects

[1:02] in this past weekly email.

[1:05] So if there's any questions, I'm happy to answer them, but I think it pretty much covered

[1:10] everything.

[1:11] We are expecting Katie back on Monday, so we're excited about that.

[1:15] And that's really all I have unless there are any questions from any of the members.

[1:23] So new business.

[1:24] Yes.

[1:25] We have a big project to discuss today.

[1:28] Yes.

[1:29] So, I wanted to fill everybody in where we are, PPR strategies and Sandy and Gavi are

[1:34] online with us today because we are going to do a little brainstorming about our strategic

[1:39] plan at the meeting today.

[1:42] So, PPR strategies was chosen as air consultant and commissioners approved that and where we

[1:50] We are now as the agreement is with our grants and contracts director and she's just looking

[1:57] that over.

[1:58] We'll get that to the commissioners for their signature, but we don't foresee any issues.

[2:03] So we are moving forward.

[2:05] And then we just wanted to kind of do some brainstorms.

[2:08] I asked everyone to try to look through the 2022 strategic plan.

[2:13] And, you know, I think the big things is looking at our vision, mission, our goals, do they still kind of like are those the priority goals, and they're on the back of our name tends as well.

[2:27] We did that to kind of help us keep remaining focused on those goals, are they the right goals, but some of the things I asked to like what has worked, what needs improvement, and what's no longer relevant.

[2:41] And we were talking a little bit earlier, our team, like some of the things that aren't

[2:47] really relevant anymore.

[2:48] One of the things we want to do is a contact us page.

[2:50] And now that the website is redone, there's a way to contact us directly from the website

[2:55] by clicking on our email address and sending us a message.

[2:59] Katie's put different forms on there if somebody wants to start or relocate a business.

[3:04] So that contact us page is kind of, don't need any more because we've worked in a different

[3:09] way.

[3:09] So, yeah, so I just kind of want to brainstorm.

[3:16] Anybody want to start sharing and then at the end, I would like to, after the discussions,

[3:24] I'm going to give everybody a piece of paper and like what is really, really important

[3:28] to you that you make sure we cover in our economic and tourism development strategic plan.

[3:35] I'm going forward.

[3:39] I can start as I reviewed I saw there were a couple of mentions of agriculture, but

[3:49] I don't see agritourism and I think if we're not proactive in keeping farms actively engaged

[4:00] in farming or some type of public opportunities for them, we may be losing some of that.

[4:08] And there was one reference to a bi-local program.

[4:14] But I just think that the broader picture of agritourism and how economic development and tourism can help support that and foster ideas and creativity and ease of getting folks in on that opportunity.

[4:32] That's a great point.

[4:34] We do focus on it, but it's not spelled out.

[4:36] It's going to be spelled out.

[4:38] Yeah.

[4:39] Now there's something else that it really doesn't,

[4:42] it isn't mentioned in here, but in my observation of

[4:46] when I ran a nonprofit in Kent County,

[4:49] and now I have a business.

[4:51] I just feel like there's opportunities for growth

[4:57] and development with creating activities,

[5:01] whether it's events or marketing with the public businesses and the nonprofits.

[5:10] So maybe the county has done something like this or maybe the nonprofits have done

[5:15] something but I don't have a figure right at my fingertips but I believe we have a

[5:22] high number of nonprofits in this county and the reason I know that is because

[5:26] as everybody, you know, would like to have a donation, and I love supporting everybody.

[5:32] But I also like them supporting me and our business by carrying our products.

[5:38] So I just, I think that's something that could grow on the non-profit side and also on the business side.

[5:49] Thank you.

[5:50] Those are my only two big things.

[5:54] Maybe I can offer a couple things that I was thinking about.

[6:00] First of all, this is the economic and tourism development goals, and I don't see as much about tourism as I'd like to see in the strategic plan.

[6:09] And particularly in support of hospitality and restaurant development, but hospitality in particular because in fact, based upon some of our high traffic times of the year, we actually need more available overnight stay occupancy rooms, in other words.

[6:37] And so what are we doing, yeah, what are we doing to perhaps promote that piece of development

[6:45] that could, of course, be key in developing more tourism?

[6:53] The only thing that I noticed is, no, plus, plus, on moderately priced, willing units,

[7:01] obviously, that's something that we're talking about here, and I'd love to see that sort

[7:07] of magnified a little bit in terms of the strategic plan.

[7:11] Housing, particularly affordable housing for people who want to live and work here and cannot afford to do so.

[7:21] And in support of some of these things that we're talking about, particularly industries like hospitality and restaurants that don't have a big salary price point.

[7:35] So, we have to have a place to put these people.

[7:40] And then could I, I'm going to ask for a clarification on this, on the graphs that are on page

[7:47] wide.

[7:47] Yes, great.

[7:48] I don't really understand.

[7:50] Do these relate to one another and I don't understand?

[7:55] No.

[7:56] Okay, so.

[7:57] So, the first one, and let me go back here, we were wondering, you know, kind of like where

[8:04] where the property tax assessments, like where our tax revenues were coming from, 73% of our tax, that's the first chart, 73% from residential, 13% from commercial, and it's been a while since I've done this but I want to say that they say a healthy community, 30% comes from commercial, so we've got some work to do there, and then 14% of it comes from agriculture.

[8:34] And then if you look at it in at the next chart,

[8:39] 89% of our land is zoned agriculture,

[8:44] only 6% commercial and 5% residential.

[8:49] So you can just see that like we need to grow

[8:53] our commercial tax base.

[8:56] And we can do that by promoting businesses

[9:01] is on this 6% commercial.

[9:06] Well, yeah, isn't that, I don't know, shouldn't these relate?

[9:13] Well, they kind of do.

[9:15] It shows you what the zoning is compared to where the actual revenue is coming from.

[9:20] This doesn't have to be part of the new plan.

[9:22] This was just something that we had looked at back in 2021, and it was something that folks

[9:29] were interested in as to where our tax revenues were coming from compared to what our zoning

[9:34] looked like, but it doesn't have to be part of, and I just did redo the numbers, so let me

[9:41] just see if that changed at all. And I don't know if I got that far, but let me say.

[9:52] So I did

[9:53] redo the numbers, and I don't think it changed at all. So from 2021 to 2026, up 73, 14, 13, no, it didn't

[10:05] change it all. So just FYI. So 89% in Kent County is agricultural zone, but only 14%.

[10:17] 14% of the revenue comes from that 89%. But isn't that because your comparing apples and oranges,

[10:26] the tax revenue from farming versus tax revenue from commercial, aren't they're not the same?

[10:33] They're assessed differently, but the tax rate is the same, but they are assessed differently, yes, absolutely.

[10:39] So this is not economic activity, this is property assessments, correct?

[10:44] Correct. That's correct.

[10:45] And I was interested in these two, and it made me curious also about some of the other,

[10:55] I got me curious about what the pie chart is of commercial, of different kinds of economic

[11:04] activity that's going on here, right?

[11:07] How much activity is generated by agricultural industries or land that's on the land that's

[11:16] zoned agricultural?

[11:17] How much is generated on land that's zoned commercial, and how those relate because the property

[11:23] assessments are one thing, but if we do my account development, that's another part

[11:27] of the, part of the whole that I'm kind of interested in.

[11:30] It would be, it would be easier to understand the relationship, if you did it that way.

[11:35] For sure.

[11:36] But the question is, if these really are desperate things, and you're saying that we're

[11:44] maybe underdeveloped in the commercial area to that, towards that 30 percent of healthy.

[11:50] So, but we're only allocating 6% of our land usage to commercial use, correct.

[12:01] How can, how do those things work in conjunction to one another?

[12:06] In other words, does this suggest that we need to allow greater growth in the land allocation to commercial?

[12:16] You know, and I don't know the answer to that question Joanne.

[12:18] And a couple of the things that I think about when you ask that question is that when a project is proposed on commercial development employment center, let's say, I think it's commercial, they removed industrial zoning, that's what it was.

[12:35] So whether it's commercial or employment center, when a project is proposed on those lands, we still have pushback for even those projects.

[12:45] So maybe supporting those projects that are already sort of right on because it's only a small

[12:53] percent of land that is zone for commercial or employment center.

[12:59] But yet we still get pushback for those projects that are proposed on those properties.

[13:07] I mean, this gets back to Ecuadorism, right?

[13:09] And that's an instance where you have people resisting a new kind of business learning.

[13:17] I can think of a couple like specific examples where they weren't able to launch a business

[13:22] because there was a zoning problem this match with where they were and neighbors held.

[13:29] The other thing when I look at this, I think over the past 10, 15 years or so, the movement

[13:38] been towards land preservation with agricultural properties has been a real positive for this

[13:46] county and many farmers have taken advantage of that but that sort of restricts any opportunity

[13:53] for growth and you know like I think that may be play into this I'm not sure how I know

[14:03] how it played into it with us we have 150 acres that we can't do anything with and the rest

[14:08] the farm we can do what we want with. And as more farms are covered with land preservation,

[14:15] there's just so many requirements of things they can and cannot do. And if the majority

[14:21] of our land mass is open space that we want to respect, then we need to have that front

[14:29] and center somehow in our strategic plan that this is important to us. And in order to facilitate

[14:37] Okay, these open spaces, we have to have opportunities for whether it's tourism or people to visit and understand what it means to preserve land.

[14:49] Good point. Yeah, I'm just trying to think that through because it is a complicated process.

[14:54] Isn't it at the state level 2 duty that all the rules and regulations?

[14:58] Not necessary.

[14:59] Thank you.

[15:00] And I actually think this is something that could help the county, if more people who are thinking about preserving land understood, state-level land trusts are highly restrictive and highly codified. If you work with, say, Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, they are, there's more room for negotiation. I mean, they do still have a goal of preserving that land as agricultural land, and contributing to the quality of the environment.

[15:31] But there's more, the back and forth and exactly what you can establish, when you sign that contract, what you can establish as a loud use is a bit more flexible when you're working with a private nonprofit than when you're working with a state.

[15:48] And so it would be, to Judy's point I think is exactly right, it would be good for landowners who are potentially thinking about preserving their land.

[15:57] And to think very proactively and carefully about what kinds of use they want to maintain

[16:03] as still possible on that land.

[16:06] I agree.

[16:07] And then you do have the emotionally charged issue of the fact that the state can claim

[16:12] eminent domain for a project that suits their interests.

[16:17] And I've got to believe that there are some people who feel very strongly about that.

[16:22] and I know that I do, so there's a contradiction there that doesn't make a lot of sense to some people.

[16:35] And I take Judy's point. We have a farm but it is also a commercial property.

[16:42] But what we can do with that additional land that's not being specifically used as a farm is highly restricted.

[16:51] it. So it's hard to know how to work within that. And I've got to believe that some

[17:02] of this relates to how we could find out how we could approach this so that you're

[17:10] respecting the land and yet growing your commercial needs in the area. I mean, I think we're at

[17:17] at the point where we need to look at that.

[17:21] Also, how in here does two properties

[17:25] who have multiple zonings?

[17:28] Where does that fall?

[17:29] Yeah, I don't know the answer to that, Kathy.

[17:32] There's not a lot of properties with split zoning,

[17:34] but there are some you're right.

[17:36] So I don't know how those, maybe they got counted as

[17:40] like how many acres were one thing versus how many acres

[17:45] were the other.

[17:46] I don't remember your commercial property, I'm sorry.

[17:51] Commercial properties that are not technically zoned commercial, but are something else.

[17:59] Such as marinas.

[18:01] Now marinas are included in commercial.

[18:04] Yeah.

[18:05] So what we did is basically anything that, you know, where commercial entity could operate,

[18:12] counted under commercial. So the Marine District Employment Center, I'm trying to

[18:17] think of them. Yeah, so we counted those there. If it was strictly residential,

[18:23] then obviously what under residential and Ag is Ag. I will say even though 89% of

[18:31] the land is zoned Ag, you have more than that paying at an Ag rate because it's

[18:41] Properties that are assessed based on use, not on zoning.

[18:47] So, I have, okay, but how does every lay, because that confuses me?

[18:51] Let's say I have 10 acres that zoned employment center but I'm farming it and it's a ag use.

[18:58] They are going to assess that at ag rates opposed to commercial, even though it's zoned employment center.

[19:05] I see what you're saying, and the end would fall into that category, I think.

[19:10] I'm not sure.

[19:11] Well, we are.

[19:12] We're paying in your zone to Ag.

[19:15] We're paying on a tax base based upon the fact that we have a working firm.

[19:22] Where is it commercial?

[19:24] Well, I don't know.

[19:25] I'd have to look at your, but I could do that and look and see what it's assessed at, how it's assessed.

[19:30] because on your tax sheet, it will say what the use is.

[19:36] Okay, this is something I wanted to ask.

[19:38] And people who are deeper into zoning and assessment,

[19:41] I'm sure are thinking about it.

[19:44] But along the lines of sort of this dual use,

[19:47] I suspect that there's quite a lot of properties that are

[19:51] zoned agricultural and are essentially used as residents,

[19:55] like sort of especially second home residences.

[19:58] And I think there's quite a lot of them that have just enough

[20:01] I would culturally actively on them to maintain that agricultural zoning, even if the primary

[20:06] use, right, the primary reason for having this residence, but I think that that opens

[20:10] up a whole set of questions that means it's not in our remit as a committee, I don't know.

[20:17] No, it isn't, but it might be interesting to know.

[20:20] It might be interesting to know.

[20:21] Yeah, I don't know how you would get that information, honestly.

[20:24] Yeah.

[20:25] I can't remember now, but I think at one point, planning was able to run a list of the

[20:31] the list of properties that were the zoning and then the use.

[20:36] So, but I'd have to go back and see if I can find that.

[20:42] I was thinking if I can use comment on some of the things that I noticed.

[20:48] Kent

[20:52] County as for many people, a community of choice, a place they retired to or increasingly as people

[21:01] find that they can work remotely as they sort of have their second home or they spend

[21:06] three days here or five days here in two days in the office.

[21:10] And so that's a place where that desirable place to live, work, and visit, I think is

[21:17] a place where we could put some energy in this next strategic plan because that is something

[21:24] that I mean was already starting to shift in 2022 and I think it's maybe even shifted

[21:27] even more so now.

[21:31] And so yes, and one of the things I think about in terms of is what

[21:38] is there to do, right? Like, let's think about what our assets are in terms of what

[21:43] there is to do and sort of build on those and make those sort of more visible to people

[21:46] and more exciting to people. And those things are outdoor activities and those things are arts

[21:51] and cultural activities and things like that. And you look around and you see some of the

[21:56] arts and cultural activities are always a little bit under stress, right, the movie theater

[22:02] or the Garfield are, you know, stressed and you know, other kinds of mainstay is always

[22:07] sort of like doing well and always you kind of worry a little bit about but those are

[22:11] really crucial for making this a place that feels like somewhere that people really want

[22:16] to live.

[22:17] So, so that's something I would think about as thinking about a plan that can make sure

[22:22] that was strengthening our cultural and our arts and attainment, whether they're profit or

[22:27] non-profit institutions around here.

[22:30] Okay.

[22:31] Do you point, though I will say for such a small county with the resources that we have,

[22:39] I think that, to some extent, these things, you are correct, they are under pressure.

[22:45] But at the same time, we have an amazing assortment of things that is out there.

[22:50] I mean, the National Music Festival and everything,

[22:55] I really, it's sort of mind-blowing in a way

[22:58] for a small county to have these resources.

[23:01] But the question is, are we promoting them

[23:03] as a county, if that's what you're really saying?

[23:06] Or, you know, how can we make the awareness of them?

[23:11] I'm saying that, and also let's not take those

[23:13] for granted, right?

[23:14] The Jazz Festival is concluding after this year, right?

[23:17] This is the 30th and final year

[23:18] of the Chester Town Jazz Festival.

[23:21] And so all these things are, we do punch above our weight and that's part of how we attract

[23:31] people here to retire here or if they can choose where they want to live to live here.

[23:37] And let's make sure we're always supporting those institutions because even if they're

[23:43] of long and venerable, many of these places in a small community are one or two retirements

[23:49] or moving out of towns away from not being sustainable anymore.

[23:53] You know?

[23:54] Absolutely true.

[23:55] And to that point, one thing, it's, nobody really wants to try to re-address this, but

[24:04] honestly, the fact that you have a ten aging population here and do not have adequate

[24:13] hospital facilities and programs for the aging is I hear it all the time why do people

[24:22] not choose to live there and that is a key reason and I can't understand okay so University

[24:32] of Maryland has decided that this is what this is I get it but why can't this be have a specialized

[24:39] program for geriatrics for instance. You know why isn't that? Why can't that be a

[24:46] focus? So I don't know. Not just geriatrics. Well, what are you thinking? Well,

[24:54] young families, I mean many that don't want to come here because you can't have a

[24:59] baby here without being telecopter.

[25:04] You're absolutely right. I actually left

[25:07] that out, but I shouldn't have. But again, we have a lot of young people that work for us

[25:14] and they have to have scheduled deliveries because they don't want to get stuck in the

[25:21] crack. So I don't know. I don't know if there's any way we can foster some interest or go back

[25:33] back to the well on this, but I think it's important.

[25:42] I think those highly visible things too, I think this is a reason why the discussion on

[25:47] the middle school is so important, is that if you're looking to, if you have kids and

[25:52] you're looking to move somewhere, a community that is actively building a new school looks

[25:57] like a community that cares about its families and is investing in its families and a community

[26:03] that is trying to figure out a way to make do on a shoe string is does not. And and people

[26:10] see that and they decide to go somewhere else. So,

[26:17] okay. So, what do we, what do we feel

[26:20] like has worked from this strategic plan?

[26:27] I'm not even. No, actually we have this business

[26:32] necessarily, but you know when you look at businesses like ours that are not in any

[26:39] incorporated area. I think they tend to get left out of a lot of things and whether

[26:46] that's just because you know wherever we are and we're just used to doing it ourselves

[26:51] and not really joining in, say, but also we don't necessarily fit with whatever it may be,

[27:04] like a Rock Hall Business Association or the Chester Town, whatever it may be.

[27:09] So you have several businesses who are like that, and how do we get people

[27:20] like me involved or you know what I'm just I'm thinking out loud and I'm wondering now

[27:30] the in is part of that and yet we're unincorporate I mean we're in the county so can you not be part

[27:37] of the for instance the Rock Hall business association well you know I don't know we yeah yeah

[27:44] We're unique in that we're closer to Rock Hall, but we have a Chester Town address.

[27:51] So it's kind of a weird situation.

[27:54] It is.

[27:55] Yeah, but you need to.

[27:56] We have a kind of a lot of address and right, okay, it's Chester Town, but the locations

[28:00] are open to, you know, businesses outside of that.

[28:05] And I'm trying not to say too much because I want this to be brainstorming.

[28:08] I want to hear all your ideas, but I will say like a lot of this programs are state.

[28:14] So a lot of the programs that are state say you have to be in a primary funding area,

[28:18] you have to be in a, you know, there's certain restrictions for that too, but I hear you.

[28:24] So I'm making some notes.

[28:27] Yeah.

[28:28] Do you have a, I've got a list of a couple of issues.

[28:31] Okay.

[28:31] Good.

[28:32] Yes.

[28:32] Thanks, Craig.

[28:33] Okay.

[28:33] Yep.

[28:34] We mentioned housing, but there were two things I wanted to emphasize.

[28:38] One is we had testimony from the chief of staff of Washington College who told us that the

[28:43] majority of their workers live outside the county and that the majority of

[28:47] their administrative workers you want to be quoted on the number lived in the

[28:51] middle town area. Which hit me not just from a housing perspective, but no

[28:55] matter how wonderfully successful we are in bringing new jobs to the county we're

[28:59] losing the benefit of those jobs if most of them don't live here. The consumer

[29:04] expenditures aren't happening here. So it's not just housing in general it's

[29:10] housing as part of our economic development strategy and trying to get maximum

[29:15] benefit from the success that we have. And the other was the one brought up when

[29:20] I first got on the the commission was if there's some creative thought from

[29:24] elsewhere what to do about summer workers. We do have an expansion in summer

[29:30] because of our tourism industry and we really don't have a response in this

[29:34] county that's focused on that. Nobody takes responsibility for it. People are sort of on their own coming up with solutions. I think that's a topic that the county would benefit by looking at as part of this process. Is there something we can do in a more organized fashion about summer labor.

[29:54] The second one obviously Jamie's been working on the I forget the name of it but the federal version of the enterprise zone.

[30:00] We're now coming into. What do we do with that? It says, well, since it's the study, but I forget where the money comes from eventually. But, but, but, EDA, thank you. Trying to figure out what to do with that. I think it's very new for this, this plan go around. On the agricultural issues, we talked about ag tourism, but I'm surprised how little food processing occurs here in the county, given how strong the county is in agricultural production. Where is it going for?

[30:29] the next step and he is that an opportunity for this county in terms of you know

[30:35] looking at SIC codes and what's missing that that seems to be a gap medical

[30:42] we talked about the others digital which I think was an issue in the county

[30:46] before I was paying any attention getting fiber optics here but I haven't

[30:51] heard anything recently about how we're playing on that and and something good is

[30:57] coming from it. I think all the work went into creating it. Now the question is how do we get

[31:02] a payoff from the hard work that the county did? Is there a next step other than just awareness?

[31:09] I mean, is there some missing piece that I'm unaware of that would click on our ability

[31:14] to be more marketable in the digital economy? And the last thing is solar. There are some towns

[31:22] that have been against it, some towns that have been for it, it doesn't seem to have

[31:26] much of a secondary bouncer benefit for our local economy, but I think it would make

[31:31] sense for there to be at least some thought as part of this plan that would be a county

[31:37] position on how much solar is good or bad for the county in general. So those are the topics

[31:43] I had.

[31:44] Yeah, and those are deep, deep topics, so I'm not going to get into them now, but I think the solar, like, yeah, no, Craig, I think those are excellent points.

[31:56] I do just want, I do want to make a statement, you know, I think too often we hear solar and we automatically think bad we don't want it, and that's not the case.

[32:07] There are some solar projects that are cited properly,

[32:13] sized properly, that are giving back to the community.

[32:18] I'll use the example of the Chester Town Solar Project.

[32:22] That project is going to provide efficiencies and cost savings to the town of Chester Town,

[32:30] as well as to load a moderate income families.

[32:33] So, and even when they did their, I think it was the groundbreaking for that project,

[32:39] there were all these negative comments.

[32:41] It's not the same as what's going on on Morgneck Road.

[32:45] So, I just think we have to be careful when we say solar that we automatically don't jump on the bedwagon as bad.

[32:53] Same thing with data centers.

[32:56] Are we ever going to have a million square foot data center here, the answers no.

[33:02] And do we want it, the answers no.

[33:04] But we actually had a data center here for about three years, but you knew it was here.

[33:10] So there are some that are, again, sized properly to fit in our municipalities.

[33:17] So I just think we just, just a caution because I've heard so many, as soon as they hear

[33:22] the word, they're automatically pitch works out.

[33:24] And that shouldn't be the case, we should hear the details and look for the opportunity.

[33:29] I mean, I think maybe this kind of until doesn't go into a strategic plan, but a possible

[33:36] objective getting way ahead of the process here is that a development of a best practices

[33:45] guide, sort of guidebook for this kind of decision making, right?

[33:50] One of my fears about solar is what things look like 25 years or so down the road when the

[33:58] leases up, the company has conveniently declared bankruptcy six months before the lease is up,

[34:04] and whoever owns the property is left holding the bag and has to clean it up and, you know,

[34:08] is dealing with it.

[34:09] And so, and so that one of the reasons why I totally agree with about Chestertown solar is

[34:14] that we know who the operator is, we know who the owner is, it's the town of Chestertown

[34:18] of the Tessertown of Chestertown, it's going to, has an interest in shepherding that project

[34:22] right, thoughtfully long-term, whereas someone went to the land on a 25-year lease is not.

[34:29] And so I think those kinds of things to help inform, how do we assess these proposals

[34:36] as they come in in a way that supports the economic development of the town and doesn't burden

[34:42] it, or the county doesn't burden it 25 years down the road, 30 years down the road.

[34:54] I mean, I had to miss that meeting, but it makes me sad how many faculty and staff from the college don't live here, and I think it's a big missed opportunity, but this gets back to housing, they can't afford to live here right now.

[35:10] I think the lesson is that that's true for the college, it's going to be true for our major employers as well.

[35:15] Well, yeah, so I didn't want to focus specifically on the college, but that data point just resonated.

[35:21] Right, no, it's absolutely true.

[35:23] I don't want to, again, but we don't have a high out migration of workers, about 50% of our workers that working can county, living can county.

[35:40] So, you know, I think Queen Ian's county is like 70 to 80% commute outside of the county to work.

[35:47] So we're not, I'll get the data for the other counties, but I think we assume that everybody lives somewhere else, but that's not necessarily the case.

[35:59] So it's about, for about that 50%, and sometimes we're like a little bit more, sometimes we're a little bit less.

[36:05] so.

[36:08] That's good enough. Yeah.

[36:12] Any other points? Things we need to look at, things you'd see in the

[36:20] report that don't need to see.

[36:31] You know, other than the things that have been mentioned in yours,

[36:34] that I think are really, really helpful and probably should take me part of this. I think that this

[36:48] It's really covered, everything it needed to cover, and again, I have to say even though

[36:56] I don't have to, is that I think your department has done a great deal towards, thank you.

[37:06] These objectives, and I'm happy to be part of this next process.

[37:13] I mean, I always want something to go back to because if we don't know what we are trying

[37:20] to accomplish, how can we look back and say, okay, does that activity really fit into

[37:26] our strategic plan and what we hope to achieve?

[37:29] And that's kind of why it was important for us to have a strategic plan and again to update

[37:34] it five years later so that we can look back and make sure our activities are matching what

[37:39] we said is important to the county.

[37:41] Well, then one question I would ask and everybody please weigh in on this what can we do what what is it that you can do or we can do or the county can do to move these objectives further along.

[37:56] Are there other models we ought to be looking at in the more there are other places like us that have decided to be more proactive in strengthening these goals.

[38:09] Shalyn, are there things I realize that the way we're approaching tourism has changed

[38:17] dramatically, even in the last few years, and where is that going, and what more do we

[38:25] need to be doing?

[38:28] For what is worth, we're going into a new platform for weddings.

[38:34] And let me tell you what the difference is.

[38:39] The standard place that people tended to go was this platform called the knot or wedding wire or whatever.

[38:47] Now, we actually dropped out of that program a year ago because it was very expensive and

[38:52] it really did not garner qualified leads for us that we could really develop.

[38:59] We have just onboarded with a company that is marketing strictly through Instagram and Facebook and they develop ads that are, you know, that are pop-ups to a targeted market.

[39:16] And so, you know, I'm wondering if these are things that we ought to be thinking about as we are looking about how we're promoting things.

[39:37] did you call on us or

[39:42] did they oh I'm Sandy I was talking to

[39:44] Shelly. Oh okay. Oh she's gonna come up to the market. Sorry Sandy I don't have a

[39:52] mic. Hi. Thank you. Oh sorry thank you for saying so. I was telling Ms. Joanne

[39:58] that we do do a lot of targeted advertising through social media and there's

[40:02] a percentage of our budget that's geared specifically to that but as far as

[40:07] everything changing, you just asked the question that they talk about it every single state

[40:11] tour is a meeting.

[40:12] Like, what should we do better, different, how is this changing?

[40:15] I'm sure Sandy deals with that, too.

[40:18] How to put that strategic plan, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know if it's just something

[40:22] as simple as making sure that we stay with the current trends and we're doing what we should

[40:26] be because I think it's a moving target every single year from what I've seen.

[40:31] So one thing, I mean, your comment at that very end of a sort of how to stay with the

[40:37] plan is something I was thinking about kind of for the plan as a whole.

[40:42] Some of the objectives I know from the information we get that you all are hitting and other

[40:47] ones I sort of thought, maybe they did, maybe they don't, I'm not quite sure.

[40:52] And so I didn't see it, maybe I missed it, but something within the strategic plan that

[40:59] that builds in assessment to help you all see and not as a sort of like accountability thing, but to help everyone is looking at see and say like, yeah, wow, you know, the internship, the work of the internship, that's going great.

[41:16] And what are we doing that so good and let's make sure that we keep doing that.

[41:20] And, oh, you know, this hasn't worked out, and let's figure out why that, but some places where then at the commissioner's five years from now, but then also for you all is kind of a working document all along.

[41:34] Have a kind of easy way to track what's effective and what's not effective so that you're not spinning your wheels so much and sort of revisions won't be like, oh, how are we going to do this?

[41:44] And so I think the next strategic plan, I'd like to see not just the strategy and the objectives,

[41:51] but then also some assessment, some kind of method of assessment or tracking for the objectives.

[41:57] And we have done a scorecard, Ben.

[41:59] Yeah, okay.

[41:59] And I don't think you joined after we did that.

[42:02] But and that is the way we tried to lay this out.

[42:05] We have the goal and then we have strategies under the goals and the objectives should be the measurable part.

[42:10] Right, right.

[42:10] So if you look at it, it says double the number of entrepreneurs utilized in the Chestertown

[42:15] hot test.

[42:16] Now that was no longer relevant, but that's where we tried to make the measure, to be able

[42:24] to measure, like, are we hitting our goals?

[42:27] And we did a scorecard, I think, for two years.

[42:30] And we can certainly recreate that from our calendars, because a lot of it is like attending

[42:36] partner meetings and things like that.

[42:38] Growing the newsletter was another one by a certain percentage of reach.

[42:42] Yeah, yeah.

[42:42] I worked on it like a working spreadsheet that once a month, once every two months we'd go in and input all the data.

[42:48] Yeah.

[42:48] Like that. So we did scorecard it based on, you know, like Jamie said, the objective.

[42:52] But you said an easy way.

[42:54] Well, there's nothing easy.

[42:56] Nothing easy, but I think maybe, I mean, I'm a big believer in this kind of, like I love it for myself.

[43:02] Right.

[43:02] of having these sort of like benchmarks and when I'm writing it's like all right you know 500

[43:07] words and then I get a break. And so some of the objectives though are are a little bit squishier

[43:13] right? The so-called delivery of visitor guides right? Is it a bit squishier and so I think that

[43:18] also might be a place to just do the next one to think okay how do we for any for any one of them

[43:24] right? Some of them it's like sure annual visit. Yes some are easy some of them are kind of it kind of

[43:30] gray how we score it. For your own work flow, right, I think that that might be helpful

[43:35] to sort of know, like, okay, but we're going to be doing this, or we're going to be trying

[43:38] it this way.

[43:41] Yeah. Yeah, yeah, it was, yeah. Yeah. Good point.

[43:48] Gray, anything else?

[43:55] Can you hear it?

[43:56] I can put my bike button. That was my list. Okay, thank you. Thank you.

[44:01] And please don't think today is it? So if you're reading through it and you see something, please

[44:06] send it to me. I'll put together our notes from today for Sandy's team, so they have

[44:13] our notes from today, and then we can move forward from there.

[44:22] Everybody?

[44:25] I got to say something. I don't know what the, the, the evaluate proposed development projects

[44:32] example, Chester River Bridge crossing. I don't know what that is. And maybe I'm like,

[44:39] Oh, the Chester River Bridge.

[44:40] I know what the Chester River Bridge is,

[44:42] but what is this, like was there a study done about

[44:47] that page you're wearing?

[44:49] I'm on page 10.

[44:50] I'm trying to remind myself, is that a count?

[44:55] I don't know, like I,

[44:57] so are you talking about where it says advocate?

[44:59] Thank you.

[45:00] For the Chester Chester River Bridge to be listed in the annual Department of Transportation

[45:04] Priority Letter? It says strategy, evaluate, propose, development projects. Yes. So, that was,

[45:13] you know, that was like looking at those projects and trying to advocate for them and how

[45:19] then the strategic actions of how could we do that? So directly related to the Chester River Bridge

[45:24] and this has happened over the last probably five years now, Shelley.

[45:28] It's been in there now.

[45:31] Yeah.

[45:32] So that has happened.

[45:34] Being involved in the dialogue and identify economic impact of proposed development.

[45:39] And we all know that's going to be subjective.

[45:43] And there's not an easy way to do that.

[45:46] The economic impact is not easy to evaluate.

[45:49] It's not saying it's not impossible.

[45:50] But it can be costly as well.

[45:53] So can we do with that with every project?

[45:54] Probably not.

[45:55] What?

[45:58] Potential developers and then uses for proposed development, engage with stakeholders

[46:03] in conversation regarding the proposed development. I think we've done a pretty good job on both

[46:08] of those.

[46:11] So we're talking about the Chester River Bridge. That's what this is for.

[46:14] No, no, there's other things in there. It's a development of.

[46:21] I'm confused. What is it to begin with?

[46:24] It's an alternative bridge.

[46:27] Okay.

[46:28] It was a study that was done back a long decades ago now,

[46:34] to build another bridge.

[46:36] Down on favorite, off the favorite.

[46:38] That's right.

[46:38] I'm exactly familiar with it because I have property on favorite.

[46:41] Yes.

[46:41] Got it.

[46:42] Okay.

[46:43] Does that make sense?

[46:46] Okay.

[46:46] But this is not limited to the Chester River Bridge because it also

[46:52] So it's not industrial anymore, it's employment center area.

[46:59] So it's all of those places where development is designated or growth is designated there, that's the very word.

[47:08] Growth is designated so to be an advocate for those projects within those proper zones.

[47:16] Does that make sense?

[47:16] So what happened with the Chester River Bridge?

[47:23] The crossing or the boulevard, there are several different titles.

[47:29] It's not dead to us, but if you ask the state, the Maryland Department of Transportation,

[47:33] they're probably going to say it's dead because it doesn't rank high enough on their priority

[47:38] list to make the cut.

[47:40] Okay.

[47:41] I don't know that it ever will.

[47:43] I mean part of the calculation has to deal with population and of course the

[47:47] population the amount of cars that go over that bridge is much lower than one of

[47:51] the other metropolitan bridges closer to DC or Baltimore. They're going to rank

[47:55] higher. Right. Thank you. Good question. And you'll see like some of these

[48:04] are some of these strategies like the objectives like you squishier because you

[48:10] really measure that. It's difficult, but when we did this plan, they still felt that support

[48:19] for enhancement of current future infrastructure was important to be listed, but we really couldn't

[48:26] determine a good way to measure it. And I think that that's fine. Like I would say, don't leave

[48:32] something out because you're not sure how to measure it for sure. I think I was just thinking in terms

[48:38] of a yes to the question of where are we successful? I do know, you know, that needs objectives

[48:46] that they've been happening, but I think it is, yeah, it's just always good. I guess

[48:52] I missed the scorecard before I got to it, but yeah.

[48:56] Well, it's not right in front of you anyway. I mean, I remember that, but I couldn't, you

[49:08] I get it. Too many things, Juggling. I am sure you have many tentacles with this

[49:20] career. Future is very comfortable with where we are with this.

[49:26] Can I ask if Sandy or Gabby have any questions as we start to begin this process

[49:33] or do you want to wait until we gather again?

[49:38] I don't have any questions, I'll defer to Gabby in a moment and see if she does.

[49:43] But just to know, you know, our process is going to include, obviously, some additional

[49:50] discovery. We've been doing a lot of work in the region and have done work in Kent County,

[49:54] have had the privilege of doing some work in the county over the years. So it's not new

[50:01] to us and, you know, everything that you have to offer and, you know, just kind of listening

[50:09] to you to hear about your passions, to hear about your interests. And then this strategic

[50:15] plan ultimately will serve as kind of a given economic development, give Jamie and her

[50:22] team some guardrails of what is in your lane and kind of what isn't in your lane and where

[50:27] you want, you know, how you want the community to grow and to be shaped into the future.

[50:34] I'm hearing lots of some educating the community on what is growth and what is appropriate.

[50:40] I love the leaning in on agriculture and tourism and agritourism and you know,

[50:47] some of these things like make perfect sense housing. This is not the only you are not unfortunately

[50:54] the only community in Maryland that's struggling with housing right now.

[50:57] So, you know, we've got some lots of conversations that we're having in other places that I think,

[51:05] you know, this is a perfect opportunity for you to be doing this work and I appreciate

[51:12] that you're not starting from scratch that this is an update to the strategic plan,

[51:17] but I'm also hearing and one of the things that we do with strategic plans that we create

[51:23] with our clients is that dashboard are looking at reasonable metrics, what's appropriate

[51:32] and hoping the team internally with a document. Oh, and I just, I don't know why I went

[51:40] funny there. Helping the team internally with that updating of a dashboard of those metrics

[51:49] and then something that Jamie can present and share with you on a regular basis and, you know, share with others, share with the community in terms of where you are in this process.

[52:01] So it's not something that you hear about, you know, rubber stamp in 2027 and then you don't look at it again for another five years.

[52:08] Right.

[52:10] Gabby, did you have other thoughts that you wanted to add or just to say how much you love Kent County and how excited you are to work on this project.

[52:16] Well thank you Sandy and Jamie knows as well. So no immediate questions at this point but just

[52:22] really excited for the opportunity to be to help you know facilitate this strategic plan process.

[52:28] I myself am a Washington College alum so Kent County is near and near to my heart. I'm very

[52:34] familiar with it so again I can't express how excited I am to be part of this process because I of

[52:41] of course has a personal connection to the community

[52:44] and excited to have a hand in the future of it.

[52:47] So looking forward to more conversations with everybody.

[52:50] Thank you.

[52:51] Thanks.

[52:52] And then we did decide that we're moving the date

[52:56] from February 28th or 29th.

[52:59] I don't know this year or 2027 to March, the end of March.

[53:05] Give PPR strategies the extra month to complete the plan

[53:09] because we've got, we're working on the housing study,

[53:12] we're working on a marketing, regional marketing,

[53:15] housing study, regional marketing, the SEDS,

[53:17] and all of those projects could possibly

[53:22] have some influence in our strategic plan.

[53:25] So giving them a little extra time

[53:26] to review those documents as well.

[53:28] So we've pushed it out to the end of March,

[53:32] okay?

[53:37] Are there any other comments?

[53:39] Comments from any of you out there?

[53:44] If

[53:47] not, I'd love to have a motion to close the meeting.

[53:52] Move to chair.

[53:55] So such a good second.

[53:58] Thank you very much, and we'll see you all soon next month.

[54:02] Thank you.

Economic & Tourism Development Commission Meeting

Transcript