City council hears update on regional economic development strategy

​The Gunnison City Council heard a presentation on an updated comprehensive economic development strategy (CEDS) currently being drafted by the Region 10 League for Economic Assistance and Planning.

Region 10 is an economic and community development nonprofit that serves 18 communities across six counties in southwest Colorado, including the city of Gunnison.

The CEDS is updated every five years and, according to Mayor Diego Plata, the current updated draft is open for public comment through Sept. 20.

Gunnison City Manager Amanda Wilson said that Region 10 is funded by several mechanisms, including memberships from local governments, which give them representation on Region 10’s board and the ability to participate in planning processes, such as the CEDS.

She said that Region 10 also assists local businesses and workforce development efforts, and serves its members by advocating for their needs with state and federal decisionmakers.

Region 10 does a “great job” with its planning efforts, Wilson said, reaching out to key stakeholders and gathering a variety of perspectives.

She said that the CEDS is a key document when the city is seeking federal funding for an initiative, as it shows how funding a project would align with regional priorities and impact the region.

The city also has an economic development strategy, Wilson said, which helps inform the CEDS and, in turn, is informed by it. She added that the current CEDS expires at the end of 2026 and that the new plan will inform strategy from 2027 onwards.

Wilson then outlined how to access the draft CEDS and compare it to the current CEDS, both of which are located at https://region10.net/community-resources/community-development/regional-economic-development-planning/.

She noted that while the communities served by the CEDS differ significantly, there are many areas of overlap in their community goals, and those goals did not change significantly between the old and updated plans.

Wilson said the new plan includes data on childcare costs across the region, which was not included in the previous plan. “It’s not new to the people feeling it, but it’s new from a reporting perspective in many ways and trying to capture how the impacts of the costs of childcare are really affecting our economic vitality overall in our region,” she said. “Obviously not unique to this region, but as we continue to look at how that’s changing over time and the impacts it may or may not have, obviously they’re significant, so I personally appreciate that that’s shown.”

She said that the population trend data in the plan was also notable, with Region 10 and Colorado overall experiencing a natural population decline, with deaths outnumbering births.

“So, as we think about keeping our population trending in the direction to help support our economy, that’s just something that is changing over time and so this plan is noting that we need to be looking at ways to retain our existing residents and having less of that departure, of people leaving our region, and then attracting new working age residents and then, as well, obviously, supporting the residents who want to age in place and reducing some of those barriers, like I mentioned around child care,” she said.

She said that the report also included data on economic drivers for the area and a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis, before culminating in five goals for economic development in the region.

These five goals include fostering the regional entrepreneurship ecosystem and business growth; strengthening the resilience of its primary industries like tourism, agriculture, outdoor recreation, and manufacturing; cultivating vibrant and livable communities through means like downtown revitalization and expanding housing options; building modern and resilient infrastructure; and strengthening workforce readiness and skills advancement by education, career advancement, work-based learning and other opportunities.

Wilson said that the CEDS includes detailed actions to achieve each goal and metrics to help determine whether each goal is being met.

She emphasized that the plan is not a City of Gunnison plan and that Region 10 is seeking public comments on it, which can be submitted via a form on the website that contains the draft CEDS.

“So anything that seems like it’s missing or if people have concerns about the data or feel like there’s something that we need to take a closer focus on, Region 10 is most certainly willing to take those comments and interested in doing so,” Wilson said.

“I thought it was interesting to see the demographic trends of who is leaving the area and then correlate that with the price of childcare because it’s that age group that is leaving Region 10 right now,” said Councilor Matt Schwartz.

He also said that he was pleased to see the plan’s support for expanded transit options, since one of the key needs in Gunnison is increased transit to Montrose for healthcare. “And the [Gunnison Valley Regional Transit Authority] is working on that,” he said. “I think it’s great that it’s in here and allows us to cite it as we move forward on that process.”

“I strongly encourage everyone to review this,” said Mayor Pro Tem Marisela Ballesteros, who serves on the Region 10 Board of Directors. “There was a lot of time and months spent planning this, and being part of the executive committee myself, it was really nice to see some of the goals that Gunnison specifically has and a lot of the things that I have been hearing from different nonprofits and just community members here; a lot of those goals are being voiced here in this plan. So, if you are part of community resources or if you’re looking for grant opportunities, I strongly recommend you look at this because it has a lot of solutions for things that are needed here in our community.”

Councilor Loren Ahonen said he agreed with Schwartz’s comments on the inclusion of childcare costs in the plan, which he called a “great addition,” and thanked Ballesteros and Region 10 staff for their work on the plan.

He also reiterated Wilson’s comments that the plan is not the city’s plan but is something the city contributes to and that helps inform its work, as the city’s own plans help inform the CEDS.